After a pretty damn wonderful start to the day exploring a bunch of Balinese Temples – it was time to head to the gorgeous Ubud region, about a 60 minute drive north of Seminyak. The appeal of heading to this more mountainous area was a slightly cooler climate, lush forests and the (in)famous Monkey Temple!
The Monkey Temple – or more officially known as Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary – is located in the heart of Ubud and is a much loved tourist hotspot. Here you can get up close and personal with many beautiful monkeys!
Entrance to the forest costs around $3 AUD and is a self guided visit. Visitors are encouraged to not try to touch the monkeys, but of course, many people do try to seek them out for a good photo. Within several minutes of entering the park I watched a young German woman trying to get a picture with a baby monkey get badly bitten by its mother – so I was pretty happy to keep a reasonable distance!
I will high five Great White Sharks with no hesitation – but I’m not keen on getting rabies!
My gorgeous red maxi skirt had been a wonderful choice for visiting regular temples, but was not an ideal clothing choice for visiting the Monkey Temple! The bright colour seemed to attract the monkeys and I had several of the medium sized ones bite the hem of my skirt and then try to climb up it! To anyone planning a visit here in the future – neutral colours are your friend.
Another tip: keep a close eye on your belongings – these cheeky devils are opportunists and will take any given opportunity to grab your bags in the hopes of finding some tasty snacks!
As a midwife – I spend a lot of time helping new mums and bubbies breastfeed – it was pretty cool to see these little monkeys do the same! It’s strange how similar human and monkey babies are.
After reaching 9/10 on the sweat-o-meter – it was time to say goodbye to my primate mates and see a little more of what Ubud had to offer.
Next up was the gorgeous Ubud rice terraces. I had come at the wrong time of year to witness these terraces at their most beautiful – but they were still pretty damn gorgeous!
There are several tours taking people on guided walks around these terraces – but some of the best views can be found just by walking along the main drag – helpful for the traveller on a budget!
After all my exploring – I was fast becoming pretty peaky and sitting down with a coffee was pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered! My driver suggested one of the small coffee plantations making Luwak coffee. I wasn’t much interested in trying the Luwak coffee – the beans are harvested from the dung of the Luwak! but there was a large selection of teas and other coffee varieties to try – so off I went.
My favourite of the teas was the extremely sweet mangosteen tea. I cannot put my finger on exactly what it tastes like – but it reminded me of when I used to drink spoonfuls of jelly (Americans: jello) before it had been put in the fridge to set.
The hazelnut coffee was also pretty damn delicious!
After recharging my batteries – it was time to head back to Seminyak for a nice solid nights sleep before my bestie Tessa arrived the following day!
T H E L O W D O W N
Getting to Denpasar: AirAsia flies from Darwin to Bali almost daily and return flights can be nabbed for between $100-$300 depending on the time of year
Made Paul Artawan: This wonderful and hard-working Balinese driver can be contacted through Facebook Message – he is available for full day hire during school holidays and half day hire during school days
Monkey Temple: Located in the heart of Ubud, it is about 70 minutes north of Seminyak
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1 with 12-40mm M.Zuiko Pro Lens
Threads: I am wearing a cute as maxi by Aussie label Tigerlily
Remember: Wear neutral colours, hold onto your bags and don’t pick up baby monkeys!
The monkeys are kinda scary. Gorgeous landscape they live in though. If I may ask, what does your tattoo signify? It looks new.
It is actually pretty dorky! It is the sign of the Deathly Hallows from Harry Potter!
Ahh, OK. It looked vaguely familiar. I hope you don’t regret inking it, rather tough to remove. I have a cross on my right upper arm, got it in 2006. Gees, ten years already…
Nope no regrets! It may be dorky but it’s me, and I still love Harry Potter as much as I did the day I got it!
I saw Daniel Radcliffe on the Graham Norton show yesterday on the BBC America channel.
He had finished some work recently and had his head shaved very short, not the man we are used to seeing.
It’s not dorky, it has a nice shape. I always say that what matters most is what the tattoo means to he or she who wears it. ❤️
It does mean a lot to me 🙂 when I was a small kid I had a really rough time at school and really didn’t have any real friends until my second year of high school. The HP books came out during my school years and in a way, those characters were my friends, it sounds like a cliche, but the HP books certainly made growing up a better time for me.
I knew it!!!! I can spot a fellow HP dork when I see one 🙂 I found a shirt here in Turkey that says “Don’t Let the Muggles Get You Down” spelled out in black rhinestones. Naturally I had to have it. . .
Oh of course! I would’ve done exactly the same ha 🙂
I’m afraid those monkeys would keep me away.
Phobia of monkeys?
I don’t know. I’ve never been around them. But, they don’t appear friendly and would do unexpected things. 🙁
They are alright, just gotta be careful to not get too up close and personal!
The sanctuary looks amazing, and those baby monkeys are so cute! The tea/coffee assortment looks like heaven. 😮
They are! It was so hard to resist the urge to pick the babies up!
The rice terraces are perfect. Also I am glad the German woman got bitten. Not because she’s German of course, but because she was stupid enough. How would she feel if everyone wanted to make a photo of her child?
Great pics! Looks like an epics day. My friend one got bitten by a monkey on the arms in Bali. We had to take her to the hospital for Rabies shots! Enjoy your amazing adventure!!
Ooh that would’ve been a bit scary! What were the Balinese hospitals like?
Great post! We loved Bali when we visited in June. I passed on the monkey forest: the idea made me too nervous. The snow monkeys in Nagano, Japan are not aggressive and were more my speed.
That is something that is 100% on my bucket list! What time of year did you see them?
We went in March although you can go any time of year. It was snowy but not super cold. I blogged about it here:
https://susandalzell.wordpress.com/2015/03/11/monkeying-around-in-nagano/
I am checking it out now!
Your pictures are great, making Ubud so inviting.
Nice Deathly Hallows tattoo!!
Thankyou! Nice to know there are some HP fans reading this thing 🙂
The monkeys are so cute, but a little scary! I was a bit scared seeing some in person in Thailand, but they’re harmless (at least those ones in Krabi were!). Happy travels!
What was Krabi like? I am heading to Thailand later in the year 🙂
Loved it!! Beautiful, you’ll truly enjoy it. Take advantage of the boats and hidden islands. Let me know if you have any specific questions!
Look at the monkeys! So cute. Great jungle shots
Thank you very much 🙂
Hey there, Ellen! I’ve been following your blog and Instagram for a while and absolutely love your travel stories :). Keep them coming!
I absolutely adore getting comments like this! Thank you so much! I look forward to sharing many more adventures with you 🙂
The snapshots of the monkeys are perfect. Hope your skirt was ruined by teeth marks. The rice paddies indeed look delectable, as do the coffee drinks.
Was or wasn’t? Either way – my skirt survived 🙂
This makes me want to go to Bali! I’ve always been put off because its usually the Australian ‘party scene’ and thats not my scene by any means. But reading your posts about hiring a driver sounds divine! Though, I’m not a fan of humidity I’d still love to visit the temples and soak up the culture – I survived Singapore which I’m guessing is a rather similar climate – and it was gorgeous! I think a Bali trip is soon on the cards!
Great write up as always and perfect pics! (:
That was my initial impression too! It is why I had avoided visiting the area for so long! There definitely is the Aussie party scene, but there is so much more to it than just that 🙂
A visit here turned me off monkeys for good.
Did you get bitten?
Luckily, no
Luckily not
Greetings! I’m not sure how I stumbled upon your blog, but I have been following you for a few months now. As a world-traveler-not-traveling-very-frequently-at-this-point-in-life, I really appreciate your interesting posts and beautiful pictures. It’s informative but not boring. It’s culturally relevant and fun without being preachy. I also like your perspective as a midwife (I just had my second baby with the help of two midwives who were wonderful!). Keep it up, I’ll travel vicariously through you for now.
On Tue, Mar 1, 2016 at 7:39 PM, Travelling The World Solo wrote:
> wwellend posted: ” After a pretty damn wonderful start to the day > exploring a bunch of Balinese Temples – it was time to head to the gorgeous > Ubud region, about a 60 minute drive north of Seminyak. The appeal of > heading to this more mountainous area was a slightly coole” >
This is one my favourite ever comments! Thank you so much, it makes me so happy to hear that people are enjoying my posts and pictures! How old are your kiddies? Hopefully it won’t be too long before you will be able to keep travelling with little ones in tow 🙂
Nah! So envvyy!
Even though I’m Indonesian, but I haven’t visited Ubud yet! So happy to know that you enjoyed your vacation there! Say hi to the monkey! 😀
Hopefully you can get there soon!
Love this post. Ubud is by far my favourite place in Bali! feel free to check out my blog if you’d like. http://www.awanderlustfullife.com -Jackie 🙂
PS, Great pics!!
Checking it out now! 🙂
Cool post. Going to Bali in two weeks 🙂 thanks for the tip about the driver.
I hope you have an awesome Balinese adventure!