The Sacred Monkey Forest - Ubud, Bali

beforeyoupack (60)in #travel • 5 years ago

The Sacred monkey forest is the natural habitat of the Balinese long tailed Monkey. And the forest is absolutely filled with them. Not only that, but there are plenty of ancient temples, bridges and pools. As a result it became Ubud's most popular tourist attraction. I would say that it is an absolutely must visit.

I made a few friends from the hostel and we decide to go to the hidden canyon this morning here in Ubud. However upon arrival, we noticed that there is big entrance fee and we are not sure if it is worth it or not. We don't really want to blow any money on random things, so we head back and decide to go to the monkey forest instead.

The Sacred Monkey forest

We make our way to the monkey forest. The entrance to this is really really huge! This is a genuine tourist attraction similar to the west. A big entrance with a big and official ticket booth and real tickets. There are a lot more shady looking places around here, where you are not sure it's genuine or someone just decided to put a table and ask money.

The inside of the forest is absolutely beautiful! We spent a good amount of time inside. And yes there are a lot of monkeys! Monkeys everywhere and they are smart. They are around humans every day, their whole life. If you have food, they will trick you into getting it. There is no outsmarting them.

Rules

There are a few rules you need to follow while going inside the monkey forest. It seems common sense to me, but make sure to follow them. There is a big sign before the entrance, but basically it is. No feeding, no eye contact, no touching.

I saw some monkeys jumping on the backs of people to get into the backpack. But that is because they had food with them. These monkeys will leave you alone if you don't have food and you can just go and observe them.

A sacred place

The forest itself is sacred and you can tell immediately. There are ancient temples inside. A lot of parts int the forest will make you feel like you are free roaming and exploring.

There are viewpoints, there is a river, mountaintop and forest. And because this place is sacred, the Balinese will do everything to keep it clean and natural. It's not allowed to change a sacred place, they have to keep it natural.

Smoothie bowl at Green Key

We got pretty hungry after our adventure in the monkey forest. We want to get something healthy and delicious. Luckily Ubud has a lot of amazing food. You can get anything you want from any country! It's very international.

We settled with Green Key and got a smoothie bowl. It's a smoothie as base. Next they add fruits, nuts and seeds. It's not only super healthy but also amazingly delicious.

Lastly I got one of their healthy deserts. Which again is filled with fruits!