Ubud and the Monkeys - Mandala Suci Wenara Wana
The Monkey town in the middle of Bali. One of the few location in the indonesian islands that has nothing to do with sea but still I loved every inch of it. It was my first real, prolonged encounter with monkeys and it came as I surprise how cool this small guys are. But first the road.
Traveling in a relatively small island like Bali is something different from other places, here all you need is good weather(wich you can find almost all here except for the months when the moonson come to put living beings at their place. If you manage to dodge those get yourself a motorbike or bike and start roaming this wonderful place. The inner roads of Bali are very sweat to travel with small houses of artisans and beautiful tea and rice plantations on the sides. Arriving from Kuta to Ubud take something like an hour if I remember correctly. No trumpets when you get there only a calm dark green vegetation in wich a quiet but joyful town sing.
Ubud is small but I felt it was full of secrets and hidden spots and I wish I had a bit more time to discover it. The people are always very cheerful and I wasn't stopped for strange questions like in Kuta. There was strange talk as always when somebody come across from different countries but here were more spiritual and of curiosity instead of monetary and touristic.
There were alot of small temples in Ubud and many culinary and artisans shop. Everything felt really quiet and contemplative as opposed to the shining and somewhat crowded beaches and seaside location.
After a bit of venturing we found out that one of the temple of the town was entirely dedicated to the monkeys so we hopped on the bike for a small travel as it was just outside the town.
And so we entered in this half forest half temple with a great calm interrupted from time to time by some monkeys scream. Many statues at close to the entrance but the monkeys were somewhere else.
After spending a bit of time in the complex of the temple we wander off in the "garden" side wich was actually a small forest were ponds, sculptures and trees melted toghether giving to the place a unique look from other temples.
And close to the body of water and all around in the trees there was a swarming activity of them monkeys playing with visitors and with each other. One mischef after another.
Here we happened to play with them as they were very used to human presence, you always need to becareful as they are very curious and not always well mannered. Not at all I would say but that's part of their beuty you just need to be cautious about it.
They were very extrovert and would not mind one bit people taking photos, I think they were even striking some poses. With a little one that come very close to me I tried to teach him to write with a little piece of stone on the ground. He started at me, seemingly interested then I passed the stone to him and he tried to do something with it resembling my gestures but nah swiftly came one young like him and it was time to play again and they were off swinging the branches with ease.
I highly reccomend Ubud as a destination if you happen to be around in Bali and specifically a trip to this temple. I'm not a fan of Zoos in general but this place wasn't even remotely like that, the monkeys and the humans are very well integrated and no jail is needed other then some guardian monk checking up everything going fine in the forest. And evenmore there's a lot of artistic expressions in the statues and details that pop up everywhere in the Sacred Monkey Forest Temple or how it is called Mandala Suci Wenara Wana.
Have a gooday everybody :D