Ubud, Bali: Hidden views
Ubud is a nice town. There are a few main drags, mostly named after characters in the Ramayana: Dewi Sita, Jalan Hanoman, and so forth. And if you walk along these streets and look up, or sideways, you can see all kinds of interesting things: Rice paddies behind a cafe, for instance, with tiny frogs hatching and hopping all over the cafe floor, or unexpected statues. Herewith, a small sampling of such views:
This is a restaurant built over the river gorge. We sat in that little concrete hut to eat dinner and admire the view until it grew too dark to see. Some of us were nervous about the quality of construction and feared we’d fall into the river, but it didn’t happen.
If you just look up when you’re walking down the shopping street, you can see someone’s rooftop temple. It’s up above the family’s shop. Temples are holy, and have to be located where nothing impure or unclean will be above them, so best to put them on the roof if space is limited. I like the combination of sacred black palm thatch materials on the shrines with gilded carvings and telephone wires.
Just turn sideways and see an unheralded but tranquil and lovely walkway to someone’s house. Those things on the left look like topiary, but they are moss-covered statues. The golden thing to the right of the gateway is the shrine to the overarching deity, Sangyhang Widhi. He is represented by an empty throne, draped with either the black-and-white checked religious cloth or with gold cloth.
And this is a gateway open to the main drag, Jalan Raya – a pretty carved door and Ganesh greeting you inside. The cloth and wood offering to the left of the door is drom the big festirval that took place a few weeks before we arrived.
