A Morning Stroll in Ubud: The Market and The Palace

Hello, all Steemians. I would like to share my morning stroll in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.

Ubud was starting to get busy that morning I got there. I just rode my motor cycle for about an hour from my home in Denpasar early morning because I wanted to avoid the traffic getting to Ubud.

There was a guy in the parking area in Ubud market who assisted me finding a perfect place to park my motorcycle. From there, I began my short morning exploration of Ubud's main town.

Ubud street in the morning, there was not many cars or motor cycles.

The Famous Ubud Art Market

Ubud market, photo taken from front of Ubud Palace.

The market was just opening. The sellers just were cleaning their shops, displaying their merchandise and going to the temple in the market to pray before starting their business.

There are so many sellers in the market. They occupied for different buildings and an alley which has a lot of shops in each side. Probably there were more than 200 little shops in this market.

Many of shops, if not all, sold souvenir for tourists who come to visit Ubud. They sold wooden statues, wind chimes, dresses, sarong, paintings, ukulele, wall decoration, key chain, and I think anything you ever think of was available in this market.

A shop selling sovenir in the market.

The shops sold similar stuff, mostly sovenir.

Bags, hats, sandal, time for shopping, ladies?
I entered the market from East entrance. My plan was to stroll around the market, continue to the alley, the street, and then will end up in west entrance,.

The market reminded me of the the scene in movie Eat Pray Love where the main characters walked in the market and talked about the smelly fruit called Durian. And I remember during the shooting of that scene, the market was closed for public for a couple of days. According to the sellers, they could not sell anything during the shooting, but they have been compensated.

Passing lots of sellers, I arrived in the lane, where there more shops. It was early morning, there were not so many visitors. Best time to visit the market is indeed in the morning.

Along this lane, there were more shops. Can you handle them?

Ubud Palace

Just across the street from the market, there was a fancy building with typical Balinese architecture. It's the building which was built around 1800 and belongs to the royal family of Ubud. It's the Ubud palace.

The Ubud Palace, West Gate. There was road works to fix the pavement just in front of the palace

Walking across the angkul-angkul or the traditional gate, I reached the first courtyard. The first courtyard was an open area where many cultural activities take place. In the past, it was used by the king to meet the royal guests. Nowadays, every evening a cultural dance performance is held in the first courtyard.
The Ubud Palace west gate, I took the photo from across the street.

Entering the first courtyard of the Palace from the west gate.

There were some pavilions in this first yard, a wooden bell tower, and another Bali gate to go to the inner courtyard.

The first courtyard with the view of looking out to the gate.

The second gate located in the first courtyard to enter the second courtyard.

The second courtyard was also an open area with several pavilion and guardian spirit statues. This yard also connected to the house compounds where the royal family live. These house compounds were not open for public. The gate these compounds were always closed to public, and there were signs that saying "no entrance" on their gates.

There are many guardian spirit statues in front of the Bale gong or the pavilion for putting traditional musical instrument.

The second courtyard where there were many guardian spirit statues.

So, I could not go further as those were private areas. I could go in the past to the royal family compound, but since there were too many visitors, the palace decided to close the main area for public to protect their privacy.

The gate to inner palace, closed for public.

The inner palace, not allowed to get in, but I could peak from one side, and took this photo. It looked serene and beautiful from outside.

I exited the Ubud Palace from the west gate, where I came in from. My next destination would be the Saraswati temple, and Babi Guling Ibu Oka or Madam Oka's famous roasted pork. I will continue in my next post. Thanks for reading.

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