The Ketut Madra Homestay, created in 1974 as “a quiet place to learn about Bali,” has always focused on providing simple, long-term accommodation with a remarkable Balinese family in a traditional and spacious garden compound.

Over the years, most of their guests have been students of Bali of all ages, small groups, and budget-conscious travelers. While the rooms are quite small, all have bathrooms with hot showers. The luxury of the homestay lies in the warmth of the welcome, the openness of the garden, and the peace and quiet that are so far removed from the Starbucks bustle of 21st-century Ubud.

Madra and his son Made Berata are now close to finishing the renovations to the largest rental cottage in the compound. It will be the first to have a kitchen with gas stove and fridge; upstairs and downstairs bedrooms, both with covered verandahs; and two bathrooms. One of the bedrooms could be a study or office, or the combination would work for a family.

Madra, a well-known musician, masked dancer, and painter of traditional wayang legends, especially enjoys opening his home to individuals and small groups who want to learn about aspects of Balinese culture. He has taught painting and rebab (the stringed instrument that accompanies a gamelan) to two generations of guests and has introduced scores of visitors to teachers of Balinese gamelan, wayang kulit, wood-carving, mask-making, and much more. Madra’s ties to Bali’s teachers and artists working in every medium, not only in Ubud, but also in the academies of Denpasar, often connect serious students to the teachers they’ve been seeking.

While the homestay has served for almost 40 years as their “window to the west,” Ketut and his wife Wayan Konderi remain deeply in and of their culture. In the brief time we were in Bali in October, Ketut spent days at the Pura Dalem preparing its pair of barong landung for their rehabilitated reintroduction to the village at the temple’s odalan. With the impending cremation of Cokorda Mas, perbekel (village headman) of Peliatan, he has been called upon for countless hours of work on the boma and garuda decorations for the cremation tower.

Ketut Madra’s 1973 painting of Dewi Sita being rescued by Sangyang Agni, lord of fire, at the end of the Ramayana as the flames of the pyre turn into lotus flowers and she proves her virtue during her captivity by the demon king Rawana.

Contact information:

Ketut Madra Homestay, Banjar Kalah, Peliatan, Ubud, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia

62-361-975-749, Ketut Madra, telephone

081-392-607-411, Made Berata,  cell phone

Good News  Batik, kris, and wayang get UNESCO world heritage status. - Jakarta Post, October 23

On the second-to-last day, a meeting with Pande Wayan Suteja Neka, scheduled for about half an hour, lasted for almost two. Our mutual interest in Balinese keris gave us lots to discuss. The first photo above shows us with one from his museum collection and the three that follow show one of mine.

… and one of them is little girls and boys in Bali aspiring to learn the legong and baris and other dances that are still performed, both in temple festivals and in abbreviated formats at tourist venues. The first picture below is a legong performance at an odalan in Pengosekan in 1973.

And the second is a legong dancer performing last week at Tirta Sari in Peliatan.

And then there is Dewa Batuan’s son performing baris in public at age 10 in the pura desa in Pengosekan in 1973.

And the same dance at Tirta Sari last week…

Ibu Masih with her Ubud class of pendet dancers in 1973…

… and girls of a similar age learning the same dance at ARMA…

… and in front of Pura Saraswati in Ubud last week.

Well, yes, dance lessons and performance have always changed over time in Bali. And they often change in the direction of greater flash.

That said, going to an odalan and seeing the Balinese at prayer has changed very little. And it explains, I think, why it’s still possible to find the best of Bali everywhere on the island. It just requires looking behind the flash.

There were many things that were predictable about the coming changes in Bali back in 1973 and the over-development of Ubud over the past 37 years was one of them. But I don’t think I would have predicted this particular piece of development even on last year’s visit. This Starbucks outlet is west of the Ubud market on the north side of the main road among all the “name brand” shops controlled by the kids of the tjokordas of Ubud. I didn’t check to see if Bali’s famous luwak coffee was on the menu.

Edie and I had dinner last night with Agung Rai and his son Yudi in the home where their family has lived for many generations. Ketut Madra and his son Madé Berata  joined us.

Left to right above: Madé Berata, Ketut Madra, DMI, Agung Rai and his 92-year-old father, and Edie

One purpose of the dinner was to add further detail to Agung Rai’s proposal to do a six-month exhibition next year at ARMA of the 17 Ketut Madra paintings in my collection, supplemented by Madra’s work in the museum’s collection, plus that of two of his teachers, and thematically related wayang paintings  from Kamasan.

As is always the case with dinner meetings at home here, we talked of everything but business until dessert was almost done: music; poetry; dance; shadow puppets and dalangs we have known; ancient banjar rivalries and the current lack thereof; Agung Rai’s favorite topic, village culture and life in the kampong; and, of course, food.

Spicy sambal sauces in the foreground, five kinds of lawar bebek beyond, and then two kinds of pork saté, all followed by crispy bebek goreng (deep-fried duck). 

The eventual conversation about the exhibition only touched on a few major points: timing next spring, possible corporate or foundation support in Indonesia and the U.S. and deadlines for the catalog. Those are so tight that it looks like I’ll start writing my share of it on the airplane trip home.

(Michael Tenzer explains the complexities of making lawar here, and provides the best [only] recipe I’ve ever seen).

First Food Post

We have been eating! Don’t worry, not every single meal is pictured here, we’re not starving by any stretch. These are the highlights (i.e. when we remembered to take out our camera), rated from one to five, five being super delicious. We decided early on to eat mostly Indonesian food, and have had quite a sampling. See the next post about dinner at Agung Rai’s for more. And maybe the one after that.

Glossary and Notes:

Mie: noodles

Goreng: fried (stir-fried, really)

Nasi: rice

Campur: mix (as in a mix of lots of good stuff)

Babi: pork

Ayam: chicken

Kecap: ketchup :)

The fries at Pondok Bambu in Candidasa were super crispy and delicious.

The eat-up consisted of opor ayam from Fly Cafe (the only meal we had twice), leftover pad thai and curry sauce from Siam Sally (that meal not pictured), fried garlic potatoes, eggs with garlic and onions. Yum!

Cafe Wayan wins for nicest ambiance, and had excellent service. They brought us a free dessert of coconut ice cream, a little brownie, and fruit salad for each of us, because the waitress mistook dad for somebody else.

Not pictured are the best Vietnamese spring rolls I have ever had, at Villa Vajra (see earlier post).

Warung Teges is a little roadside local place where dad and Madra used to eat back in 1973.

Aaaand, here’s a chicken video. Couldn’t resist. Two roosters play-fighting, and I love how the pullet tries to break it up. This is in the parking lot outside a crappy restaurant in Padang Bai, near where we went snorkeling on Sunday.

More chickens! Picture me making sudden stops on the motor bike and creeping up people’s driveways and doorsteps, stalking their chickens. Not embarrassing at all!

The last picture here is Ibu Cat’s cheerful cockatoo. He had some terrible feather disease as a baby but is doing fine now! He told me he loves me, I feel so special.

For friends of dad who may not know, I’m pretty into chickens. I’ve got five at home, and I have been, let’s say, more interested than the average tourist, in the many chickens in Bali. They wander around everywhere, eating bugs or trash or whatever they can find. And the roosters crow all day long, starting about 4:30am. Cockfighting is big here (although not out in the open), and lots of people keep roosters in cages to keep them from fighting with each other. You just see them along the side of the road, in front of peoples’ shops and homes. Enjoy the best of many chicken pictures!