Day 9 – So Many Monkeys
Again the day started off with breakfast in the restaurant looking out over the lush greenery we ate our eggs and pastries. However, unlike the previous day, we were up considerably earlier as we had to catch the shuttle to Ubud. We were joined by a few other guests on the 20-30 min drive.
The first stop of the day was he monkey forest, so named for the hundreds of macaque monkeys that inhabit it. Getting closer to the entrance, we started to see a few of the monkeys hanging out on the sidewalk, and getting shooed away by the shopkeepers. More and more monkeys appeared as we made our way along the path, especially hanging out near the banana seller.
There, people could buy bananas either by the each or the bunch. The monkeys knew the game, and hung around waiting for the next purchase before running in, grabbing the fruit and then running off (or in a few cases, jumping up onto shoulders or heads) and eating the bananas while fending off others. The trails wound around some large structures, over rivers and some waterfalls. There was some excitement though, first was when a little monkey jumped up onto K’s shirt, and hung around for a few seconds before being shooed off.
The second was when another tourist was feeding a (presumably female) monkey which had jumped up onto his shoulder, when a larger male monkey decided that this would be a good time to “court” her, all while still on the poor guy’s shoulder. However the most exciting moment was something that we didn’t see happen, but saw the immediate aftermath. One lady got bit by one of the monkeys. We had seen her and her friend earlier, and they didn’t seem to be the brightest of bulbs and didn’t seem to think that any of the rules applied to them (the general stuff: don’t try to touch the monkeys, don’t chase them, don’t harass them). So it wasn’t too surprising to see them both looking panicked, and one of them clutching a slightly bloodied hand. They were immediately approached by one of the park workers who seemed to take care of the situation. It was slightly shocking to see, but it really goes to show that these were not domesticated animals, and like any wild animal needed to be treated with caution and respect.
After our monkey adventure it was time for lunch, but first an ice coffee and tea (and some WiFi for me to search Cathay first class availability) at a little cafe near the center of town. I was searching to upgrade my flight from Bali to Hong Kong from economy to business, and then business to first from Hong Kong back Boston. I had been checking regularly, but now that we were closer in, I was checking more frequently. To my amazement, there was a second first class seat on the Hong Kong to Boston flight for me to upgrade to! I immediately got onto Skype, and paced as I made my way through to the Executive Platinum line. The cafe WiFi was a little spotty, so getting disconnected and losing the seat was a very real possibility. Luckily it didn’t take long, and soon we had seats 1&2A for our 16hr flight home. This was especially cool as Cathay does a 1-1-1 seating arrangement on their 77W, but the middle seats are walled off to the seats on their left, creating two little sub-cabins (one for the two A seats, and one for the four D&K seats). Now all was left was to upgrade my economy seat on the way to Hong Kong.
The hotel shuttle had to be scheduled in advance, and it was time for our pickup, so we made our way across the street and waited for the hotel van. We’d asked the drivers to drop us off at the laundry place, as our clothes were ready for pickup. With bags of clothes in hand we walked back to the hotel and made it to the room right as the sky opened up with torment of rain. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing around inside and in the outdoor living room.
Before leaving for dinner we received a slightly cryptic message about switching rooms for some reason. It wasn’t really clear what the situation was, so we went over to the lobby a little early to discuss. As it turned out, they needed the family villa for the last night of our stay, but wanted us to move for the last two nights for some reason. The only available room was the smaller villa directly below the one that we were currently in. We had heard construction noises coming from below us, so we weren’t too thrilled to be moving down there as it seemed like maybe things wouldn’t be completely finished. (Also being sunk into a hill, this villa’s only natural light came through a set of sliding glass doors, as opposed to the two walls of windows we currently had.) I was able to negotiate that while we would move rooms (didn’t really have a choice there), that we would only do so for the last night. And that they would need to move our baggage and whatnot since that day we already had an early start with a full day tour booked.
For dinner we headed back to Ubud center, and after walking around for a while, chose Batan Waru where we were able to sit outside in the warm weather. To start off there was sticky rice and calamari, both very tasty. The beer on tap was light lager as expected, and was the perfect compliment to the spicy food and heat. Entrees were Rica Rica for K and a sampler plate for me.
Once again we headed back to the main square to wait for the shuttle. We’d given ourselves a bit of extra time for the meal, so had some extra time to kill. Luckily there was an ice cream shop a few steps away, so we were able to pass the time…
Day 10 – Our Peaceful Private Pool
The day started off with another relaxing breakfast, but this time K switched up from the American to the continental option. This was a pretty big downgrade in terms of selection especially given that the American option pretty much came with the continental components as sides. From breakfast we headed directed to the lobby to catch the shuttle to Ubud center. The first few stops were to look at some souvenirs to bring back, but our general direction was dictated by the path to our restaurant selection for later in the day where we wanted to confirm our reservation and make sure that we were able to reserve the special duck dish that they are known for. Both reservations were all set, and based on the smells coming out of the kitchen, we were both very much looking forward to dinner. That also prompted our search to find lunch.
Our first choice was either called Tailor Restaurant, or was in (or adjacent to) a tailor shop. I had the address, and Google maps was telling us that we were in the right spot, but it seemed that either the map was off, the place had closed, or it was the most well hidden restaurant ever. Switching to our alternate lunch spot (always have a diversion option), we walked back through the center of town and to a small roast suckling pig joint.
Our food was served on paper on a woven plate. There were a number of items on top of a scoop of rice, the obvious were some of the juiciest slices of pork I’ve ever had and very crispy cracklings. In addition to that there were some cut up green beans mixed with some other ingredients and some other red colored meat (I believe) item. Everything was very tasty, very cheap, and hit the spot perfectly.
Having struck out at souvenir shopping earlier, I decided to give it another go. K wasn’t feeling that plan, and instead stopped in the café from yesterday and enjoyed a Thai tea while I unsuccessfully tried to find the right item. I didn’t have too long as the shuttle was due shortly, and so after browsing a number of shops, I headed back empty-handed.
While passing through the lobby I hopped on the Wifi and did my regular check for business class seats from Bali to Hong Kong. Since I couldn’t set an alert, I had been checking a few times throughout the day whenever I had internet. Having just scored the F seat to Boston, I knew that we were entering the timeframe when more seats would be made available, and as luck would have it, a number of J seats on the DPS-HKG flight had been released since I had last checked. Knowing that the process could take a little while, I told K to head to the room without me while I was confined to the limited lobby network. Firing up Skype, I again called into the AA Exec Plat desk, and after a while of pacing back and forth on the lobby steps, upgraded my seat to next to K’s, and our perfect itinerary was finally completed!
The afternoon was spent relaxing in and around our private pool with some ice-cold bintang beers. Even though this was our third day at the hotel, the view was still astonishing and I could (and did) spend hours just floating by the infinity edge looking out over the lush greenery.
On the way to the shuttle later for dinner, I stopped and confirmed the details for moving rooms in the morning. Unfortunately they still needed the room (no last-minute cancellation). All we needed to do was put our stuff in suitcases and leave it, and they would transfer everything downstairs. They also offered to comp dinner for us one night at the hotel restaurant, which we took them up on (unfortunately, as I’ll explain later).
The shuttle dropped us off in the town center and we made the same walk from earlier down to the restaurant. Dinner started with some tropical fruit punch and then some grilled shrimp paste on lemongrass stalks and a salad of green beans and beansprouts. We also had a basket of shrimp crackers. Finishing our punch, K decided to order an electric blue fruity drink (the blue duck), while I stuck to bintang. Our duck was smaller than what you would expect to see in the US, but was very tasty. It was served with three garnishes, a slightly spicy red sauce, a hotter mix of onions and peppers, and then straight chilies. The chilies were overpoweringly hot, so we stuck to the first two options.
We had booked the 10pm shuttle back, but by the time we finished dinner, it looked like we might be able to make the 8:30 one instead (those were the two options), so we booked it back to the center of town. However either no one had scheduled an 8:30 pickup, or they left early (both equally likely), so we had some more time to kill. Going back to a proven option, we grabbed some gelato which made the time pass much more quickly.
Once back at the hotel it was straight to bed for our early morning.
Cheers,
-N
Have Wine Key, Will Travel 