By Miriam Rodway
There is a sacred forest in Ubud, Bali known for its ruined temples, tropical lushness and hundreds of wild monkeys. They are free to roam all over and even outside the sanctuary which is in the middle of the bustling town. You often see them running across the main road to investigate hotel balconies, shop fronts and posing for cameras. There are no restrictions and no cages. Visitors to Ubud have diferent attitudes to the monkeys: some are a bit freaked out by their sheer numbers, by their lack of fear of the humans walking around, their tendency to stare you straight in the eye and approach you up close. Guide books issue stern warnings that the monkeys will steal sunglasses, cameras, phones, scarves and pick pocket handbags looking for food. Some of the tourists think it’s all a bit of a joke and encourage the monkeys to come to eat out of their hands – only to find that they then have to deal with the consequences of these sneaky little beasts running of with their phone or camera and having to be bribed to return their valuables with offers of bananas or nuts. They are very clever these monkeys; they know how to work us.
I was feeling a bit nervous. I had to walk through the monkey forest early one morning on my way to visit friends. I’d heard lots of stories about people being overrun with the monkeys, telling me how intimidated they felt under the monkeys’ intense staring and unpredictable movements. I took my first step of the relative safety of the main road and onto the monkey path. There were not many people around at all. I made sure my bag was firmly closed with everything a monkey might find attractive sealed away. As I walked cautiously along the path at first, I couldn’t see any of the animals around; maybe they are asleep still as there aren’t many tourists around this early, I thought. But as I made my way along, I noticed more and more of them. Complete families of adults and clinging babies jumped up on the fence, directly at my eye level and looking directly at me with inquisitive stares. I kept my vision locked on the path, my logic being that if I didn’t make eye contact with these strange little guys, they would leave me alone. In fact, I got to the exit without incident and as I turned around, the last few monkeys jumped of the fence and disappeared back into the trees. It’s not so bad, I told my nervous friends afterwards. If you don’t bother them, they don’t bother you; in fact, they are kind of cute clinging onto their babies and grooming each other.
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May 2019
 
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