Lake Temple: Ulun Danu Batur

Temples are everywhere in Bali. A part of every day life and the temples in Bali are uniquely Bali. As we made our way towards the center of Bali, we decided to visit one of the larger temples set along the edge of Lake Batur - Ulun Danu Batur.The beautiful lake side temple was serene and breath taking.As we drove from the coastal edge of Bali inland, the weather changed and by the time we reached the volcanic mountain where the temple lies it began to rain heavily. We simply did what everyone does in Asia during rain storms we found shelter under a massive rain platform and waited it out.Soon the rain stopped and the sun came out, but we could see the clouds slowly moving in ready for another downpour, so we quickly, yet slowly explored the temple grounds. Many temples in Bali do not allow foreigners or non-Balinese due to impolite behavior during funeral processions and services. But Ulun Danu Batur was open to foreigners with a few rules

We walked around the temple grounds towards a temple just outside the main temple gates which housed deities wrapped in colorful cloth.

We wandered around the lush temple groundsadmired the stone architectureand enjoyed the festive atmosphere

One of the attractions foreigners can take part in are burial ceremonies and funeral processions. We're not sure of the significance and how often these occur, but tours were offered everywhere. We however were lucky enough to witness the procession while visiting the Ulun Danu Batar temple.The Ulun Danu Batar Lake Temple was fascinating, beautiful, and a cultural experience we will not forget.

Monkey Forest Park & Sanctuary

Monkeys are prominent figures in Balinese mythology and culture, for example the Ramayana tales speak of powerful monkey gods and monkey armies. The temperate climate of Bali does provide monkeys with the lush forests to live in and in the town of Ubud on the road that connects major roads Jalan Monkey Forest and Jalan Hanoman lies the Padangtegal Mandala Wisata Wanara Wana or Sacred Monkey Forest Santuary. It's not hard to miss the park due to the large columns pictured above announcing the entrance to the sanctuary. Ubud is a quaint and chic little town in the middle of Bali. It is hard to image that among the boutique and contemporary restaurants, bars and cafes that line the two major roads there is a forest full of long tailed macaque monkeys.But it is true, evident by the numerous shop keepers who sit out front of their open stalls with brooms and sticks to smack away any monkey looking for a quick snack or a small shiny souveniour. We paid the small admission fee which helps fund research and preservation of the sanctuary to spend the day with these lively, loud, funny and always entertaining monkeys that live so close to town.

The sanctuary has many areas to visit, including a Holy Sacred SpringA beautiful Hindu only temple

A deer park and a small hill area with a small graveyard where the monkeys battled it out over a small pool of water

Yes, alittle frightening when they get all crazy and start screaming and biting, especially when you're pinned on a small walkway and monkeys are bickering on the only stairs out and in particularly frightening when we realized we decided against getting those rabies shots back home. Although monkeys aren't suppose to carry rabies. Here is the beautifully mossed stairway leading down the Holy Spring and Holy Spring Temple.

And here are those instigators of the big stairway fight.

There are much worse places to be trapped by a fierce mob of crazy monkeys. The jungle is absolutely gorgeous. Lush, mossy and vibrant with crazy vines draped over tall tree limbs, making us feel as if we stepped into a surreal tarzan movie.

We followed the path down towards the riverAlong the river path were numerous moss covered statues tucked into the hilly ravine.

We walked down along the river pass crazy carved statues in the hillside, before turning around and heading over to the other riverside viewing area. The downriver viewing area was being watched by these very realistic statues of the famous Indoensian komodo dragons.So real that I poked one of the statues just to be sure because these dragons, who live on islands in Indonesian can take down a person easily.We started to head back up the incredibly beautiful stairway up to the main sanctuary.

We then headed over the beautiful and ornate temple in the sanctuary.

The temple was closed possibly because either no events were scheduled at the temple or it is a Hindu-only temple, which is common in Bali due to a law passed at some of the more famous temples banning non-Balinese Hindus on temple grounds because tourist have been known to be disrespectful during ceremonies. But the temple grounds were lovely and we walked around looking for the deer park.We made our way back to the main sanctuary area and there were monkeys everywhere: monkeys hanging out on the stairs.

monkeys looking for food

monkeys groomingmonkeys hanging out in the treeslounging monkeysmama and baby monkeys cuddlingmonkeys "monkeying" aroundnursing monkeysmonkeys fighting over toys

Our favorites were the baby monkeys

We especially liked this guy, who took a liking to Mike

Just like human siblings older monkeys like to tease their younger brothers or sisters alsoas well as comfort them

The monkeys at the Monkey Sanctuary were mischevious, loud, frightening, funny and truly amazing. We thoroughly enjoyed our day with the monkeys.