Building a bamboo house

A couple of new bamboo houses are under construction at the Gusde House. The smaller house is a traditional rice storage hut. The larger structure will be for traditional Balinese massage. Not a nail in site .. only stainless steel bolts, handmade pegs and lots of traditional rope to hold everything together.

Food in Ubud

We mostly ate at the Bali Pesto restaurant in Ubud, which is the sister restaurant to Gusde House. The food was just excellent.

Braised duck

Crispy duck

Spareribs

Suckling pig

Museum Puri Lukisan

Downtown Ubud is very busy, even in off-season May. Museum Puri Lukisan is an island of tranquility on Jalan Raya Ubud. The museum has several pavilions set in lovely gardens. We spent most of the day at the museum, having morning tea and lunch.

There was a special exhibition of miniaturists from the village of Keliki Kawan. Most of the adults in the village are artists. One of the striking paintings tells the story of Bhima Swarga from the Mahabharata. Bhima travels to hell to rescue the souls of his parents and sees many punishments in hell. Reminiscent of medieval art, such as the Last Judgment from Hieronymus Bosch

Here are some details:

On to Ubud

After a week in Candidasa, on to Ubud, or more accurately Mas. We stayed at the Gusde House and Villa, which was an excellent choice.

Barong and Lelong Dance

The Barong is an important feature of Balinese mythology and dance. This lion-like animal predates Hinduism.

We were fortunate to see a performance in Candidasa. The Barong must be very heavy and requires two very fit men.