Bali : Non-diving visits Part 1

I spent quite a bit of time trying to fit in things to do after our dives during the day much to the chagrin of the boy. One of the things that I had definitely wanted to see was the famous local performance - the Legong Dance.

It was quite hard trying to find one online but our hotel's tourist desk were really good - they had a whole list of shows with places and times all in a piece of paper so we only had to pick and choose which ones we want to go to. I settled for the Legong Dance in Ubud.

Entrance of Ubud Palace

Our show was presented by Sadha Budaya Troupe and tickets were Rp 80,000 each. It had a total of 7 performances plus 2 instrumental shows.

Waiting patiently for the show to start

And the show begins!

The first performance was the Gabor dance, otherwise known as the Welcome dance. "Panyembrahma is the presentation of an offering in the form of a ritual dance. The dance symbolizes the joyful reception of the Gods who attend a temple festival". The dance is mainly performed by young girls which usually ends with them throwing flowers to the guests and praying gestures as a welcome and blessing.

Welcome dance

The second dance is the one that I enjoy the most!

Baris/Warrior Dance

The Baris dance is a traditional dance where they glorify the manhood of the Balinese warrior. It is named baris which means line, to represent the lines of soldiers in war and was also the name of warriors who fought for the King of Bali. It may be performed by either a boy or a girl.

What fascinated (and also freaked me out :P) me the most was the eye movements the guy/girl was able to make. His pupils and iris literally dances! It was quite scary in the beginning but after a while, it catches your eye and attention so much that it became the main highlight in the show - for me anyway. You really have to see one to understand what I mean. (But only from a good one - coz one other that we saw, the guy was no where as good).

The next dance was the Legong Kraton Dance which is a classical piece used to entertain the king and is performed by young girls in colourful costumes. In our performance, the story tells of King Lasem which was an arrogant king who desired the unwilling Princess Langke Sari.

Legong Kraton Dance

The rest of the show were a little bit of a blur... but I still have a few pictures :D

The Bumblebee dance

Just before the Bumblebee dance was the Taruna Jaya Dance which was just so-so, hence no pictures. The Bumblebee dance is also known as Oleg Tambulilingan which tells a traditional Balinese love story.

The courtship of he-bee and she-bee

The last dance was quite amusing - Topeng Tua Mask Dance. Topeng Tua is an old man who has rather rough and brutish matter but was all funny anyway. A little scary to begin with as he was trying to be serious but cracked funny postures/movements towards the end.

Closer look at the man or rather - the mask

After the show, we moved to have dinner at a close by restaurant recommended by our driver. Unfortunately, the food was only mediocre so I wouldn't really recommend the place but it did have a pretty colourful souvenir store which kept me entertained.

Coloursss....

On the other hand, I would highly recommend where we had babi guling! It was absolutely awesome! Not that I had much elsewhere, I only had it at one other place than this. But SY did have babi guling on his last visit and he too, finds this one awesome!!!

The awesome meal

Man, this shop should really give me free meals for the advertisement I providing.

2nd time :D

On a random note, we also decided to try out some massage/spas in Bali and had our driver recommend us one in Kuta. He took us to Ratu Bali (I think), which is on the higher end of the scale. It didn't look modern and in fact, I was worried that it looked a little dodgy.

Ratu Bali Spa

Massive place

It was actually pretty good and the massage too. And the place is massive! I would recommend it to people except that it was actually pretty pricey and it may require bookings for weekends or during the day despite it being huge as it is apparently really popular.