Ubud day two

We started the day with a swim in the hotel's infinity pool - water as warm as bathwater and such a relaxing way to start the day. We came back to our room after our swim, and breakfast, and found this work of art left by housekeeping! 

Our plan was to walk south down Monkey Forest Road to the village of Pengosekan today, a village known for its traditional art and music and the beautiful Agung Rai Musem of Art (ARMA). We've been to ARMA many times before on previous visits - it's one of my favourite places in Ubud. I wanted to check it was still there!!

On the way, just near the Sacred Monkey Forest I stopped for a (successful) shop at my fave "Ikat Bali" (for textiles) while Rob sat outside and stayed clear of the marauding monkeys that dominate this part of Ubud. We'd heard that after Bali opened up again after the pandemic the monkeys had spread all over Ubud township, but luckily we haven't seen any around Cendana as yet.

About my feet: yes, it's been almost 12 weeks now since my surgery and I am feeling really good walking the streets of Ubud! It's been slow progress for my old feet to get used to a new joint structure and they have been quite stiff and awkward to use up until about two weeks ago. We have timed this trip well for my new feet and I'm looking forward to all those long rice paddy walks around Ubud that we enjoy so much.

It was just under 2 klm of walking to ARMA, in the heat of the tropical sun, so we really deserved this cold drink break in ARMA's oh so stylish Warung Kopi.

Every corner of ARMA and its adjoining hotel is super stylish and artistic.

We were lucky enough to come across a group of Bali's master painters working on their large scale paintings in the highly detailed linear "Ubud style" in the grounds of ARMA.

This lovely older gentleman explained that this work depicts a traditional wedding ceremony - full of scenes of ceremonies associated with weddings, incredibly rich in detail, joy, abundance and humour.

These painters work with fine fine brushes and spend a long time on each work.

We enjoyed our chat with Wayan Mardiana too, another important Balinese artist. His work took him two years to complete, in oils, depicting the villages around Ubud, overlooked by the sacred Mt Agung.in the background.

Wayan insisted on taking our picture too - always nice to have because we're not too clever at taking selfies ourselves!

In the beautiful gardens of the ARMA Hotel ........

It was around 2.30 by the time we walked back up Jalan Hanoman to central Ubud. Along the way Rob was struck by the nonchalance of this worker, in thongs, working with a jack hammer with a loose electrical lead - but as he said, at least it was only 110V and it wasn't raining! 

I was pleased to find our fave Bodyworks is still operating - deep tissue Ayurvedic massage ahead!

We enjoyed a late lunch at Tutmak on Jalan Dewi Sita, especially my perfectly cooked rare southern blue fin tuna dish ($9). I felt like skolling my accompanying Bintang beer I was so hot and thirsty by then - but managed to control myself.

We're looking forward to meeting up with our dear friend Haruko in Ubud tomorrow night. She has a very well timed work commitment in Denpasar this week and was able to manage a long weekend stayover here in Ubud before she goes back to work (for the Japan Foundation) in Jakarta on Monday.