I have been to quite a few markets before. I have hackled and bargained with the best of merchants. Ubud, however took third world markets to a level I haven't ever experienced! In one particular corner, I was looking at some pants, which we called 'elephant pants' because a majority of the print was elephants in different colors. The second I even looked at the pants, the merchant comes over and takes the pants and lays them out and says "I make you good deal". They then start taking every item that resembles the pants and shoving them in my face. All I wanted was to see the pants. I say, "no, it's Ok", because it wasn't the color or material I wanted. They beckon me as I back away and keep saying "please, I make you good". As I move to the next vendor they start pulling all the pants they have and thrusting them at me. I don't even get a chance to look at the material to see what I would like. They are pushing the pants in my face. As I walk backwards saying, "no thank you", they start to grab my wrist and tell me that they have what I want. I take my hand away, and walk down the aisle and every vendor I pass is trying to grab at my hand. One vendor even puts pants in a bag and tries to make me take the bag. After the third person grabs me and commands me to stay and look, I throw my hand out of their reaching yell, "Don't touch me!" This small corner with people shoving things in my face and grabbing at me and pulling at me made me feel like I was drowning and being suffocated. I was so upset.
When we moved to another area in the market, I was talking to Betsy and voicing my frustrations, and said aloud, "If they just leave me alone and let me look, I would buy something." After I said that, there was some Balinese chatter that went down the row like little birds, and to our surprise this entire section of the market were filled with vendors that kept their distance and didn't come up to us unless we asked them question. This is where we bought all our souvenirs! We found out that the vendors would relay information to each other! I was looking for a certain size of pants, and as I walked down the vendor rows, I would notice the size I needed laying out in the very front. The same thing happened to Corianne later in the trip. She was talking to us and saying she loves yellow, and as we walked down the aisle, every vendor had something yellow in their hand and was yelling out that they had a beautiful yellow shirt, or pant, or whatever item they were holding.
The market was loud, suffocating, intriguing, interesting, colorful, and crazy. At some points I thought I was going to scream out of frustration, and at other times I thought I would scream out of pure delight at something I saw. It was definitely something else!
After feeling hot and exhausted from the market, we stopped at an açaí bowl place to cool off. The açaí bowls were divine! The one I got had two tropical fruits that I hadn't ever had before, or even heard of for that matter. It also had coconut flakes, granola, mango and papaya. It was so delicious, refreshing and yummy.
While we were waiting for the villa shuttle to return we walked past a ticket seller for a Balinese traditional dance. After talking to him and getting more information on the dance, we decided we would meet up with the rest of our group, then come back for the dance.
When we made it back to our villa we met up with the three girls that came in today. Heather, Sarah and Corianne were all settled in their private villa. We had a few hours until the Balinese dance show, so we decided to relax in the pool. We all ran and got our suits on, then sat in the refreshing water and enjoyed relaxing and talking in the pool. It was heavenly to just sit and not have kids splashing me, or having to hold a baby, or have one of my kids hanging around my neck. The water was beautiful and the company was charming.
The dance that we saw was the Kecak Fire and Trance Dance. The dance that we saw was located at the Pura Dalem Taman Kaja.
The show was about an hour and a half. The dance depicts the story of Ramayana and Princess Sita. The dance is translated as "monkey chant". There were about 100 chanters that circled the story that took place in the center. The chanters would move and sway and fall and jump according to the story line. The most amazing part was that there were not any instruments. These 100 voices together made the most interesting sounds and music.
At the end of the show was the fire dance part. During this time, a fire was made using coconuts, and a man riding what looked like a horse ran in and around the fire, kicking it and swishing it with his horse. At the end of the fire dance, he fell down as if dead and we could see his feet, they were pitch black! Here is Sarah and I enjoying the show!
The show was cultural, interesting, however, it was a little long. By the end of the show, we were all tired and the constant chanting almost lulled me to sleep. It was wonderful, though, to witness a traditional Balinese dance and see part of their culture.
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