Friday, October 28, 2011

Bali, Indonesia: Day 5

Street scene in Ubud; the white decorations are for a wedding
Little R at the museum
Witch eating a baby
The Barong is here; everyone's happy
In the morning, we woke up to find a note on our door from B's father, which said something like "Due to the nature of our interaction yesterday, it would be better if we spent more time apart. Best, XXX". He is so strange and childish: why not just talk to us like a normal person?

However, I don't like fighting, so I wrote him a nice note saying I was sorry for yelling and I hoped that we could make up and be friends again (although if he wanted to have more flexibility than is possible with a baby of course that was totally fine). We left it on his door, not knowing where he was, and left for the Museum Puri Lukisan, which covers the history of Balinese art in the 20th century, and the influence of western artists and art on its development. It's in a beautiful setting, and the art was actually very good. Apparently, Bali, and Ubud in particular, is famous for its painting. After a light lunch at a coffeehouse (they grow coffee in Bali, so of course B had to try it), we returned to the hotel.

While I watched little R nap, B found his father and patched things up (he had gotten my note). Naturally he didn't admit any wrongdoing whatsoever, or apologize, but at least there wasn't conflict anymore. After little R woke up, we all met, I apologized in person (since I was sorry for losing my temper, even if he is a douche), and we arranged to meet for dinner. Then B, little R and I went off to Ubud and explored the town some more, seeing some more temples and visiting some of the (many) shops.

We went to dinner at Bridges, which is a fancy (European) restaurant set right on a cliffside overlooking a river. It was a truly beautiful setting, and the food was great (with a huge wine list for B's father's benefit). He came half an hour late (highly annoying as amusing a baby for 30 minutes with no food and nothing to do, at a place where she mustn't make noise, is really sucky), as a last expression of his bile, but became cheerful over his wine, and we all went to a dance performance together.

It was a barong dance (a barong is a mythological creature who defends against evil monsters), and featured the barong fighting a wicked baby-eating witch, sorceresses doing magical rites in a graveyard, and men stabbing themselves with knives. It was pretty awesome (and little R absolutely loved it).

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