We watched the monkeys play around on the roofs opposite us again this morning while we ate our breakfast. They were being just as mischievous as before, hanging onto satellite dishes and climbing into people's balconies looking for food. We watched one lady come out and shoo them away. The monkeys were so cheeky Chris wanted them to come over to our side and play so he said he will get some bananas at some point and tempt them over. I think he's just asking for trouble! Lol.

After breakfast we took a long walk around town. I couldn't help myself from looking at all the nice dresses in the shop windows but Chris huffed every time I stopped and stormed away from me so I would have to catch up, hehe! A little later we stopped in a restaurant for lunch. The tables and chairs over looked the greenest rice paddies we had ever seen, they looked especially brighter when the sun shone on them, it was like looking at an enhanced photograph! We sat looking out at the view and watched a local farmer tend to this field and a cow in the distance that kept mooing! It was really nice and the home made pies we ate were even nicer.

So other than the Monkey Forest we wondered what else there was to do in Ubud. Chris is still refusing to do yoga with me so that's off the list and neither of us really want to visit any temples. We looked at Tripadvisor for help and found out about a highly recommended silver smith class called Chez Monique, then by chance we found a leaflet for them at a tourist information desk. Making our own jewellery sounded really interesting and was something different so we walked to their office about ten minutes away to find out more. It was really hot by now so ten minutes felt like half an hour, then we found the shop and were told to walk another fifteen minutes to the actual work shop! We found the right road but were confused at first because there only appeared to be houses down it. Then a man appeared in front of one of them and invited us in. Wayan was really friendly and welcomed us into his beautiful home, it was a house complex sort of thing. He sat us down and we drank coffee while trying to decide on a what to create. Chris chose to make a simple silver ring and I drew my own design of a heart shaped pendant. It looked really cool and we both couldn't wait to get started.

I stuck my design onto a piece of silver and started to cut it out with a coping saw. Chris was given a long strip of silver which was soft and bendy. He chose the thickness of his ring, measured it to fit his finger then shaped it around a pole. Then an assistant soldered the two ends together. Once it was soldered Chris reshaped it by sanding down the edges to create a curve then he polished it until it was all shiny and new! It had taken him two hours to complete and he was really happy with it. Meanwhile I had gotten through eight blades, the dam things kept snapping! When I finally finished cutting my design, the assistant soldered a small silver ring on so I could put a chain on it and then polished it up for me. It was 6:30pm and dark by now so we think they just wanted it finished lol. I was really pleased and wanted to wear my pendant straight away so Wayan gave me a red rope chain then brought us another cup of coffee each. We sat chatting for a bit then I asked him if he could recommend any local dance performances to us. He got excited and said there was a show on tonight at 7pm and invited us to go with him. He said it was a special dance because it is performed by the Taman Kaja community. He him self would be working as a guard outside and his brother would be in the performance. It was called the Kecak Fire and Trance dance and I thought it sounded very interesting. I knew Chris wasn't so keen to see a performance but I made him go anyway. It would be something different and cultural.

So we said yes and Wayan quickly went off to buy our tickets. When he came back we all squeezed into his little rattling car and sped off down the road. We arrived outside the temple walls and the place was already filling up. We walked in and took our seats then waited. The temple was lit up beautifully and we could see some people moving in the back. We really didn't know what to expect. Suddenly once all the seats were full a large group of men walked out and sat around in a circle. They began to sway in time with each other, hum and made high pitched 'chat chat chat" sounds. It was strange but fascinating. There were no musical instruments, only the men using their voices to make sounds. They would lay down, stand up, wave their hands in the air, always facing towards the inner circle. Then as they all went suddenly silent, two beautiful women appeared dressed in silk and wearing tall golden crowns on their heads. They stared out into the crowed and tilted their heads slowly side to side as they glided around the circle. They walked with their toes curled up and made hindu signs with their hands. The women disappeared and other characters came out dressed as monkeys, their costumes were very good! The dance was performed by a man on a fake horse, he ran through hot coals in bare feet! The whole thing lasted an hour and twenty minutes, we didn't know what the story was about but we still enjoyed the performance, even Chris liked it! The different costumes, dances and of course the one hundred or more singing men circled around the centre stage. Our favourite moment was when two men dressed as monkeys were fighting and two cheeky children in the audience shouted out at them "Good hit!" The little girl shouted out in her american accent "I'll bet you fifty dollars!" and made everyone laugh.

The performance finished and we walked back to our hotel which was a good twenty minutes away. We were both really hungry so we got some dinner on the way then back for a shower and bed. Chris is making me go white water rafting for the first time tomorrow which I'm not happy about but he thinks I'll like it. He trusted me with tonights performance so I'm trusting him that I'll like tomorrow. I just have this image of him making the boat flip over for fun!