Heading home for a couple of weddings and some family time and stuck at the HK airport with a 12 hour layover. Might as well take advantage of the Cathay Pacific lounge access! In 3 hours I already uploaded most of the photos that I couldn’t get to Picasa while behind the Great Wall, and even managed to process most of my Bali photos.
There is one set of photos that I couldn’t help go over and over again. We saw the most cutest adorablest (yes I realize the grotesque errors in grammar and spelling that’s happening here) creatures at the Monkey Forest an hour or so outside of Ubud, which makes for the third monkey encounter I’ve had so far on this trip.
So I decided to dedicate a special blog entry to my favoritest (wow, that is actually a word!) wild animals – monkeys.
Chapter 1 – The Meanies
My first monkey encounter was at the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We were warned against these mean spirited things, which would rob you of your belongings if you are not careful. With that in mind, I stayed quite far away, but thought they were still pretty cute.
Chapter 2 – The Pretties
That same afternoon we drove to the outskirts of KL and visited the silver leaf monkeys in their home at the Bukit Malawati Hills in Kuala Selangor. As soon as we got out of the parking lot, we were greeted by monkeys sitting on roofs and street lamps, enjoying the afternoon sun.
We played around with them for a while before to the top of the hill on the tram. It’s a pretty long way up, so take the tram if you can. If you really want to walk and enjoy the view, there’s always the way down!
These monkeys are very gentle, so it’s ok to go up and play with them. There was a stand selling monkey treats, ranging from sweet potato chips to bananas to vegetables (I forget which kind). So I bought some bananas, which are supposedly their favorites, and also the most expensive. This is what happens when monkey sees you with banana in hand (I also had some veggies in my hand, but I think it was going for the banana):
They usually grab the banana and run since other monkeys might come and try to steal the banana (see the extra monkey hands at the bottom of the pic?). So if you actually want a decent picture taken with the monkey, you have to be fast and strong since they have quite the grip! I was actually able to spin a monkey for a few circles as it was trying to take my banana:
So after experimenting with some different types of treats, I found that the potato chips work the best. They like them and are happy to sit next to you or even in your lap as you feed them the chips one by one:
Chapter 3 – BABY MONKEYS!!!!
I thought the Kuala Selangor monkey experience was pretty hard to beat, but I was wrong. We didn’t do much research on the monkey forest in Ubud, it was just part of a tour we booked. So when we walked into the temple complex of Padangtegal Mandala Wisata Wanara Wana Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary (or just monkey forest), we were quite pleasantly surprised.
The temple itself was already beautiful, with a majestic monkey god statue (could be totally making this up) at the entrance.
I was too awed by the statue, and almost didn’t notice the little (real) monkeys scurrying about.
Baby monkeys!! As I chased after them clicking my shutter like crazy, this happened:
Totally random monkey jumped on my back and started chewing the string on my shirt! (Don’t worry, there was a guide with us and he says it’s totally safe.)
I got to pose with many more monkeys as we walked through the temple. This one was especially accommodating.
Of course, my favorites are still the little ones. CAN THEY GET ANY CUTER??!!
Just one more to wrap it up.
Over 600 long-tailed macaques live in the sacred forest. In Balinese culture, they represent both positive and negative forces and are both revered and loathed. The ones living at the temple are revered as they protect the temple from evil spirits. If you are ever in Ubud, be sure to pay them a visit!
More monkey pix here >>> Ubud Monkey Forest
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