A morning in Ubud

Ubud sits in the center of Bali, in the mountains where the jungle is thick and the air a tad cooler. It’s the arts and culture hub of the island and art studios, stylish boutiques, bustling restaurants, and bohemian-style inns line the town's tangle of streets. It’s where you go to buy an original painting, see a shadow puppet show, and sample authentic Indonesian cuisine. It’s where you go to get a taste of Bali’s rich, artful culture.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the recent bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, described Ubud, as "a small Pacific version of Santa Fe, only with monkeys walking around and Balinese families in traditional dress all over the place." Yes, the art scene is that sophisticated here.

We arrived in Ubud in the morning. Our driver dumped all seven of us off at the outdoor market in the center of town. We made our way through the maze of stalls, the little girls, Paris and Kaya, quickly spotting dresses made from batik fabric, beaded sandals, atta grass purses.

"I want that dress! I want that! Mommy!"

We bought the girls dresses—two for $5. Bali is a bargain, especially if you’re willing to bargain. Those dresses started out at $5 each. With prices so cheap, it was hard to say no to the kids.

"Those sandals are so cute! Can I have them?"

"Sure."

"Of course, I'll buy you the flute." (It was only $2.)

Onto the produce area, where a vendor shared samples of exotic fruits: passion fruit, rambutan, snake fruit, apple bananas. My son tasted the custard inside of a mangosteen fruit—and kept asking for more and more. I picked up a bag filled with 10 long, fragrant vanilla beans--$2.50. In San Francisco, I recently paid $20 for two beans at a gourmet market.

Our friends Veronique and Mark wanted to buy a painting so we left the market to browse the town's many art galleries. They found exactly what they wanted in the first one, an oil painting with Sanskrit writing swirled with sensuous colors and a stone Buddah.

We took at break for lunch at Casa Luna, a three-story open-air restaurant. Brightly colored art done by local children adorned the walls. We started with fresh fruit juices: lime-ginger, carrot-turmeric, mango. And then onto fern salad, potato curry, grilled fish topped with a chili relish. Final course: a gooey chocolate yogurt cake. Casa Luna owner and cookbook author Janet de Neefe also runs regular Balinese cooking courses. Next trip, I'm signing up.

Onto the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, where mischievous, long-tailed macaques swung from the vines of the tightly knit canopy above. Some 300 of them keep the herd of tourists entertained--noshing on bananas, carrying their babies on their backs, picking off fleas from one another, and showing off their acrobatics. It's one big circus.

"Mommy! Can we take home a monkey?"

That's one souvenir that I had to say no to.