We were introduced to the idea of Bali from our California friends Tom and Sabine. Ever since hearing about what sounded like pure magic Russ and I dreamt about traveling there and now we have. Magical indeed! We traveled to Ubud which is in the center of the island and took up residence for the week in a nice hotel right at the entrance of the Sacred Monkey Forest. On our first full day we entered…in this forest with it’s lush jungle surroundings, creeks flowing through deep ravines below and amazing moss and vine covered temples, stone steps and statues, live 3 clusters of Balinese Macaque monkeys. This matriarchal society totalling about 300 is made up of 25 adult males, 95 adult females and 170 young. With long tails and graceful arms, these moustached, bearded monkeys are a beautiful color gray. The pads of their hands and feet are incredibly soft, their deep expressive eyes holding wisdom of the ages with canine teeth that are huge, sharp and quite menacing if too close! These small, territorial beings made it quite clear to us that we were in THEIR forest. At the entrance was a woman selling bunches of 12-15 bananas. I had walked only 5 – 10 steps through the gates when a rather large monkey landed on my shoulder grabbing at “my” bananas.
Little did I know he believed these to be HIS bananas! Taking me quite by surprise due to his sudden display of possession his antics caused me to scream, drop my bananas and run! After a few nervous tears and a hug from Russ I composed myself and continued on. Monkeys, monkeys everywhere and I wasn’t the only one who had her back jumped on and her bananas grabbed. These monkeys were jumping on everyone grabbing whatever they could from where ever they could…pockets, purses, backpacks and hats. About 15 minutes into the forest Russ was pick-pocketed and money lifted by a youngster. He (the monkey) was not at all please when Russ grabbed his money back! I must say, however, that this only added to their charm, for they did charm us! We watched an amazing swim session in the pool as the young ones dipped and dived in the water chasing each other and splashing the onlookers.
The pictures will speak for themselves especially when you see the newborns…so cute! We spent about 2 hours just wandering around, sitting on the temple steps and interacting with our forest “hosts”. There were guards everywhere making sure no one touched or picked the monkeys up. We enjoyed our time just hanging out, allowing the monkeys to approached and surround us, taking “toys” from our hands and climbing onto our backs (well, Russ’ back, anyway). I offered one a coconut and he spent several minutes by my side tearing it up with his teeth and rolling it back and forth and around with his long, fingered hands. Upon leaving the forest and heading back to “civilization” monkeys were everywhere…on the street, in the trees, along the phone wires and on rooftops. They were even daily visitors to breakfast stealing toast and jam from the diners plates only to be chased away with slingshots carried by the hotel staff. They were after all, no longer in their territory…or were they?
Our hotel was on Monkey Forest Road and was a street filled with shops and more shops, restaurants, bars and more hotels. We spent a lot of time just walking up and down, window shopping and eating, making final decisions on what artifacts we wanted to bring back. A mask and a scarf we will use as wall hangings, a batik backpack, barrette and ear rings, an elaborate bone carving made out of a cow’s femur and a drawing that was purchased from some one’s home studio visited during a day in the countryside. At the top of Monkey Forest Road is a huge open market, a sea of makeshift awnings assuming a kaleidoscope of color and texture, narrow walkways, some very dark and others in the open sunshine filled with hidden treasures on 3 levels. We saw clothing and jewelry, charms and drums, kites, batiks and many forms of paintings and drawings. Everyone was bartering all in good faith and good will. It was noisy, it was dusty, it was crowded, it was smelly and oh so rich with everyday life. Natives and tourists, shoulder to shoulder and butt to butt swarmed and swirled together each contributing to the symphonic ambiance of this incredible slice of the Balinese life.
We took a full day tour visiting three Hindu temples, a beautiful rice terrace and ending with lunch over looking Bali’s 2nd biggest mountain. One of my long standing impressions of this day was that I wish I had brought better walking shoes as well as wishing I was in better shape! We were up and down and up again steep stairs and slippery wet walkways as we entered deeper into the jungles at two of these temples. Upon entering each temple we were required to put on a sarong, costing about two dollars each time, out of respect for the sacred ground we were walking on. The first temple was Goa Gajah, a temple honoring the God Ganesha. Many fallen statues and deep caves represented long ago traditions of honor and prayer, solitude and contemplation. It was here we happened upon a farmer setting up strings and shiny ribbons for the purpose (our best guess) of keeping the birds from eating his rice. Every time a bird would fly over he would stand up and erupting from deep in his belly an amazingly horrid sound shaking the ribbons he had just finished weaving back and forth over his lush land. His wife and child opened a garage type building and placed out for sale their family crafts in hopes of affluent visitors throughout the day.
The second temple, equally aerobic, was Gunung-Kawi-Temple and one we can not remember it’s history. At this temple there were many woman attempting to sell sarongs insisting that we buy and wear theirs. One of the woman aggressively grabbed my arm with insistence merely to shove me on since I would not buy from her. We were told that if we touched one the price would instantly change from the offered $1.00 to the demanded $10.00, Balinese economy at it’s worst! It was here, however, that we saw a ceremony taking place, with beautiful chanting by a white-clothed monk, an amazingly soothing Balinese bell chiming from time to time while watching him caste water beyond and in front of him with the use of a flower. His eye were closed, his legs crossed while praying with and for the people sitting behind him. This was a humbling and most serene experience as I was held by the beauty of this ceremony and its rituals.
The third temple, Sebatu-Holy Spring Temple was the most captivating and most beautiful. The architecture appeared more modern if not more well preserved. Upon entering there was a bountiful pool of Koi both small as well as the biggest I have seen anywhere. Just a few steps beyond we walked through a threshold and into an area were fully clothed people where crowding together walking around a long rectangular pool filled up to their armpits under small fountains of water spilling over their heads from the wall. Feeling like a celebration of sorts, this spring and her waters are known for their sacred and purifying properties and people come here often for spiritual cleansing. Most of the individuals taking part in this cleansing appeared to be young people as if on a field trip from school. Everyone was having such a good time and all spirits seemed uplifted. Such a sight to witness!
Having finished the tour of the temples our driver took us to the top of a hill and parked the car across the street from the most amazingly intense rice terrace. These are different from the rice paddies seen in town and back in Thailand grown on flat, level land…these are true terraces of rice growing on the hillside. So green, so lush it’s many layers cut into the side of the hills across the narrow valley. There were many children selling postcards and trinkets, not understanding when our answer was a consistent “no thank-you!”, being almost as insistent as the sarong women spoken about from earlier in the day. Eventually the children reluctantly sat down in front of us until the next group of visitors arrived. Shortly, an old gentleman appeared from a trail below carrying over his shoulder two baskets of fronds attached on either end of a large bamboo pole.The weight appeared quite heavy but his face showed no trace of burden. There were several men, appearing quite small in the distance down the hillside and to the left seemingly resting in the shade under thatched coverings. We sat there, watching, for quite awhile taking in the beauty and the feeling of fertility from the soil we were resting on. Such a beautiful piece of our earth!
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