Traditional Legong Dance at Ubud Palace

After having spent the morning in the rice fields and enjoying Bali's nature we decided to get a taste of Bali's rich dance traditions and booked tickets for the evening's performance of the traditional Legong dance, which is performed by beautiful young Balinese girls. We got to the palace early so we could get front row seats, and enjoyed watching the place slowly fill up with people, and the stage being prepared, candles lit and flowers laid out to decorate around the entire stage. An older woman performed some sort of blessing ceremony with offerings and incense. We noticed that the majority of the spectators were Japanese – among them our fellow bird watcher from the morning's hike. It was a magical evening, the dancers were graceful and skilled, the costumes beautiful, the music exotic and the setting stunning.