The Hindu offerings included flowers and incense...
and sometimes Ritz crackers, cigarettes and candies.
on reflection...
In the morning, KT and I went shopping.
We found a shop we really enjoyed: hassle free and the guys running it was very nice.
He did fine stone work with very light sandstone.
He also sold some metal and wood crafts by other artists.
We recommend his shop to anyone travelling in the area. It's
on the south side of Ubud along Monkey Forest Road.
This area is a little bit more hassle free than most of the other parts of Ubud we
visited.
There are many craft shops in the area. This rice lamp was from the "Zen Den"
where they definitely got it goin' on.
After lunch we went to the Neka which is the first gallery you should visit if you are
interested in Balinese Art. Admission is Rp10,000.
The have a website but it doesn't seem to have a
very good server...
This is my favourite piece
This piece is unusual to say the least
Another pig for ML
I'm waiting for KT!
There is a very real risk of art overload
On the way back to Ubud...
Next we went to the Elephant Caves. I'd been here about 10 years ago with ML. Last time is
was packed with tourists. Now it's dead. They don't know why it's called the elephant
caves as there are no obvious referenced to Elephants anywhere.
The fountain is fed by the mountain stream
Inside the cave
I found the beauty of Bali in the detail
KT found a guide at the temple. His name is Made although his friends call him
"Slick"... He lives in the town next to the temple. It's called
"Other Head" Town. It refers to the legend of a king who lost his head during a
particularly good meditation session so it was replaced by a pigs head for practical
purposes. It was considered rude to comment on the fact that his head came from a pig so
it was just referred to as "other head" as in "some other very odd kinda
head sorta guy but we like him anyway."
Then we went to some natural springs where people bath themselves as some kind of
purification - the waters are considered sacred.
Then we went to some stupas carved into a mountain side. We had to descend down 315 steps
to reach the side... this path cut through rice field terraces.
