Here's looking at Ubud

 Without a backward glance, we shook the garbage-ridden sands of Kuta from our flip flops, got in a taxi and joined the traffic jam headed for Ubud.

Surrounded by lush green rice fields, it's known as a centre for traditional crafts and dance (spoiler alert).

It's also,  apparently, where the film 'Eat,Love,Pray ' was filmed.......

(No, nor me)

Anyway, once settled in we went in search of these lush green rice fields.

Surprisingly, only a short distance out of town, we found some.  (This was fortunate, as the humidity was nudging 90% and, despite my jungle training, I was feeling it a bit)

It's certainly lush. And green. However I was unable to verify that it's rice.....

As well as the lush green rice fields, the town is home to lots of temples.

Most are covered in a rich combination of mildew and moss.

And as the outstanding features are the statues inside, I'm going to show you some of those rather than the outsides.

I'm afraid you're on your own with these. Make up appropriate myths as you see fit.

In the evening, we went to see a Kecak fire dance.

This tells the story of the Ramayana

(Rama and Sita - you MUST know them. Lovely couple).

There's  no orchestra, just a group of around 50 chaps all chanting chak-a-chak-a in a quite melodious way.

(I accept that you may have had to be there.....)

So, once Rama and Sita had done their stuff, out comes a bloke wearing a flimsy hobby horse type thing and proceeded to kick seven shades out of the burning embers of a bonfire which someone had carelessly left unattended.

Thrilling, baffling, and actually quite dangerous. A great performance.

 Well done that hobby horse rider.

The next day found us understandably shaken by the previous evening's entertainment and so we sought solace at the Blanco Renaissance Museum.

This Blanco chap was, it seems, quite the Big Crayon in the Ubud art scene until his death in 1999.

Eagerly, we paid our (obligatory) entrance fee and prepared to be dazzled.

The grounds were lovely, complete with fish pond, fountain, and exotic birds.

It was when we entered the attached gallery containing examples of his work that the trouble began.

The paintings on show, whilst admittedly being very skilfully executed, featured almost without exception Balinese beauties without their vests.

It seems that the Balinese women, (by virtue of carrying baskets of rice on their heads) (???) have the loveliest breasts of all. 

So obviously, you HAVE to paint them. 

JB reckons that they're not Balinese women at all, based on those we've seen round here......

I leave you with a picture of the mucky artist in question: