October 22, 2010
It feels wonderful to be on the move again exploring and meeting new people. Yesterday, I took another Bemo to get my visa. I paid 5,000 rupiahs ($0.60) and this driver dropped me off right in front of the building. I was thrilled! Then I was out of the building holding my passport and new visa within 10 minutes. How lucky I felt! Then I hailed a taxi and got a new driver who didn’t know the roads well so it took longer and the meter kept going up. I paid less than the meter said, but more than I should have. He was so apologetic though and it wasn’t that much money from the
On my shuttle to Ubud, well really while I waited an hour for the late bus, I met a Frenchwoman and we had a nice conversation. I was upset to hear she had had an accident in Ubud. She had arrived at night and stepped into a huge hole in the street. She fell about a meter and needed stitches. She wasn’t confident in the hospital staff, but like a doctor that was later recommended to her. At first she thought she’d have to fly home early. I heard this story only an hour after hearing a local from Sanur telling me about how much he broke his leg when he rode his motor bike without the light on. So I’m taking these as warning and looking closely where I step and using my headlamp at night. Half the road in front of my guesthouse is torn up for construction and there are no barriers or lights (even for the night workmen) so I definitely need the flashlight. None of the road construction sites have industrial equipment, it is all human labor.
I’m not meaning to start the blog on a scary note about Ubud because I actually love it. There are still a lot of tourists and expats, but the vibe is different. It is more social and open and many travelers linger here for quite a while –even years! The wandering traveler seems to come here. The highlight of my night ended up being reggae dancing with a 72 year old! Upon arrival last night I immediately met this woman and two others (each alone) at my guesthouse and they invited me to join them for a reggae concert. We had such a fun time. I had trouble dancing more than one song at a time though because it was so hot. I’m such a wimp!
Today I walked quickly past the market with all its temptations and headed to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. There is no need for binoculars here because the long-tailed macaques are everywhere and quite tame and social (well at least greedy for food). At times I had to be careful not to step on any! There are about 340 macaques in the sanctuary and they are well fed on bananas and other food from the tourists and staff. I avoided buying any food myself because I was too scared to have monkeys jumping and clawing at me. I saw some fun and jump onto peoples legs, grab clothes, jump on shoulders trying to get the food. They also grab watches, earring, sunglasses, water bottles, whatever. So without food they all, but one, just ignored me. The one ran at me, but then left me alone. Apparently at lesser visited temples the monkeys are starving so out of desperation they are much more aggressive.
There were loads of juveniles ranging from a couple of weeks old to a year. They couldn’t keep still and were rough-housing, jumping amongst the tree limbs, swimming, and climbing up their parents tails. I also saw almost a dozen adults and older juveniles playing in a small pool. They played just like young people would. The jumped off of high statues into the water and tried to dunk one another under the water. I have a great video of it, but haven’t figured out how to get it off my camera yet, but when I do…
The picture of the baby monkey with the big leaf was fun to take because the monkey would move the leaf, but then be scared by the sound that made. I also really like the “meditative monkey” that I have my picture with (yes, I was still nervous about getting too close). She seems to be close to achieving moksha, which means one has achieved eternal liberation and will no longer go through the process of death and rebirth. Once moksha is achieved you are in a state of unity with God. The idea is similar to the Buddhist notion of nirvana.
The sanctuary is specifically built around a temple that is still used for worship. Balinese Hinduism combines Hinduism, Buddhism, animism and ancestor worship. This explains all the Buddha’s I see for sale, but maybe also why the monkeys are seen as sacred. You can see some of the pictures of the temple and the sarong I had to wear. I didn’t have to wear the sarong because my skirt was too short, but because it is specifically what you should wear. On ceremonial days I would have to wear the full “uniform” to enter the temple.
I continued wandering central Ubud and had to really muscle the mental strength to ignore the beautiful clothes in the window. I stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Globalization! One of the local co-owners worked as a cook in
I finally made my way to the Agung Rai Museum of Art, which is in lovely setting with impressive Indonesian art. The paintings are really love songs to
Tomorrow I think I’ll brave another motor bike ride so I can see some of the surrounding areas. Wish me luck!
http://armamuseum.com/collections_painting.php
I love all the monkey pictures!!
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