April 8th, 2005
Ubud is known to be a town with a big traditional market, lots of shops selling art and other sundries, and just south of it, is The Monkey Forest. We did lots of walking around Ubud and checked out the market and then followed The Monkey Forest Road all the way to the Monkey Forest. Just outside the entrance to the MF, we were accosted by several locals selling bananas to feed the monkeys. We thought, OK, why not? And bought a bunch.


This is a smart monkey. He approached me as soon as I entered the grounds, ran up my leg and grabbed the banana right from me. I didn't even have time to think. I gave the rest of the bunch to Jeremy after that. We didn't realize the feeding rules until we saw the sign about 50 meters in. After this happened!


This guy was really quite aggressive in terms of he wanted the bananas! He ran up Jer's leg, up onto his back and had his arms around his neck trying to get the bananas!


The sign says to let them have the bananas. Jeremy's Mom tried to reach in and get the monkey to let go of Jer's neck, and the monkey just looked at her and beared his teeth and slapped her hand away. Yeesh! This was definatly an exciting start to the monkey forest.


Here's a monkey just hanging out, waiting for some food to be tossed to him.


They seemed to really like Bill. He's a monkey tree.


And I think the face of the monkey on Bill's lap is hilarious!


Remember what I told you all about animals and Bill having the same expressions?


And this young monkey couldn't figure out where this guys hair was? He was seriously confused, and was looking like he was trying to find bugs, but then he would just slap this guys head, then that noise startled him, and he began exploring the slapping noise. It was very funny to watch!


And this monkey is happily eating his banana. But, look at his teeth! That's why I gave Jeremy the bunch and said, that was good enough for me!


Close up.


Momma and baby.


And as we walked from the main area where all the head slapping and body climbing was happening, we came upon this small family unit.


The little guy on the right is sucking his Mom's thumb.


And the little guy on the left was so wrinkly.


And the expressions on their faces and the the actions they would do were so human like. It would have been fun to just sit and watch the monkeys for long periods, but the mosquitos in the MF were unbelievable and I was getting eaten alive. So, we kept moving as there was a Temple to see...


Group effort on grooming!


This carving on the side of the steps was a bit eerie looking.


This is a Banyan Tree and is the holiest Balinese tree and no important Temple is complete w/o a big stately one growing within the Temple limits. It's known as a 'never dying' tree b/c of the way it reproduces...by dropping creepers from above which take root to propagate a new tree.


This Temple within the area of the Monkey Forest is a 'temple of the dead' and is called, Pura Dalem Agung.


Here is a monkey getting a grooming outside of the Temple.


It had to be added. This was the only actual dog carving we saw besides the Barong, but that's a dog/lion creature.


And this carving was near to where we found the end of a cremation.


The temple entries are said to have such ornate carvings of diminishing demon faces placed over the top of the opening to help protect it. And the stone statues in front help to guard it as well.


And this is the end of a cremation. I read that the eldest son gets the honor of raking thru the ashes to be sure the entire body is burned.


And next to the cremation site, there was a graveyard with fresh graves in it. (the date is read as DD/MM/YY in these parts) and for Balinese, a cremation must happen on a 'good day', so if the family doesn't have enough money to do a cremation, or the date isn't considered to be a good day, the deceased is buried until a good day comes around, the body dug up again and then the cremation ceremony can happen.

There's still more to come!

© December 6, 2008