Fire and bikes

Last night we headed into town for some traditional Balinese dance. None of the lonely-planet recommended troupes or venues were an option (always a good start) so we picked one that was nearby and looked fun! This was a combination of Kecak and Fire dancing. Kecak has fifty or so men chanting a cappella and is often called the 'monkey dance' due to the sounds they make "cak cak cak". This is also known as the trance dance as the cak cak cak sounds are also used to put the singers into a trance like state. The fire dance was a man dressed as a horse, walking on burning coconut shells. Most alarming! They were piled up high and had paraffin poured over them before being set alight!

Dinner was at a beautiful outside bar / restaurant called coffee and silver. The food was delicious, we had tuna fresh off the bbq. It also turned out to be live jazz night (I'm sensing a theme) so we had a wonderful soundtrack to our dinner. It did however sell a very odd looking dvd (advertised in the toilets of all places) which appeared to contain a lot of nudity (based on the pictures on front) and had "the Balinese Virgins" written on the back - which seemed somewhat incongruous given all profits from the sale went to set up schools (or similar). Odd. I'm guessing (hoping?) it is a historical Balinese classic....

Post dinner we went to a very odd upstairs bar which was playing an assortment of Bob Marley and the like. Another holiday pina colada for me but then home for an early night due to an early start the next day.

Why an early start - well, it was our Bali bike (or baik) tour! 8am pick up which is early for holidays! Fortunately they eased us in gently with a trip to a coffee plantation (I was never a coffee fan but am now a ginseng coffee convert) and then breakfast in a place with beautiful views of Mount Batur and the lake. Absolutely stunning.

Sadly it was then time to hop on the bikes.... The tour was great fun. Nicely structured so you could freewheel downhill for the majority of the trip (with a few nasty hills in between, but certainly a minority element). The tour took us through the local villages and we stopped to take in the sights. Lots of children en route shouting hello and wanting to hi-five you as you cycle by (I was wobbling dangerously and must practise this). The first stop was in a rice paddy where we had the chance to 'help' with the harvest. Whilst there is photo evidence of me merrily sieving rice (whilst wearing a bicycle helmet - safety first) I am not sure I can claim to have 'helped'. Working the rice paddies is woman's work. As I have written before, rice is not cultivated for sale, only for the family itself. As such it is the job of the man to provide an income and this is done in Ubud through painting, carving, jewellery or cock fighting - more about that in a moment.

Today is the eclipse (or Black Moon as it is known here). As such there is a great celebration being held at the temples. We stopped and met the women preparing the offerings for the temple. Intricately woven banana leaf baskets were being created to hold the offerings and we got to try some of the delicious moon-shaped biscuits, made out of sticky rice, coconut and sugar. Vegans and those of a sensitive nature - skip to the next paragraph. One of the offerings was a small (live) puppy (I am not a huge dog fan but this was cute). A blood offering is required for the bad spirits, to ensure they stay away.

We also saw a man collecting coconuts from the top of a palm. I will at somepoint upload the photographs, but this internet collection is far too slow. But it was absolutely amazing seeing this tiny, wizened man (in a pink sarong) scooting all the way to the top of the palm and beating down the coconuts with a stick. No safety equipment whatsoever (and nothing to warn those below there are falling coconuts).

Vegans etc - again skip this para. Another stop was to see a cockfight. I still feel squeamish thinking about it. The cocks have a big knife strapped to one foot, so the fight itself is relatively short. It takes about five minutes from start to the death. Rather horribly, if the birds are not fighting quickly/aggressively enough they put them into a small cage to finish. As above this is one of the ways the men can earn a living so there was a mass of men, all examining the birds and calling to place bets. This is illegal gambling and the police are frequent 'visitors' at the larger fights, which often have in excess of 1,000 attendees. Whilst the cockfighting was not my cup of tea, it was amazing to see this gathering and the rituals it entails. The owner of the winning bird gets to keep the other bird and the money.

The tour ended with a meal at the home of the owner of the bike tour company. In Bali it is traditional for families to live together so this was a huge compound where four generations live. It even had its own temple.

Back to Ubud and a trip to the market (we finally made it before sundown). Purchases made but we are clearly ridiculously poor at haggling! I think we paid about 20x over for our goods!

Off to Mazaic this evening. It is supposed to be the restaurant hotspot. Excited!