Today is our last day in Ubud which is a shame as it has been a nice relaxing couple of days and we really like this hotel with it’s quiet pool. We didn’t rush as we were going to go to the Monkey Forest today which was just up the road from our hotel a mile or so. Once again we had a nice breakfast at the resort. I went with the English breakfast and Doug opted for pancakes this morning. Smallest pancakes I have ever seen but Doug said they were good and that is what counts. Since we still got fruit and a bread basket there was definitely enough food.
After breakfast I thought I would just confirm our travel arrangements for tomorrow for the Fast Ferry to Gili Trawangan. It is a good thing that I did as it turned out we no longer had our reservation with the company that we thought we were booked with. There are many companies that run ferries and lots do not have good reviews and have sketchy safety records. Turned out we were now booked with one of these companies that had really poor reviews. Some reviewers commented that they would have given the company a minus number if they could as the service was that bad. After a lot of back and forth discussing it with Doug (he was still in the hotel room) and the lady at the desk calling companies we managed to get a reservation with Blue Water Express. She was hesitant to suggest Blue Water Express as it is really expensive. I told her we weren’t concerned about the price, we were concerned about safety and our lives. I think it is the most expensive company there, IDR Rp 3,160,000 = Cdn $280.00 for the two of us return, but has a fabulous safety record and reviews. They only had space available on the early morning ferry which meant pickup would be approximately 6:00 a.m. We were fine with that. Booked our return trip at the same time as they seem to book up quickly. I have to say this was a very stressful 45 minutes. While she was on the phone trying to book our ferry another man came down to the desk who also wanted to book a ferry. Bet he was happy when I was done. Hope his booking went faster.
It was now time to head out to go to the Mandala Suci Wenara Wana (Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary). The road was not the best we have seen, but we definitely saw lots of beautiful flowers on the way. Lots of construction going on here, with what appears to be many more accommodations being built.
We knew we must be getting close when we saw this big guy in the road. Have to say he made me a little nervous as he started to follow us down the road.
We arrived at the entrance with no more big guys following us. Thank goodness! As soon as you entered there were signs with guidelines on to follow. It always amazes me as to how many people can NOT follow rules. Saw so many people touching the monkeys. Even saw a few teasing them with water and food. If you get a serious bite it could mean a series of rabie shots for you. 
Just after we entered this little guy came over to us and the battle was on. The monkey won and stole Doug’s bottle of water. It only took a few seconds and he had it. We got one of the Monkey Rangers to get it back for us, as it had not been opened yet, and we were going to need water on this yet another hot and humid day. Doug ended up with a small bite from the monkey but we had our first aid kit with us so cleaned it up and put some Polysporin on it. Just as we finished we saw another guy with quite a scratch on his arm so we gave him an antiseptic wipe for him to clean up with. 
There were so many monkeys that I could have spent a lot more time there just watching them and their antics. They can be so funny and they are so smart.
This guy really wanted a drink of water but couldn’t quite get a grip on the tap. He certainly tried though. We do have video of some monkeys playing with water spouts spraying water up. It was hilarious to watch them blocking the water. 
I have a feeling that whoever left this bag of cement out was going to be in trouble. Mr Monkey was having a great time trying to empty it.
As we got closer to the exit we came across the Monkey Cemetery.
Our time at the Monkey Forest had come to an end. Before we left we came across this guy. I could have gone around again but……
Nope Doug didn’t want to, so we headed back to hotel where we spent a couple of hours in and around pool relaxing and soaking up this beautiful tranquil place.
After resting a bit we headed out for dinner thinking we would choose one of the restaurants that we had seen during the past two days that looked good. But nope, we didn’t and found UNO Ristorante Italiano. Menu looked good and prices were reasonable for Indonesia. We ordered a Calabrese pizza as it was the closest that they had to a pepperoni pizza. Calabrese: tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, spicy salami, onion, roasted red paprika, black olives, fresh chilli and basil. It sounded delicious but didn’t quite live up to my expectations. For some reason I thought it would be spicy but it definitely needed more heat to fall into the spicy category.
I ordered a Cosmopolitan and boy was it strong. Doug had one of his favorite drinks…..Bintang!
You would think that it was Doug who had the strong drink, or just too much monkeying around today! LOL
Back to the hotel we headed to pack up for tomorrow as we were on the move again. Tomorrow was going to be a VERY early morning for us. As the sun went down we headed outside to take some pictures of our hotel at night. The pictures do not do the place justice and it is all lit up and just beautiful at night. I think I was too impatient as many of my pictures turned out blurry. Guess I will just have to come back some day to take more night time pictures. We would definitely recommend this place, Bucu View Bungalows, to stay.
Old & Lost 