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There is no doubt that Ubud is the art capital of Bali. Every where one walks in Ubud they cannot escape works of art, you will see great paintings, amazing wood carving, perfectly chiseled stones depicting gods and goddesses and eye grabbing textiles. Almost everywhere is of some walking distance but you have to be brave enough to walk amongst cars and motorcycles, they move at low speed so it is quite safe but you just have to be aware. We took a long walk yesterday trying to find a yoga studio and along the way we discovered many interesting shops and residences of wood carvers and stone masons. We eventually found Amber’s yoga studio but no class due to the full moon.

Art for sale in a typical Ubud store.

The monkey forest sanctuary was an amazing find. The cool and dense jungle known as Mandala Wisata Wanara Wana houses three holy temples. The monkey forest sanctuary is home to a band of grey haired and greedy long tailed Balinese macaques who are not innocent and cute as one would think. They sway from statue to statue looking for offerings to fill their appetite. Hinduism is very large in Bali and if you know Hinduism there is a belief in reincarnation so the offerings eaten by monkeys is revered as gods and goddesses accepting the offerings in reincarnated form. The tourists carrying food however is probably not mistaken by the macaques as statues but they are quelled by their earthly desire to get the food from your hand and even run up to you and search your pockets for food, they are not shy about this.

Monkey bitchslap, stay away it's mine !