What's New in Ubud Market?

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I still remember when I first went to Ubud marrket in early 2000. This was before it was renovated. Now everything has changed.
In the past, once you get into the market you would see the sellers were everywhere, they would lie down their merchandise in the ground. As I walked around the market, you walk down path where you need to walk carefully at certain point so you don't step into any merchandise for selling.
Most of the sellers just lie down their sellers in the open. Can you imagine what happen to them if it was raining? They would probably packed up their merchendise.
I enjoy watching those merchandise for display everywhere. It was colorful. They were mostly souvenirs. You could see wood carving, wind chimes, table decoration, fans, wall decoration, painting, ash tray, bottle opener (which usually very obscene, but it is a different kind of sense of humor).They were all differet in colours and it is a real treat for the eye, and walking in the forest of souvenir making me thinking that was the part of the Ubud market which was very interesting.
Nowadays, those are gone.  Ubud market has been changed, all the sellers now have their own stalls or little shops. These shops are located in a big building where the sellers could rent or buy their place for selling their merchandise.
When you arrive in the Ubud market, you can enter the two stories building where you can see these little shops. The sellers do not have their stuff for sale in the open air, but inside the building. For me, it is less fun to walk inside the building, it felt like walking in shopping center. But that's just me. I am a tour guide, I am not a tourist who go there for shopping. Just for taking my clients or the tourists. You will probably will think differently than I do.
One thing that remain the same is the bargaininig. You will have still bargain if you want to buy art in this market. But, a word of warning, because it is indoor, and there is no AC at the time I write this post, it can be a bit hot. So your bargaining skill maybe compromised because you can not stand the heat.







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