Monkeys

There's a large sanctuary in Ubud dedicated to monkeys.  It's even in the name, the "Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary".  Renee and I went in to have a look and it was surprising how "Australian" everything looked.  From the welcome centre, to the paths, all the way through the signage, the whole place looked like it belonged in Australia.  More than likely this place had been built by Australians, or at the very least with the assistance of Australian designers.

Further into the sanctuary, things started to become less Australian and more Balinese.  There are several temples in the sanctuary and some lovely bridges which reach high above the river below.  The sanctuary was incredibly busy with tourists and visitors to the extent that it was outright crowded in certain areas.  The wooden walkways were well made, but even they seemed to creak under the sheer volume of people.

As beautiful as the surroundings were, the main attraction of this sanctuary were the monkeys.  So many monkeys.  There were hundreds of them running around everywhere and the comfortable surroundings, abundance of food and safety made them inquisitive and cheeky towards their human visitors.

Renee started the visit slightly terrified of all the monkeys, but she very slowly warmed to them and was able to get a little bit closer for a photo.  She stood nervously near a relatively calm monkey as I took a picture, smiling like she was relaxed, before retreating once I was done.

As we explored the sanctuary, we came across a monkey perched on the top of a railing furiously masturbating.  Renee's eyes widened in shock and terror as she asked me what the monkey was doing.  I told her.  She screamed and dragged us away from this monkey and its monkey business.  We walked further inside the sanctuary amongst a large group of other tourists.  People gathered to watch some monkeys being fed by one of the keepers, when we heard a slight yell.  A monkey had crept onto the shoulder of an Australian lady and had carefully lifted her gold earring straight from her ear and then placed it straight into its mouth.  Everyone around the lady was in shock and started to frantically move around trying to convince the monkey to give up its newly acquired bounty. The monkey looked at everyone calmly, took the earring out of its mouth, inspected it, put it back in its mouth and then shuffled off.  The lady had a shocked smile on her face as she realised her earring was likely gone, but she now had an experience to last a lifetime.