We set out to take an afternoon hike up a hill near a rice paddy. We began by crossing a rickety bamboo bridge that was covered with red ants.
We had a lovely view of a waterfall and, as we climbed higher on the slippery, muddy slope, a nice view of the rice fields below us.
The trail was very narrow and right next to an irrigation channel. Fortunately, we managed not to fall in.
While driving down the road to our next stop, we came upon an interesting group of monkeys and we decided to stop and check it out.
The monkeys proved to be very entertaining. They especially enjoyed looking at themselves in the mirror on a motorcycle that was parked by the side of the road.
Another monkey had a small piece of mirror that she carried around with her and she frequently stopped to check herself out.
Watching the monkeys interact with each other never got old and we spent quite a bit of time at this unscheduled stop just observing the macaques at work and at play.
Tenganan Pegringsingan Village, which currently is home to about 400 residents, is a traditional Balinese village where people live according to ancient traditions and rules.
The village homes are designed and built in the traditional Balinese way and people still maintain the customs and rituals of their ancestors.
Only people born in the village are allowed to live there and if they marry an outsider, they are no longer permitted to stay.
We saw some brightly colored roosters that participate in the thousand year old tradition of cockfighting.
Also noteworthy, is the fact that the women of the village have mastered the ancient art of double ikat weaving to produce a particular type of cloth that is only made in their village.
The Batuan Temple, which was originally built in the 11th century, is a Hindu temple that is built in a typical Balinese style. There is a great deal of elaborately carved stonework, some beautiful doors with gilded scrollwork, and many well cared for statues that are draped in colorful cloth.
The place to shop in Bali is at the Ubud Art Market. One section of the market offers groceries and other foodstuff, while the other half of the market features an assortment of handcrafted items from local artisans.
We enjoyed checking out some of the local fruits and vegetables, such as the salak or snakeskin fruits and the bright pink dragon fruit.
There was definitely an unusual assortment of items to buy in the Ubud Art Market. We enjoyed strolling through the market just to see the merchandise available at each of the stalls. It was an interesting way to spend our morning.
Funeral ceremonies in Bali are elaborate and important rituals.
The coffin of the diseased is placed in a sarcophagus that looks like a buffalo or inside a temple structure.
A procession, which includes friends and family, takes this sarcophagus to the location of the cremation by walking a meandering path so that evil spirits become confused and do not follow the diseased.
After the sarcophagus is burned, the ashes are thrown into the ocean.
Ubud has long been a center for artistic endeavors, especially painting. Paintings mostly deal with daily life or religious deities and incorporated into the painting are clusters of waves or plant leaves that are detailed and repetitive in order to give the viewer a sense of texture.
Some of the paintings are black and white while others are very vivid in color, but the end result is something beautifully and uniquely Balinese.
As we drove through town, we were able to capture some photos of things that we would never see back home.
We saw an express laundry service, a man selling rifles on a public street corner, and a rather large load of baskets on the back of a truck.
