Monkeys and massages

The Balinese long-tailed macaque is much like any other monkey. The alpha males are tyrants, the babies adorable, the young children mischievous scamps and the females the glue that holds the society together. Much like us, actually. And they love bananas. They really really love bananas.

Agung Raka Bungalows is about a kilometre from Ubud centre and from the Monkey Forest. It has bungalows and a few standard rooms overlooking rice paddies and a beautifully-integrated swimming pool. It will be a very relaxing place to be. Assuming I ever manage to relax.

Agung Raka also offer hourly shuttles to Ubub town centre. I showed up on time for the 10am shuttle but it had already left. So they drove me to the Monkey Forest anyway.

The Monkey Forest! What can I say about the Monkey Forest? It's a forest with monkeys in it. Lots of monkeys. Not big monkeys; the long-tailed macaque is a relatively-small primate. But if you've ever had a large male mug you for bananas, you'd know that size, as they say, does not matter.

Photo: The sedate posture shows this is not a large male macaque

Photo: Monkeys in the Monkey Forest

Entry is 20,000 and the bananas cost me 15,000 from a local store. I spent at least an hour photographing the monkeys and walking around the temple at the top of the hill. It was a wonderful experience and, as I walked out of the forest and down Monkey Forest Road into Ubud to have a mango lassi,  I realised that in that hour I'd finally acclimatised from from 'stressed out public servant' to traveller.

Photo: More Monkey Forest

Photo: See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil

Photos: Monkeys outside the temple in the Monkey Forest

Photo: Temple in the Monkey Forest

Photo: Childcare in the Monkey Forest

I walked through Ubud's streets and its main market for another two hours, simply looking at all the arts and crafts, weaving and carving, bought a fake Longines in Ubud market, and arrived back at the hotel approppriately exhausted and acclimatised. I wasn't hungry for lunch so I went for a swim and then arranged for a three-hour massage in the gardens by the pool.

Then I went to the famous Bebek Bengil (Dirty Duck Diner) for dinner. But that is another story.