The Tanah Merah Ubud Night Tour
The Tanah Merah “Ubud Night Tour” is an absolute must see while staying at Tanah Merah. The Ubud Night Tour will give to a great understanding in the amazing Balinese lifestyle and history.
The Ubud Night Tour starts at about 5. pm where we will drive to the famous Petulu Village.
Local legend is that there were no herons near Petulu until one afternoon in
the fall of 1965. On September 30, 1965, an attempted communist coup led to
the downfall of founding Indonesian president Sukarno and the emergence of General Suharto, who ended the coup.
Afterwards, the communist party was outlawed, and an anti-communist witch hunt swept over the nation. In Bali, the national political differences were bound up with existing tensions over the caste system and land reform.
Religious traditionalists led the search for communists, and many people were brutally murdered, often clubbed to death by mobs. Exactly one week after one of the worst of the massacres, thousands of white herons, said to be the souls of the slaughtered, appeared in Petulu, where no herons had been seen before. They have been coming every afternoon since.
At Petulu village we will visit the stone- and woodcarver Nyoman Kelinced. Here you can see how a regular Balinese family lives and you will get a guide through his house and family temple.
After visiting Nyoman Kelinced we will drive to Ubud where the famous and amazing Kecak dance is about to begin.
The Kecak dance is one of the most famous of Balinese dances. It is unusual because it has no musical accompaniment like many other Indonesian dances do. The rhythm of the dance is produced by the chanting 'monkey' chorus. Instead, a troupe of over 50 bare-chested men serve as the chorus, making a wondrous cacophony of synchronized "chak-achak-achak" clicking sounds while swaying their bodies and waving their hands .From that chanting noise of "Cak-cak-cak", then it gave the dance its name Kecak.
What makes the Kecak such a fascinating dance to watch are the fifty or so men in the checkered sarongs. They are both the choir and the props, providing the music for the story in a series of constant vocal chants that change with the mood of the actors. They don't sit still, either, they wave their arms to simulate fire, and reposition themselves around the stage to represent wind and fire, prison cells, and unseen hand of protection from the gods.
The dance is played in five acts and lasts roughly 1 hour. It is taken from the Hindu epic Ramayana, which tells the story of Prince Rama and his rescue of Princess Sita, who has been kidnapped by the evil King of Lanka, Rama with the help of the white monkey army rescues his wife and defeats the evil Rahwana.
Attending a Kecak recital is a must for any visitor to Bali. It is a wondrous experience, and a window into the musical and artistic culture that make the Balinese a special people.
