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I was feeling much better today and we couldn't wait to get out and see Ubud. Breakfast was great, not only did we get really good food but we also got entertainment from lots of monkeys making their way across the roofs on the opposite buildings! The baby's were so cute and hilarious to watch, fighting and playing with each other, older ones balanced across the thick electrical wires right over to our side but the staff frightened them off. Im not too keen on them but Chris really likes them, he could sit and watch them or hours so that's what we did this afternoon, we went into the Monkey Forest.
Before we went in we took a walk around town, now it actually feels like we are in Bali. Ubud is a really fascinating place and so chilled out, you could easily get lost walking down the narrow streets. There's so many interesting shops selling souvenirs and the art work and paintings are amazing! We wish we had a house (and the money) to buy all the cool stuff to fill it with. By midday we were hungry so we found a healthy juice bar and restaurant at the end of our road. They did great milkshakes and the food was delicious. We sat talking and people watched for a while. A couple of hippies were really taking in the Bali experience, wearing baggy clothes, frizzy hair and each woman had a single bead stuck between their eye brows. We also saw a Balinese woman present a flower offering to a shrine on the corner of the street opposite. Shrines and little baskets filled with rice and flower offerings were everywhere, they are small offering baskets called ‘canang sari' that Balinese offer to their Gods three times a day! They were outside homes, work places, on walls, in front of statues, hotel rooms and some were even placed on cars. It is basically a ritual of giving back what has been given to them by the Gods. It is a sharing that is not based upon fear, but on gratitude to the richness of life. They believe offering appeases the spirits and brings prosperity and good health to their family.
After lunch we went back to our hotel to get rid of our bags and anything else a monkey might want to snatch from us. Then we headed across the road and down to the entrance of the Monkey Forest. There were already lots of small monkeys outside, jumping on people to see if they had anything they could steal. I cringed at the sight of them, I really didn't want a monkey climbing all over me so when a lady offered me a bag of bananas I said no straight away. Chris on the other hand bought a big bag of them and smiled and giggled like an excited little boy! Then straight away before Chris could hide the bananas a couple of very cheeky little ones leapt onto him and tried to grab the bag out of his hands! One of the monkeys hung on tightly to his shorts and showed off his teeth! I was keeping well away from them, instead of helping I took photos and laughed at Chris who refused to give up the bananas! Eventually Chris managed to throw them off lol.
We only managed to make it through the entrance when another monkey walked up to Chris, it too jumped on him and tried to snatch the bananas! Chris held his hand up high above his head in an attempt to save his bananas but that only made the monkey climb right up onto his shoulder! A park keeper nearby suddenly shouted and told Chris to give the monkey a banana otherwise he might get bitten! Chris didn't argue and finally gave up. I'm glad I wasn't carrying them! The next monkey was a large male, he looked a bit nasty and Chris said he didn't want to upset him so he gave him a banana straight away, he had huge fangs! The male gobbled down the banana and immediately held out his hand for another one, this time Chris held it up high and made him climb up onto his shoulder to get it! We had been in the forest for less than five minutes and Chris's white vest was already covered in little muddy foot prints, it really wasn't a good idea to wear white!
The park looked like an ancient kingdom of some sort taken over by the forest and monkeys. As we continued around the park we saw lots of mothers feeding their babies, they were so cute, one baby had a mohican hair style! We walked down a narrow path that lead to a dead end, the monkeys seemed to act crazy in that area! Chris must have entered one of the monkeys territories, it showed off his teeth to him then started jumping over his head from wall to wall until he left, I was worried it would jump on his head and attack him! Another monkey dropped a piece of banana so Chris went to pick it up to give to him but that made the monkey go mental! It was so funny, we know now never to mess with a monkeys food lol. Afterwards we saw another large male try to open a coconut by slamming it down on the ground, he wasn't getting very far though, we think it would take hours until it cracked.
On our way back out of the forrest we noticed people sitting down, the park keepers or 'feeders' as we called them were getting the monkeys to climb onto them for a picture. I noticed some young children feeding the monkeys and allowing them to climb all over them, they weren't scared at all. The monkeys actually looked really cute so I thought it was about time I get over my fear and have a go. I took some peanuts from a park keeper and sat down beside a couple of young ones, held out my hand and immediately one climbed onto my lap and took them. It decided to sit there for a moment while I froze with a big grin on my face. Then I put a peanut on my head, well the next monkey was a little bigger, instead of climbing up onto my shoulder he just yanked at my hair and pulled my head down so he could reach them lol. None of them bit me or threatened me this time which was good, they still make me feel a little bit nervous though. Chris had a go next and made the monkey climb along his arm. Then some large males came along and the keepers asked him to move.
We laughed at a couple of people walking in though the entrance, one guy had a whole bag of biscuits taken from him and another guy with his family was stupid enough to bring in a carrier bag full of food! It looked like their lunch for the day but the monkeys managed to pull it open. He was a big man and managed to save what he had left by swinging the bag around over his head, lol what did he think was going to happen, idiot!
It had been a fun day and just walking around the Monkey Forest was enough to tire us out so we went back to our room, showered all the monkey dirt off of us and finished the evening with a film.
- comments
Nat Sounds like an interesting day charlotte, im quite suprised u had a little fear of the monkeys. I would of loved to get amongst the monkey madness... Sounds fun! X
Alan Alexander Wow! I would love to go there! Charlotte I can imagine you really worried that 1 of them was gona mess your hair up!! I bet Chris was loving it!! x