Monkeying around in Ubud.

After our cheeky sunset Bintang’s down on the beach Georgie had started to feel a little better, her prickly heat had calmed and she was over the worst of the flu, so we seized the moment and booked tickets out of Kuta.

We decided to make a stop in Bali’s cultural centre – Ubud before we head off of Bali completely and on to the island of Lombok. 

At 9 am we were packed up and checked out ready and waiting for our bus, Georgie managed to find a little sausage dog to play with while we waited which kept her amused.

The shuttle bus to Ubud was only an hour long and the journey was really quite picturesque in places, we passed rice fields being tilled by buffalo and yards full of intricate and beautiful stone carvings of Bhudda’s and shrines, it felt so different to Kuta.

In Ubud we were dropped on the main through road where a short walk found us a lovely home stay. Through a very beautifully carved archway was a small cluster of equally beautiful, traditional bungalows all surrounded by a lush green, well kept garden.

In the centre of the gardens they have a small shrine which they put small offerings out to every morning, in-fact the small baskets full of flowers, rice and incense are also placed outside of just about every doorway on every street and even on the front of some mopeds and cars.

We dropped our bags inside our lovely cool room and as we were on our way out to explore we saw a few chicks scratching about in the grass, not unusual I know except these were bright pink!?

We left the strange pink chicks to it and took a wander to a nearby cafe for a spot of lunch and then off to rent a moped and get a feel for Ubud.

After a half an hour it became very clear that the main focus in Ubud seems to be art. Every second shop is a gallery or wood carving shop, lovely as they all are this is not what we are after, we have neither the money or the room for a painting or even a giant wooden penis!

The town itself is pretty small mainly centered around a couple of shop lined streets, it has a very bohemian/hippy feel to it a lot like Pai in northern Thailand – but somehow not.

As we zipped around the streets I couldn’t help feeling that I was missing the point, there didn’t seem much to do at all except buy stuff. Georgie however had hungry eyes and I think she was just enjoying being off the beach for a little while.

Still searching for the real Ubud we decide to go down monkey forest road to the wild monkey sanctuary aptly named “monkey forest”.

15000rp buys one ticket into the forest and despite many tourist buses parked outside it seemed like a good option.

The monkeys there are free to roam, there are no fences or indeed anything to separate you from them, Georgie was instantly intimidated by this and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t… We ventured in and within a few feet were surrounded by the hairy little critters, in the trees above, on the floor and in hanging from the walls that line the path. They sit and wait at the entrance for anyone silly enough to buy a bunch of Bananas at the entrance so they can mob them for the bananas and more!

It’s a short walk around the forest and there must be hundreds of monkeys, a small temple by a river is nothing short of beautiful but the main draw is to sit in the centre where the paths all meet and watch tourist get chased and accosted when they try and take close ups, I also tried this and found myself with a monkey on my shoulder briefly which is not as fun as it sounds!

Still not quite understanding the “point” of Ubud we headed off to a cafe with a view over some rice fields and then took a walk through the town, we ended up in a healthy food restaurant to have a little something before bed and quickly realised that everyone else in the place was a “designer hippy” the kind of people that knit their own yogurt and wash with natural soap and dew every morning – we sat and felt instantly trapped by a wave of bullshit! I have nothing against hippies, I love them! I know loads, but the ones I know actually are hippies… They don’t wash and hug trees, some even go and live in the forest… None of them buy that cliche cotton shit and sit around in cafe’s drinking “cleansing chai”  boasting about their dreams to travel Tibet and their latest yoga achievements! In protest I ordered a Bintang and lit up a cigarette, petty I know but I felt cornered and it was the best I could do.

Shortly after that we went off to bed, feeling a little like Ubud had nothing for us but eager to give it another try the next day.