Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

The drive to Ubud was hard, we were already tired from driving around the Amed coast and our inland search for tourist sights that morning. We are becoming used to our decision making processes though. We tend to make last minute decisions about most things.

The process tends to go: research, chat, more research, decision made, hover a bit…don't want to rush, put off for a day - then get up and go.

Young Tehya and a young monkey

So as ever we suddenly decided today that we wanted to move on - we already knew we wanted to visit Ubud it was just a matter of when. Our bag was easy to pack as the contents were minimal. The rest of our stuff just got thrown onto the back seat of the car (along with Tehya as she had said she wanted to start the journey sitting on her own - instead of perched on my lap as usual).

It was very hot and the sky was so blue and bright with the reflection from the sea it hurt your eyes to see. Gavin turned the car around and we headed back the way we had come two days before. Within a few seconds Tehya had settled herself against the bag on the back seat with a snorkel set on her lap and fallen into a hot sweaty sleep.

The drive was pleasant enough and we were more confident re driving the road in better light and with more hours of daylight ahead off us. We stopped again briefly in Candidasa at Ari's where Tehya and Gavin had a hotdog and cold drink each. Then we were on the road again heading south east towards Klungkung and then turning inland towards Gianyar.

Yawning monkey

Up to this point the road had been simple enough to negotiate but this changed after we took the last turn towards Ubud - suddenly road signs seemed in great shortage and as we drove into the city we were finding it hard to find any of the land marks or buildings that were on our map. We got completely lost and after a relatively smooth drive our frustrations started to get the better of us.

After about an hour of driving around and feeling increasingly annoyed and disappointed I spotted a museum name that was on our map and we were able to locate ourselves and find our way to the famous monkey forest road where we had hoped to find accommodation.

We pulled up by the entrance to the Sacred Forest Monkey Sanctuary and sat and watched some monkeys for a few minutes then left the car and went in search of somewhere to stay for the night. The first place we came to was cheap at 80,000 Rp including breakfast. Although it was a little smelly it seemed clean enough, at that point I couldn’t have cared to much about it.

We showered and left to find somewhere to eat. The food in Ubud was pretty expensive at most of the places we checked - finally when we found somewhere cheaper it turned out to be awful.

A market in Ubud

The next morning we were up early refreshed from a good night's sleep and after a quick bite to eat we walked out of the hotel and into the sanctuary. To get into the forest we paid 15,000 Rp per adult and 7,500 for Tehya. We spent about three hours walking around the temples, statues of monkeys and komodo dragons hidden amongst the incredibly huge ancient trees.

I was a bit nervous as I had a bunch of bananas concealed in my bag and there were signs at the entrance warning visitors not to keep food hidden as the monkeys will smell it and search for it regardless of your feeling around the matter. We came across lots of monkeys and we had a great time feeding them. I ended up with one on my head and Tehya got to stroke and hold the hands of some of the younger ones.

They were mostly friendly and quite tame - pulling funny faces that looked as though they were blowing you kisses when they hoped you might give them a banana or two. It was a wonderful experience - the contact was very relaxed and we definitely felt that we got to spend a cheerful amount of time in their company. Tehya did not want to leave and she was particularly taken with the baby monkeys - which was understandable as they really were the cutest things I have ever seen.