Joanna's Singapore adventures

We only took a day trip to the town of Ubud which is a town north of the main tourist area of Kuta and the capital Dempasar. Unfortunately for some of the day I was a bit distracted by having a case of the rather unpleasant “Bali belly” bug. What I did get to see when I was feeling well was great. Ubud is the creative center of Bali and is home to many painters, dancers and other creative types. Driving into the town is like driving through an art gallery as so many road side galleries put their paintings outside hoping to attract a buyer. The streets of the town are lined with more galleries, gift shops and cafes. At night there are many performances of various styles of Balinese dance (see previous photos post). The tourist demographic in Ubud is very different to Kuta- the typical Ubud tourists seemed to be middle aged European women rather than the bogan Australians of Kuta.

Near the city center is the monkey forest. The monkeys look cute in the photos but in reality are cheeky brats. I had one leap at me from a ledge a couple of meters away to try getting into my bag. Myself and my bag survived unhurt. Often the other tourists were more entertaining than the monkeys because many tried really stupid things like picking the monkeys up or dangling food infront of them. The monkeys have been known to steal valuables like cameras from tourists who annoy them or come too close. The most stupid thing I saw was giving food to a small toddler to give to the monkey. That's just asking for trouble! Because the monkey wasn't that much smaller than the toddler, the monkey successfully pushed the kid over and grabbed the food.