Best Things to do in Ubud: Kecak Fire & Trance Dance

Okay where do I even start? This was an amazing experience and I can't believe we didn't do it sooner, but we finally went! We had been wanting to go, the show starts at 7pm we've usually been eating dinner, but we have been told it's one of the best things to do in Ubud. We finally decided to do it and went down to the art market where many people are selling tickets. A woman immediately approached us. We got our tickets and at 6:45 we headed over to the temple to see the show.

The show begins immediately after a priest sprinkles the kecak dancers with holy water and prays for success and safety of the show. The show is about an hour long and portrays a story from the Ramayana- A Hindu Epic following the life of Rama, a Prince.

The Kecak dance tells of a time when Rama is in the forest and the evil Rahwana has his servant disguised as a golden deer to lead Rama away from his love, Sita. Rama kills the deer and as the deer dies it imitates Ramas voice crying for help. Rama's brother Laksamana goes to see if Rama is alright, leaving Sita completely alone. Rahwana then comes and steals Sita away and holds her captive along with his niece, Trijata.

Rama and his brother call upon Hanoman, the white monkey general, for help. Hanoman sneaks in to where Sita is held hostage and gives her Rama's ring as a sign that she will be rescued. In return she gives the monkey general a brooch. He then returns to Rama and they go to battle. So, Rama and his monkey army are then trapped by the chained arrow of Meganada- Rahwana's son and everyone is like "oh, no! What do we do?" , but Vishnu the God of preservation sends, Jatayu a magical bird to rescue them! Hanoman the monkey and Rahwana have a ferocious fight, but in the end Rama kills Rahwana and the story goes to show the good (dharma) will always prevail over evil (Adharma)

It was quite a show!