Me Against the Monkeys

We left the Gilis veeery early yesterday morning and it was a beautiful day to travel! First we got a rickety boat to take us to Lombok, then we caught a bus which took us over winding (and slightly terrifying) coastal mountain roads to the resort town of Senggigi. Just off the beach in Senggigi was our lovely boat, just waiting to feed us breakfast and get us safely back to Bali.

So our plan has been to start in Ubud, where the main cultural attractions are, and then head north to the laid back beach villages of Lovina... also well known for their volcanic black sand beaches. We will head to Lovina on Wednesday morning, and for now we are living up the Balinese cultural life in Ubud.

When we arrived in Ubud yesterday afternoon, a kind man asked if we would like to stay at "his" guesthouse while in Ubud. The price was right, so we agreed. He said he would take us there, one by one, on the back of his motorbike. Well... ok. I told Pat I would go first and wait for him at the guesthouse. The guy took me to a guesthouse, found out they were full, put me back on his bike, took me to another guesthouse, found out they were full, at which point I was angry and told him to take me back to Patrick. OK, he said, but on the way back, he stopped by another guesthouse, which was not full... which, in fact, was beautiful. Which, from the outside, looks more like a Hindu temple than a guesthouse. My anger slowly subsided. Pat and I got a beautiful, big room in the garden for roughly 8 bucks a night, and we are served banana pancakes every morning on our veranda. Thanks, motorbike guy.

So, this morning we made our way to the Sacred Monkey Forest, which is about a five minute walk from our guesthouse. These "Sacred Monkeys" are Balinese Macaques and they flourish in the forest to the south of the town. There are Balinese caretakers who are always watching out for the monkeys and they are really great. The monkeys themselves are little kleptomanics. At first I thought they were cute, but by the end of our walk I was ready to strangle them. They left Patrick completely alone, but for some reason, my hair, glasses and handbag were a huge attraction to them! Not to mention I bought a bunch of bananas to feed them, but the little buggers attacked me and stole the whole bunch. Jerks.

Actually, I had a great time. They were really cute and the way they playfully attacked me was pretty funny to everyone in the vicinity... including me, of course! Here are some pictures of the little criminals.




It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times...


Pat! They're after my bananas! (I didn't actually think they would climb up my body and take the bananas by force...)



I thought this monkey wanted to be my friend, but he just wanted my glasses.


Trying to get the bananas back. A lost cause.


Get offa me.


Oh God. There are too many!


After catching wind of his sinister plan to take my glasses.



Yeah, no problem. I'll cart you around.