Day 110 - Gunung Kawi and Tirta Empul, Ubud Market and the Shadow Puppets

Another long day was ahead of us today. We hired a bemo for 60000 Rp to take us to a temple called Gunung Kawi that was just outside the city limits. It was really impressive. It featured a group of stone shrines cut into the sides of cliffs. There were about 8 of them and they stood about 4 storys high with a stream running through the area. It was absolutely stunning.

The next stop was Tirta Empul. Upon arrival, we were the only foreigners there and no where to hire a sarong. We quickly found out why when we saw an older woman start to strip off her wet clothes. This place was used as a holy water swimming pool. It was jam packed full with locals and everyone was jumping into the water and burning incense as an offering to the gods. I never thought so many people could fit into such a small swimming pool. The pool was probably only about 1/3 full due to the amount of bodies displacing all the water. There were thousands of wet Indonesians stripping off their clothes everywhere. It was quite a sight.

We decided to leave and walk through the market area. The market by this temple was well, desperate. All the temples give you an option to rent or borrow a sarong when going into these areas. But everyone tries to sell you one. Vendors are everywhere. No one way buying anything. We were swarmed by people trying to get us to buy stuff. They would physically grab you and drag you into their stores. Prices would drop dramatically if you showed any disinterest. They started off at 75000Rp for a bag and dropped it to 15000Rp in the end by the time I walked away. It was pure desperation. We were the only ones shopping. No locals were. At least we now know how low people are willing to go when they are selling things.

That reminded me of a conversation I overheard the other day in the Cafe. An older American woman had a helper that she paid 90000Rp ($90) for 6 days of work a week. That averages to 150000Rp($15) a day and about $1 an hour. The woman was telling the helper that if she only worked 5 days a weeks she wouldn't be paying her the full 90000Rp for the week. How screwed up is that? I'm sure this helper makes more money than most Indonesians but really how much less could they be making?

The evening consisted of going to see a shadow puppets play. I was actually quite excited about this. Upon arrival, there was no one really there but 4 seats had reserved signs on them. I wasn't sure who, but then realized when the people came in to sit that the reserved signs had been written on the backs of their programs. How lame! The play was so incredibly boring. It lasted for about 90 min when it could have been done in 20min. The puppets were cool but, everything was done by candle light so all the images were unclear. With the really fast and jerky movements in combination with the very loud repetitive banging of instruments I was getting a serious headache. The children that were there all fell asleep or were plugging their ears. I'm glad I went to go see a play but won't do it again! :)