Ubud, Bali, Indonesia: Driving around Ubud, there are times when we can’t see past many of the thick walls built up along the streets. We learned these are karangs, traditional family compounds composed of many homes and filled with extended family.
Tagged: architecture, Bhoma head, demons, doors, family compound, gateways, Hindu gods, jack fruit wood, karang, ornamentation, rain tree wood, shrines, spirits, teak, temple, Tradition
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia: Despite being a world away from the modern conveniences of home, there are some signs of Western life sprinkled across Ubud. There’s Alchemy, a hipster/yogi/ Brooklynite cafe down the street. We discovered this place driving by on our motor bike, and couldn’t help but notice how different it was than the local warung we’d been visiting for most meals. Alchemy was clearly opened by a Westerner, hoping to attract all the other Aussies, Kiwis, Germans and Americans here looking for organic, gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, probiotic, holistic, etc fare. We love the Indonesian food and eat local for most meals, but every once in a while it is nice to have some flavor from home. We laugh and say, ‘Want to go to Little…
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia: We’ve been here just over 2 weeks and have settled in to our community and a routine. Our bungalow sits in a rice paddy in Penestanan, a traditional village of artists and bead-workers who live and work in their walled family compounds. Population: approximately 2000, which is quite large for a Balinese village. It’s certainly off the beaten path, and giving directions to someone trying to find us goes something like this: take the main road from Ubud towards the Bintang supermarket, go 100 meters. On your left, take the Campuhan Steps all the way up the hill. Turn right at the top, walk straight past our yoga studio, past our regular eatery, the Yellow Flower Cafe, go left, walk down a handful of stairs past 3 rice paddies and our bungalow is on the right.
Tagged: neighborhood, Penestanan, rice paddy, Ubud, Whiskey
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia: One of the reasons we chose Ubud was for its arts community. Expat artists have been coming here since the 1920s. We knew there would be no shortage of museums, galleries and artists offering workshops and studio time to visitors like us. I chose to focus my art project on batik because I’ve always been interested in fabric making and textiles. Before leaving the States, my only textile-related activity was knitting. One of the things I love about knitting is picking out beautifully colored silk, wool or cotton yarns and seeing them come together in an eclectic pattern and fabric. So, it wasn’t a big leap to want to experiment further with color, fabrics and making new patterns with Balinese batik.…
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia: We awoke our second morning in Bali to find in our entryway a rosette-shaped palm frond filled with colorful flowers, rice and burning incense. This was the first of many hundreds of offerings we would see around town, in the rice fields, along the roads and even on motorbikes. We knew these were ways of showing religious devotion, but little else. So we asked around, did a little research and found out about these offerings were beautiful expressions of the Hindu religion. Offerings are an integral part of Balinese daily living and show reverence to the gods. The handcrafted offerings are made out of natural materials and are placed at the entrance to homes, at family and main temples, before and…
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