So still in Ubud-I was going to head to the beach resorts but heard they can be a bit hit or miss and a bit drunken and me being the reformed character I am! No not really I just fancied staying put here and enjoy Ubud for a bit longer!I headed to the monkey forest the other day, which is basically a forest with a lake and a temple in there with ALOT of monkeys running around freely. And I mean they are everywhere.
They are all wild and live completly free but are quite willing to come up to you and eat whatever they can/steal. I had a good wander about, bought some banana's off the vendor and then was surrounded. It was so funny, one minute I was cooing over a cute little small one when a huge one would storm over and practically steal the food from my hands!
I saw lots of babies who were holding on tight to mums tummy whist she wandered about.They were so cute and weirdly so human like. Wrinkly old men like babies!
It was pretty cute the way they check for fleas etc on each other and sprawl about. They make me laugh so much with their mannerisms-they way one of them was sitting is making me giggle now writing this! I have a picture so I will post it as soon as I can.
Anyway I went back to my banana vendor man and asked him if he would mind taking some pics of me feeding the monkeys as I wanted to get one of me and one. It practically turned into a photo shoot! He told me to sit down and hold the fruit high so a monkey would jump on my shoulder and straight away I had a cute one on my shoulder eating the fruit!
Typically though the massive big bully one spotted the action and jumped on my head. It was hilarious and so much fun, it is definitely one of my highlights purely as it was so big and everyone else seemed to get the small, cute ones. After that I seemed to get stuck with him on my shoulder whilst my camera man snapped away. He got some great shots, which I will post; none too attractive of me as I did have about 3 monkeys on me at one point. I let him keep the change as he was so sweet helping me with the pictures but still kept filling up my bag with fruit to feed them. I loved it there-its hilarious so I shall be going back again tomorrow!
On Sunday I went on a cycling tour through the villages and rice paddy fields of Ubud. I have to say when my alarm went off at 7am I was kinda regretting it!
We started off having lunch at a restaurant looking out at a volcano. Amazing views for miles round. We soon set off on our bikes, stopping at places along the way. It was pretty hard work considering the heat here. I think it must be the hottest place so far;not for the sunny necessarily but its a real sweaty heat. Anyway back to cycling! So we cycled round for quite a few hours, stopping to see sights. It was really interesting. There is a celebration here soon, which unfortunately I will miss, but there is alot of preparation going on. The young ones of every Hindu family are building a statue of the evil spirit which they use in the festival. I cant remember exactly what they do with it but I know that they have a 'quiet day' where everyone says inside and don't speak, cook or work etc. I am so interested in religion and culture so found it very interesting. RE was strangly my favourite subject at school so I would be quite interested in learning more once home.
There were some killer hills on the route, and I surprised myself by managing to get the whole way up. I love cycling and seem to have found an exercise I actually enjoy so I will have to get a helmet once back and get started!
One of our stops was at a coffee plantation and we tried lots of coffees and teas. I couldn't get enough of the vanilla one or the Lemongrass tea so have a couple of samples for home.
We stopped for lunch at the guides house. Most people live in what they call 'compounds; which are like courtyards with lots of room for each family, couples etc and kitchen/toilet. They also have family temples in each one and communal eating areas. They are beautiful. Decorated so beautifully like alot of places in Ubud.
The food was gorgeous and mostly veggie! All the food is freshly prepared everyday and so healthy.
After a good late lunch we were off again through the villages. The children were so sweet along the way and would come charging out to say hello. My mouth aches from saying hello so many times and smiling!
Once I was back to my place I was shattered. I haven't felt that worn out in a long time, my muscles were killing me. I literally fell asleep as soon as I got back.
So basically this has been my time in Ubud. Its been fab, and its been so nice to potter about and relax.
I am flying to Singapore tomorrow! I stay there for one night and then I head to Kuala Lumpur for a couple of days before I head to Borneo for some more monkeys!
Speak soon
xxx
