Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore, November 2022 - Part 3

After a long busy day yesterday, today was stay home, almost, and relax... It was also a great oportunuity to get the complementary Spa visit done, so we booked that yesterday, as we over dinner had been talking about when we last had a real massage. We would have to go back to February 2020, just before Covid shut everything down, so we included that it was about time... But first, rising bright and early, we discovered that we over night had been blessed, and that we, had we been here in the dry months, would be able to admire Mount Abang from our terrace. This morning however, we could only see one side of it.

Morning Blessing

Feeling blessed we walked down and enrolled in the Spa...

After a wonderful session we headed downtown towards the Ubud Palace, and although we would not be there for the performance which is in the evening, we would also get to walk through town and see some of the shops and other sights of Ubud. The palace was a large area, which followed the "rules" of how you build a tradicional house in Bali. 1 plot, 4 pavillions. The northern pavillion for the old, the western the temple, the kitchen in the South and the young to the East.

We had lunch at one of the local places across from the Palace, Arang Sate Bar, where we had a great selection of sate, steamed dumplings and rolls, and a "Lime Cool Mint" drink to accompany the food. Very tasty and only paid half a million! Actually funny how quickly one gets used to deal in millions :-D

After lunch we headed to the Art Crafts Market, but it proved to be closed due to refurbishment and relocation, so only a few of the mass produced sales items were on display in various locations, where the entrance to the market once was. On our way back to the hotel we visited the "Mask Man"! An elderly gentleman who has a fantastic shop with all sorts of real handycraft in terms of woodcarving, masks and figures. There is no unit price in this shop as it all depends on the artist and the type of wood that has been used. There are beautiful ebony figures, awesome masks in all types of wood, and actually the cheapest ones are the ones that have been painted, as you can use cheaper wood. I would love to show a few pictures from the shop, but maybe when we go back and buy one or two masks, I will be allowed to take a few shots.

What is striking though, is the number of temples. They are really, really beautiful, and they are everywhere. I recall asking our tourguide yesterday, and of course remembering his words it makes sense: Every house has a temple, every family has a temple, and then there are all the public temples...

Coming back I went by the pool area and couldn't resist the beautiful flowers in the gardens either.