Oh, we slept well last night. Great bed. A/C worked like a charm (there had been comments in reviews that the master bedroom A/C didn’t work well, but we sure didn’t find that) and we are up and refreshed, making our kettle coffee and sitting on the patio enjoying the new day. We don’t really have anything planned today except to hit the grocery store and then explore our surroundings to get a feel for the area – and figure out exactly where everything is in the daylight! So after lolling around the patio and pool area, we strike off toward Bintang, the local grocery store.

Wow! Things do look different in the daylight. First off we find the footpath Made told us about, which is actually the stairs we went up last night, but in the dark couldn’t see that the path continued on past the scooter parking. This is far easier than that muddy mess of a road. And it brings us out right on the corner of the road, near the ShamanaMama restaurant which will become our meeting spot for any Grab taxis or other pick ups.

Making our way down J. Bisma, we look at all the different restaurants around, and have fun reading the signs in the Why Not bar windows….definitely somewhere to come for drinks later in the evening. Following along in our travel tradition, we also stop for cappuccino along the way at a cute cafe that serves our coffees along with a little cookie and water. Sweet.

Then it is on our way to the store, walking along the main road, J. Raya, navigating the skinny little sidewalks made up of crumbling bricks, passing over the Campuhan River bridge before hiking uphill (all uphill!) to reach Bintang. Phew. Nice morning work out there. Shopping complete, we don’t even bother trying to get everything delivered, they’ll never find the place – we can barely find it! So we order a Grab, which shows up immediately. As we are walking toward the car, another guy starts talking to our driver and we’re thinking, huh? What? He’s not trying to steal our ride is he? But I greet the driver, who is named Kadek (of course, 2nd born) and he asks “Cathy?” And all is well. Except the random guy gets in the car too – up in front with Kadek. Ok, maybe we’re sharing? Not usual, but heck, we don’t care, it is so cheap for these rides, if they driver wants to double dip, we’re not complaining. But, as it turns out, this guy (who is an American from LA, first time in Asia) has confused our driver with the driver he had booked to take him on a tour of Mount Batur. Too funny! So Kadek has to take him back to Bintang to get his other driver. Priceless!

We successfully direct Kadek to our place, carefully navigating the mud and construction with our bags, up the hidden walk, up the steps and through the big gate to our little villa. Groceries put away, fridge stocked…

…we debate what to do since it is supposed to rain today, but it is bright and sunny now. Monkey Forest! It’s not that far a walk and – what the heck! Let the odyssey begin!

Walking the opposite direction we had previously helps us explore even more of our little “neighborhood,” passing the shops, the restaurants, the laundries and villas. This is like a cross between Chiang Mai and Siem Reap in the old days. Narrow little lanes, scooters and cars vying for space, trying to pass each other – a 3rd world Amalfi Drive is what Ed says! So true. We find a couple of the restaurants that we want to visit while we are here as we walk down and around to the Monkey Forest, successfully navigating the tiny, narrow bridge and tunnel that only scooters can use that connects our road with the Monkey Forest road. You get used to walking on the road dodging obstacles, scooters and cars pretty quickly!

Arriving at the Forest, we find the entry gate locked. Although inside there is a sign on one of the pillars that says the Forest is open from 8:30 to 6:00. Hmm….. We can see the monkeys…monkeys!!!!….but can’t get in – even though Ed does his best to try to unlock the gate. Breaking into the Monkey Forest! On our first day here! Yes – this will be an adventures!

Other people arrive behind us, so we don’t feel too dumb, but we do finally figure out that we need to go to another gate about 5 minutes away to get into the park. Ok. That problem solved, we queue up to buy our entry, buying some fish food as well, and head into the park. We first stop to feed the fish, but decide we need to get into the park for the monkeys since people keep pouring in around us. We can feed the fish later! Monkeys are more important!

Moving on from the lagoon, we cross the entrance bridge, through the great carvings towering over the walkway and proceed to the dark tunnel – with more requisite monkey carvings – that leads into the park (after putting our water bottle and fish food inside the backpack so as not to entice the monkeys).

Immediately after exiting the tunnel into the bright sunlight, our monkey encounters begin. They are everywhere! Just wandering all over, hanging out, eating, sleeping, playing. It is so much fun! There are over 1200 monkeys here, spread through out the forest in different groups which have their own territories. There are a lot of babies here – 172 under the age of 1. The vast majority though are the adult females – 425 total. And we aim to see them all. Ok, well, as many as we can!

Of course, we can’t stop taking pictures – and you won’t stop seeing them here either! We know, boredom….but consider yourself forewarned!

In addition to the amazing monkeys, the park itself is gorgeous. Dense foliage, shaded walkways, temples and a river walkway that is crossed by a fabulous stone bridge. Just walking around here is great – with the monkeys as an added benefit!

Down by the river, we watch a couple monkeys climbing along the steep sides of the river bank – of course they stop when we take the video – par for the course! Climbing back up from the river bed, we head toward the cemetery. At the top of the stairs there is an open area with a water fountain where a ton of people are watching the monkeys play around. There is an adorable mother and baby there as well, just the cutest. We hang around taking pictures, watching the stupid tourists who don’t read the rules and get too close to the monkeys and try to touch them – and almost get bitten. Would serve them right, to be honest! Tourons!

Then we climb even more stairs to the cemetery, passing along the way a monkey trying to open a coconut. Ok – we could stay here all day watching these cute little things! Dragging ourselves away from the coconut monkey, we enter the cemetery to find a whole group of monkeys, wandering through the tombstones of their relatives, and grabbing hot food out of what appears to be a trash fire smoldering at the back of the plots. There is definitely and alpha male here who keeps chasing the other monkeys away from the food and the embers. Makes for great watching – and they don’t care we are here. They just wander around, so close to you! You have to be careful where you walk so you don’t step on them.

From the cemetery we slowly make our way back out to the main gate, passing many more great statues and of course, many more great monkeys until we are out of the park proper and back to the fish lagoon where we finish feeding the fish all their food and head out onto the streets of Ubud.

Heading back to our little street, we pass more cool statues and still more monkeys that have obviously escaped (not that it is hard to do, they just climb out) and are living on the streets, so to speak! Random Monkey sightings!

It is lunch time, so we stop at Garcon, one of the many, many restaurants that populate our street (and the whole of Ubud). Hanging out on the patio – we are too hot to go inside, we need to get used to this heat – we order a great lunch of fried chicken on a pancake (weird but oh so good!) and crispy fried fish sambal matah – both incredibly good and of course, both incredible cheap. Yeah, I’m not going to keep saying that. Suffice it to say, cost of living here is insanely cheap.

Walking back to the villa, we pass one of the random rice fields that dot the street as well as Hideout – the bar that a friend of Kadek (our waiter from the NCL Dawn) owns. Definitely coming here tonight to see if we can find his friend!

Then it is an afternoon at the Villa, in the pool to cool off (thank heavens for the pool!). We have our refreshing dip just in time before a huge torrential gully washer of a rain storm hits. There are buckets and buckets of rain pouring down, and all we can do is sit and watch from the safety of our covered porch, hoping it will stop by dinner time.

Luckily the rain does stop and we head out – this time on the footpath that is far preferable from the muddy-under-construction street – to find our dinner. Tonight we choose Lemongrass which overlooks a beautiful rice field, making for a lovely view during dinner. Tonight it is Mie Goreng Ayam for me, and crispy duck for Ed – both of which are fabulous. And you can’t beat the setting, as dusk settles in, a lovely breeze blows as the rice field fades into darkness.

From here it is a short walk to Hideout, where we hang out and have far too many beers and wines (they actually have wine – so it is a treat for me!!!) listening to a very good reggae band. The staff is fabulous, the wine and beer great and reasonably priced and the bar itself is adorable.

Unfortunately Picka, the owner isn’t there, so we will have to come back another night. Oh darn. Another night at a cute bar with good drinks and equally good music. What a hardship!

And that ends our first full day here on the wonderful island of Bali! More adventures to come tomorrow.