March 13, 2023
This morning I got up and had one final breakfast at Lushy Hostel before heading to Ubud. This hostel was a lot of younger people and a lot of partying. Which isn’t necessarily my top choice in life but fun to do it for a bit. I did meet some wonderful friends here and the staff at the hostel were all so kind and wonderful.
After doing my rounds and saying goodbyes I hopped in my grab (basically the uber of Southeast Asia) and was off on the hour drive to Ubud. Ubud is the cultural center of Bali. Here you will see jungles and rice terraces and temples galore. I got in around 11 but wasn’t able to check into my hostel until 2:00. So I dropped of my bag and started wandering around the area. It was full of shops and resturants. The traffic here is a little less overwhelming than it was in Canggu which is nice. I noticed a sign for the Monkey Forest, which I had heard all about but didn’t realize how close it was to my hotel. This seemed like the perfect way to kill a few hours before I was able to check in.
When you get into the Monkey Forest you first walk through a dark tunnel, it is absolutely bursting with tourists in this first spot so I recommend keep wandering through rather than stopping for pictures here. The forest was so much larger than I ever anticipated it would be. Filled with gorgeous landscapes and wandering monkeys it was super neat to see. Make sure to hold onto your belongings tightly because monkeys are curious and quick little individuals. I saw one monkey hop on a womans lap before it started to try and get in her purse. There are a lot of signs signaling safety instructions around the forest saying to never try to grab something from a monkey and if you are hiding food you’re setting yourself up for a bad time because thye will smell it and thye will not stop until they get ahold of it.
Monkeys also apparenlty love loose shiny things so thyey reccomend not having any jewelry or open bag. I overheard one woman who had her passport stolen by a monkey and a staff member was doing his best to bribe the monkey with snacks to return it. The longet I stayed in the forest the less fearful I became of the monkeys because frankly, thye don’t care about you unless they feel threated or you don’t follow the rules. I was able to get up close and see lots of baby monkeys, tom foolery with them playing, and sleeping lil angels.
There was one section where two monkeys were in an enclosure. This is because one is blind and the other had to lose its arm and leg due to illness. Since it is not safe or productive for these two to be running freely in the forest they live in their enclosure where they’re taken care of by the staff. Overall, a neat little place to check out if you have a couple hours.
After wrapping up here it was around 1:00. So I decided to find a resturant to sit down and get some lunch in. I found a yummy spot not too far from the hostel where I could get some honey chicken and rice, a bottle of water (I had to throw mine away before the monkey forest), and a refreshing strawberry bevrage to a whopping $3. I finished up the first of my books while eating lunch before I could check in to my room.
Once I got checked in I was so sleepy from being in the sun that all I wanted was to lay by the pool. It is a great area at this hostel where I could be in a hammock and relax. One of the wonderful staff came over and I decided to buy myself a fresh coconut for about $1.50. Super refreshing and she gave me a spoon to eat the coconut as well. As I was hanging out I overheard a girl who said she lived in Southern California and that was my cue to find a new friend. I walked over and found out Maddy lives about 45 minutes north of me and was here traveling with a friend, Ashley, who also lives there. We got to chatting and Maddy told me that tomorrow they were going ATVing and invited me to join. So tomorrow I’ll start with a little 7:00AM yoga before getting free breakfast at the hostel and heading out for a day of adventure.
So far, I love Ubud. I am excited to see what these next few days will hold.
