Day 6 - still in Ubud
Got up early for breakfast at the open air pagoda that overlooks the paddy field. Had a feast of juice, toast, eggs, fruit and yoghurt, and Nik took his chances with the Balinese coffee again. He has taken to wearing a sarong with gusto and teamed it with vest and shades to rock out at breakfast.
We planned to walk to a nearby monument, but as it was a scorcher today and about an hour and a half walk we wussed out and took a cab. We visited the Goa Gajah, also known as the Elephant Caves, which is an ancient archaeological site and temple. There are lots of statues and big scary faces and holy water coming out of statues. It is alongside a jungle with waterfalls and incredible bugs. We went for a wander Indiana Jones stylee and on the way met a group of three middle aged Aussie women who were great fun. We all got kind of lost but a local girl helped us find our way through the jungle to some nearby temples and after walking up a hill, we came to a nearby village. We were waved and shouted at by lots of gorgeous local children, and saw all their chickens. The reason they have lots of chickens is because they have to put grilled chicken in every offering to the gods apparently. Eventually we found our way back to the Goa Gajah, where we chilled in the shade to watch the world go by, including a tattooed man with a python giving it to tourists to hold in photos.
***MONKEY NEWS***
Our car then came and took us to the Monkey Forest, which is, you guessed it, a forest with monkeys in it in Ubud. Hannah is not the biggest fan of monkeys but admits that the Balinese Macaques are really cute, the men have moustaches, the ladies have beards and the babies have Mohawk hair. You could feed the monkeys but Hannah didn't want to as they might bite and have rabies, in fact, we saw a lady get bit by one when we were there. We also saw one jump on a lady and steal her flower shaped hairclip and try and eat it. In the monkey forest there are also three temples, including the Funeral Temple, which has the graveyard for the village outside. The best moment of the trip was when a monkey tugged on Nik's shorts and he nearly shrieked like a girl.
After a wander round the shops in Ubud, our car came and took us back to the hotel and we went for a dip in the pool. We met the new manageress of the place in the pool and she was from Brighton - all roads lead to Sussex. She was a very interesting lady and was telling us all about the orphanage and their plans to make the resort the worlds first eco orphanage with bamboo homes and a vegetable growing facility in the paddy.
FUN FACT: there are 3 different words for rice in bahasa, we know two: padi = rice in a field and nasi = cooked rice. Noodles are Mie. Goreng means fried.
Went to Ubud for dinner and a walk. Today's foodventures saw a repeat of the banana and pineapple pancakes, but for main course Hannah had Mie Goreng Tuna (fried noodles with tuna and veg - I'd had my allergy tablets today already) and Nik had yellow rice, which unlike yellow snow, is very much edible and full of spices.
We realised that we had neglected to take any photos of Ubud's central temples and palace, but take our word that they are as lovely as all the others. Except the palace is inhabited by some excellent stray dogs at night. We chose our favourite and his name is now Blake.