Ubud, Temples and Monkeys, Oh My! (and 3 things you didn't know about Bali but were afraid to ask!)

Hey Everyone!

So, today we left the resort for a day-trip to visit a few places, and WOW, WOW, WOW is all I have to say! Here's a picture just to start you off:



We had a car pick us up at 8:30 here at the lobby. You can hire a hotel driver to take you wherever you want to go for however long, and they just charge an hourly rate to your room. It's totally reasonable and a great way to get around, as they have no reliable form of public transportation here. Everyone either drives, walks or rides a motorbike or scooter. The traffic is crazy busy, and it took us about an hour and 20 minutes to get to Ubud, which has long been known as the "village of painters." The town is packed with galleries, craft shops,restaurants, bars and hotels. There is also a palace in the middle of the town, which is called Puri Saren, that dates back to the 1890's. But before we got to Ubud, we stopped at a temple that was built in 944. Yes, that's correct, 944. I didn't catch the name of the place, but it was just stunning. You have to give a donation to the temple, sign into a guest book, and they give you a sarong and tie it on you in order to allow you to enter the temple. Here are some pictures AND VIDEO! of the temple:













After stopping at the temple, we went to visit the monkey forest! You pay about 15,000 rupiah (like a dollar and 50 cents USD) to get in, and you walk around in this incredible jungle setting where the monkeys just roam around and stare right back at you. We had been advised by some friends who have been here before to not buy the bananas to feed the monkeys with, and boy, was that great advise! The monkeys can smell the bananas or any other food for that matter even if it's in your pockets or bag. They will run up to you, tug on your leg, and if you don't give it to them, they will jump on you. It's actually kind of scary! We had a blast watching other tourists freaking out when the monkey's jumped on them, though! Here are pictures of the monkey jungle:

A warning sign!

The baby monkeys were SO cute...

Emmett & a monkey.

Just some grooming.

A mom with a very young baby...

After the monkey jungle, we headed up to Ubud, where we visited the palace and walked around all of the shops and market stalls. Here are pictures:

The old palace in Ubud:

Various wares being sold at the market:

We were knackered after the day's activities, and after Ubud settled back in for the long drive home. Here's a picture of a rice farm/field on the way home:



There are a few more temples in this area that we will re-visit on Monday when we embark on our Elephant Safari! More later!

3 Things you didn't know about Bali:

1. Everyone here is named after their birth order, so there are really only 4 names, and they are unisex. For example, I would be called Wayan, because I am first born. Emmett would be Made (pronounced mad-eh) because he is 2nd born. Third born is Nyoman, and fourth born is Kutut. If you were 5th born, you are SOL, because they just repeat the names from the beginning. So Wayan could be 1st or 5th born, etc. Interesting, eh?

2. People here have to go to University just to get a job at a hotel such as ours, and they learn 2 mandatory languages in high school: English and Japanese. Everyone's English is SO good here, it is amazing.

3. Bali is a part of Indonesia (which celebrates Independence Day this Sunday, the 17th of August) and although Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, Bali is primarily composed of Hindu-practicing peoples. (Hence all of the offerings everywhere!)

More fun facts to come! Keep checking back, you cheeky monkeys, for more pictures and video from our adventures in Bali!


Cheers,

D & E