To Bali Bird Park                                          Monkey Forest                                                                         Back
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   I visited two monkey forests during my trips to Bali. The first and largest was the Sangeh Monkey Forest near Mengwi.
 

Left: Ha mister did you bring anything for us?

Right: Just across the road from the forest.
Noyman & I were on another trip to a village where he said The people made real nice Bamboo furniture, so as usual 
when we passed the monkey forest, we stopped.
   We parked on the road and followed a row of shops to the entrance of the trail leading into the forest. Anywhere on 
Bali that tourists may visit you'll find shops and/or hawkers.
   No sooner then we entered the forest a Balinese man showed up. "I'm official guild. The monkeys are protected. I 
show you monkeys." He of course wasn't a warden nor any official anything, he just wanted to get a tip & I guess I 
looked easy. I was but it was only 50c U. S..                
  On the way in I bought peanuts for the monkeys & the first thing they did when we met 
was climb my back & check out my shirt pocket. There is an old Temple in the forest and I 
assume that the monkeys are either very religious or think they are gods because we didn't 
see any until we got to about fifty feet from the structure. At that point we were surrounded. 
I swear there must have been at least 40 Monkeys. I made the mistake of just throwing a 
handful of peanuts in the direction of a few of the monkeys. All hell broke out.(When visiting
a monkey forest you'll probably want to feed the monkeys. Make sure you feed the 
dominate male first or you will probably, inadvertently, cause a fight.)
He reached in my shirt     After they had settled the dispute of who was the boss. we became friends, Well! if you 
pocket to get peanuts.  can call a monkey who climbs onto your shoulders, reaches into your pocket, takes some 
Afterwards I had to buy a  peanuts then takes a leak on your back, a friend.
new t-shirt.    They sell t-shirts along with other souvenirs in that row of shops that led us to this monkey 
urinal. I'm not sure but after I bought one (I had to.) and was leaving I think that the monkey that was getting special 
attention from the girl that had just sold me the shirt was the same one that had used my back as his bathroom.
   I was angry but not for long and soon the incident led my mind to a good memory. I got to thinking how hard Rosemary would have laughed. Rosemary was an old love I had met in Puerto Rico years before and she had had the greatest laugh. I think of her a lot when funny things happen to or around me.
   I didn't have the same problem in the Monkey forest in Ubud, though while taking photo's of a family group I managed 
to get to close and was promptly chased away by the mother. (I didn't realize how long their teeth are.)
   Don't let my problems keep you away from the forests. Really! the monkeys are great. Do however take the 
precautions that all the advisories give, but Go, see the monkeys, have fun.
   Oh! I almost forgot. On my first night on Bali I was awakened by a loud "Gecko", followed by several more, each one 
becoming quieter. Thinking they were outside my room, I rolled over only to be accosted by a repeat performance. This 
time I realized they were in my room. The main thing that bothered my was the volume, if they would have whispered  I 
don't think they would have bothered me & they could have stayed, (More geckos less insects.) but since they couldn't
be trusted to keep quite they had to go.
   It didn't take long, they were hiding behind a painting to the left of my bed. (There were two of them.) They went out & 
I went to sleep. The next day while relating the story to one of my new Balinese friends he replied "Oh! gecko's good 
luck. You have luck while you in Bali." After the incident with the monkey Noyman told me "Monkey pee on back sign
of bad luck. Be careful." No shit! but good luck plus bad luck = no luck. So I guess I had to make my own.