THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Bali and Lombok - page 196

Calonarang (1930) by Spies himself, a dark portrait of a demonic apparition; this is the only
Spies painting currently on show in Bali. The other major work is the Portrait of a Javanese
Nobleman and his Wife (1837) by the Javanese artist Raden Saleh , considered to be the fath-
er of Indonesian painting. The rest of the floor is given over to modern Indonesian painting,
including works by Ruang Affandi and some strikingly powerful abstracts by I Made Su-
madiyasa.
Ubud Botanic Garden
Jl Sandat, 1.7km north of Jl Raya Ubud • Daily 8am-6pm • Rp50,000 • 0361 970951, botanicgarden-

bali.com
Lush, tranquil Ubud Botanic Garden occupies a steep-sided river valley in the banjar of
Kutuh Kaja. The garden features plants from all over Indonesia, including heliconias, orchids
and bromeliads, and there's also an Islamic Garden and a maze. It works well as a green re-
treat, with its thoughtfully designed open-air meditation court and strategically sited seating.
The garden is accessed via Jalan Tirta Tawar and takes about half an hour to reach on foot,
passing through villages and ricefields.
Petulu's white heron sanctuary
1.5km off Jl Andong • No fixed opening hours • Free
Every evening at around 6pm, hundreds of thousands of herons fly in from far and wide to
roost in the village of PETULU , immediately northeast of Ubud - quite a spectacle. A visit
here in the evening is a good way to round off a daytime trip to the botanic garden.
Birdwatchers might be able to distinguish the four species of wading birds that frequent the
heronry - the Javan pond heron , the plumed egret , the little egret and the cattle egret -
but for everyone else the sheer volume of birds is impressive enough.
It isn't clear why the birds have chosen to make their home in Petulu, though locally it's
claimed that the birds are reincarnations of the tens of thousands of men and women who
died in the civil war (1965-66) that raged through Bali. Many of the victims were buried near
here, and the birds are said to have started coming here only after an elaborate ceremony was
held in the village in memory of the dead.
To find the white heron sanctuary , follow Jalan Andong north from the T-junction at the
eastern edge of Ubud for about 1.5km, then take the left-hand (signed) fork for a further
1.5km; lots of public bemos ply Jalan Andong, but you'll have to walk the section from the
fork.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: UBUD
BY PLANE
The easiest way to get to/from Ngurah Rai Airport is by shuttle bus (around Rp50,000) or
taxi (around Rp250,000-300,000).