May 23, 2026

May 23, 2026

Last night we went to a dinner hosted by a local family in Ubud, Bali. They are probably in the tourism business. They dressed us in traditional sarongs and fed us one of the best buffet meals of the trip. It included Satay with peanuts and Tempeh (fermented soy bean). Dessert was coconut inside a Pandan-flavored crepe.

This morning we went around the corner from our hotel to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. This nature reserve sits in a small forest surrounding three ancient temples and has a population of 1200 Long Tailed Macaques. It is a popular tourist attraction. I always like to see monkeys in the natural habitat. These monkeys are well fed and reproduce rapidly. We saw lots of babies. They are so fertile the sanctuary has started to give vasectomies to the males.

The walking path goes down a gorge and across a stone bridge that is engulfed by a large banyan tree that has air roots everywhere. It looks very cool and jungle-like. The vines growing everywhere remind me of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Monkeys are very human-like. We see them eating, playing, swimming, and unfortunately fighting just like people. One monkey has a big bloody gouge in his head. I am sure one benefit of the sanctuary is keeping monkey trouble in the town to a minimum. Near the end, I must have gotten too close to a baby, as a male threatened me with bared teeth.

Our nest stop was a local village to see how the Balinese live. The locals showed us how they make and deliver their daily personal offering. They also demonstrated their bigger village celebrations. Aimee tried to balance the food stuffs on her head but couldn’t quite keep it balanced without help.

We also learned how to extract coconut milk and turn it into coconut oil. We also saw a demonstration of plowing a rice paddy, and the planting of seedlings. That is a job no young Bali person wants to do today. We did this all while sipping on fresh coconut water.

Finally we had a cooking class. Aimee and I made the soup. It was vegetables flavored with a garlic and macadamia nut paste. Afterwards we ate what we made. Apparently we did pretty good. It was tasty.

For entertainment, a group of the local girls did a traditional Bali dance for us. They are quite talented in being able to move every part of their body independently. Between the fingers all going one way, and the eyes and head going the other, it was mesmerizing.

Aimee and I spent the late afternoon lounging by the infinity pool below our balcony.