Monkey Selfie

We woke up this morning with a Balinese offering placed on our scooter ready for the day ahead. First stop, monkey forest. Monkey forest has over 1000 monkeys split into 7 different groups that roam freely around the park although unlike some we’ve encountered before these appeared to be quite friendly or at least familiar with people nearby. We saw them resting, eating, sleeping, playing and even mating. One in particular caught my attention as he was on his own sitting on the ground playing with a stone, banging and scraping it along the concrete. I must have sat and watched for 20 minutes as he flicked the stone from one hand or foot to the other while wrapping and unwrapping it in leaves. After walking around for another hour, he walked past again playing with the same stone in his hand. Most monkeys ignore people but one in particular had his eye on my rucksack so jumped up, had a look and tried to open the zip. He was frustrated as I kept it closed so decided to sit on my shoulder to clean my hair before quickly jumping off to play.

We left for Ubud again and enjoyed lunch at a nice little cafe before riding out to Suwat Waterfall 30 minutes away. Minutes after leaving, I spotted a Triumph shop so of course had to pop in and have a look. The guy inside spoke little English but was excited when I told him I work for Triumph back home and his face immediately lit up. We struggled to talk but I think he got the idea. It was even better seeing one of the first products I ever designed 4-5 years ago hanging up on the display wall - a side stand foot accessory. On display was the 2.5L Triumph Rocket so I asked how much they cost, his answer 1 billion (rupiah) which is about £60,000! He was just as amazed when I showed him a picture of Jess test riding a Speed Triple 1200 on a rolling road back in Hinckley.

A short walk from the waterfall parking spot and we were pleased to see we were alone at the waterfall for a good half hour. Surprisingly the water was quite warm and since this is our last waterfall, I convinced Jess to join me for a swim! She did and we had a blast. Another great day although the last in Ubud. Ubud will be missed but I’d highly recommend it to anyone. It’s one of the nicest places I’ve visited so far!もっと詳しく