Magnificent Monkey Forest

Aside from being the location for the romantic part of 'Eat, Pray, Love', Ubud is probably most famous for it's Sacred Monkey Forest.

The perfect tree for monkey-ing around

Set around a temple the Macacque monkey's run free stopping only to steal bananas from unsuspecting tourists.

Monkey see monkey do

Obviopusly this was a very good opportunity to test out my camera. It felt more like photographing naughty children who wouldn't sit still.

Eating a banana that I strongly suspect had been stolen

Their eyes and hands are so human. When they stare at you it's very obviously that someone is home. You can almost see their brains ticking over, wondering when the opportunity to thrive will come.

A very regal monkey

Dot makes some new monkey friends

These guys looked like they were plotting something

I left my bag alone for one second and instantly had a cheeky chap rifling through my things. Thanlfully someone much braver than me shooed it away. I'd just had a rather scary experience (more on that another time) with one and didn't fancy provoking my little artful dodger into violence.

This fellow had been for a dip prompting an American tourist to exclaim that she didn't know monkey's could swim.
Hurrah for the US education system!

Someone was hungry

The various temples are also a major draw, however after my aforementioned monkey incident I was rather keen to hurry off and get a bintang to calm my nerves. Next time!

Coy for the camera

The macaques were a joy to take pictures of and, not for the first time, I wished that I knew even one thing about how to take decent pictures!

What a chubster

Ouch! I bet all mum's are flinching at this picture

Mine!

My favourite photograph. His eyes look so wise.

Many people are put off by the touristy nature of Moneky forest. Ignore the nay sayers! Most of the time a popular activity or location is such a draw to many because it's so good. Stop being a tourist snob and enjoy yourself!

Monkey hairdressers maybe?

I can't think of a better way to end this post than with a monkey willy