Monkeying Around in Ubud

After a two hour drive on the motor bike, we arrived in Ubud. Boutiques, Markets, food stalls, motor bikes and people zipping every way in the center of town. We found our place to stay from another travel blog online, Artja Inn. Its a homestay down a quieter street in town away from the congested traffic and taxi drivers standing every 15ft heckling tourists as they walk by, "Transport, transport. You need taxi Boss?". 

Its a basic room in the back of a family compound. A compound in Bali is almost like an open air apartment building. You have a large extended family staying in one area with a kitchen, bathroom, and temple to share. Kids stay in one house and the adults stay in another. It was really interesting to see so many people living together harmoniously. As this is the custom in Bali. 

Our separate room in the back had the basic amenities for 150,000 rupiah a night, bed, shower, hot water. Well, we had hot water for the first two days at least... We're sure we could have gotten a nicer place with a pool and wifi, but what kept us staying was the scrumptious free breakfast Wayan, the owner made for us every morning! It was probably the best breakfast we've had here. Banana pancakes, gourmet jaffles, and then there was always a mountainous tower of fruit! And there was always piping hot water in a thermos for coffee or tea anytime throughout the day. How that old thing kept the water hot, without us ever seeing Wayan refill it, nobody will ever know... After the first breakfast, we were hooked!

A short walk up the road was a trail through beautiful rice paddies. It felt amazing to escape from the city and into nature in just a couple of minutes. One morning we walked the trail enjoying the gorgeous scenery.

 We were so excited to explore the area but were unfortunately delayed a few days because we both got sick with you guessed it bali belly! YUCk! There is nothing you can really do about it, just wait it out till you can hold down water and food. We tried hard to avoid this travesty but there really is no way to prevent it. You can only be so careful where you eat. So we were down for the count for the next few days.

One of the best ways to hydrate and settle your stomach during Bali Belly, drinking a young coconut

Finally, when we were feeling alot better, we decided to explore the famous Sacred Monkey Forest to see the 500+ Balinese Macaques monkeys living there!

The Macaque Monkeys that look like they have a beard are female. Males on the other hand have facial hair that resembles a moustache and are larger, weighing up to 10kg.

 We had heard that these little monkeys were very mischievous creatures who liked to un-zip bags, take out food, and even hiss at you when they didn't get there way.

And well folks the rumors are true! These monkeys were not at all shy to the numerous tourists flowing in and out of them. If you had food, you better drop it and run, because they would find that banana in an instant! We politely passed on buying bananas to feed them. By the end of the day we both had made friends.

Over the next week, we enjoyed everything else that Ubud had to offer. We attended two traditional Balinese dances at a nearby temple and the Ubud Palace. We also enjoyed taking a cooking class where we learned to make a few of Bali's signature dishes and learned the traditions of family life and making daily offerings. (We'll devote the next blog article to these)

We also attended a few yoga classes at two of Ubuds more popular yoga centers, the Yoga Barn and Radiantly Alive. All of the classes were fun and we really feel in great shape after a month of being here staying active and eating healthy food. Roy struggled a bit more with the yoga and particularly had a difficult time in one of the advanced classes where we had to harmonized breath with movements and maintain composure and inner peace. It was amusing watching him try to attempt some of the poses while slipping all over the place because he was sweating so much. He completely gave up when it came time for the hand stands."Inner agony and torment" were the only feelings he described...lol

Two of Roys friends, Michael and Jess, a nice couple from Australia joined us for two days. They just returned from a few weeks at the coast and traveling some islands spearfishing as well. We enjoyed a couple of good meals together including Bali's most famous dish, Babi Guling or suckling pig as we call it, and explored a little more of the area.

 We visited Goa Gajah or the Elephant Cave, an ancient holy site. After researching a bit afterwards, its a bit unclear on what the place actually is. According to the good people at About.com,

"The menacing entrance to Goa Gajah looks like a demonic mouth, suggesting that people are entering an underworld as they venture inside through the darkness. Some claim that the entrance represents the Hindu earth god Bhoma while others say the mouth belongs to the child-eating witch Rangda from Balinese mythology.

 Goa Gajah is thought to date back to the 11th century, although relics predating this time were found within proximity of the site. The first mention of Goa Gajah and the Elephant Cave was in the Javanese poem Desawarnana written in 1365.

The leading theory suggests that Goa Gajah was used as a hermitage or sanctuary by Hindu priests who dug the cave entirely by hand. Although accredited as a sacred Hindu site, a number of relics and the close proximity of a Buddhist temple suggest that the site held special significance to early Buddhists in Bali."