Then came the sun

It felt like a special day in Ubud yesterday - no rain at all - and look how the lovely room service people left our room for us ....... the absolute pinnacle of towel art!!

On our walk this morning we came upon this amazing procession of local people - dressed in all their finery, obviously heading to a big ceremony in the Sacred Monkey Forest. There was a double tragedy in the forest earlier this month when an enormous banyan tree fell (once again due to the constant rain), killing two visitors.There have been a number of ceremonies marking this event already and we wondered if today's event was part of that commemoration .......

One of the local people told me  it was a Ngiring ceremony but when I looked that up I found that Ngiring is actually a Balinese ritual which is part of many ceremonies - where participants accompany and guide spirits, deities or honoured guests to and from a sacred ceremony site. So Ngiring is obviously part of this ceremony but not the name of the ceremony itself??

Anyway it was a very amazing cultural event to see in all its glory.......

We spent this sunny day enjoying lots of pool and swimming time, walking and enjoying an hour long ayurvedic massage at our fave Bodyworks on Jalan Hanoman.

Rob is the picture of bliss after our treatment!

We ended off the day with another great meal at nearby Cinta Grill. I only took a pic of the starters (eggplant and Tzatziki) and the ginger spritzer - abut it was another lovely meal in Ubud - more fusion in character than other choices we've made!