Birthday Bali

After our day of diving and scooting around Kuta, we headed back to the villa for a very special pre-birthday dinner for Marc. We had ordered a candlelit dinner to be prepared at our villa and when we walked in, they had already set up:

At exactly 9 o'clock, the chef came in with food and a bottle of wine. The huge platter of typical Balinese cuisine included a whole roast chicken, fish sticks, satays, rice, and some other stuff that I didn't recognize but were very tasty. Some of the food was a little bit spicy but even I had to concede that the flavor was very good. My motto may be "Food shouldn't make my mouth hurt," but I'll try just about anything that looks normal. I leave the weird duck beaks and fish eyes to my better half over sitting next to me.

The next day was Marc's actual birthday and even though we'd been celebrating for a week, I still had some surprises up my sleeve. After yet another tasty breakfast, we hired a taxi to take us back to Ubud. We had read about the Ubud Monkey Forest Sanctuary and wanted to go check it out. The tour book warned us not to bring food into the sanctuary, even if the food was in a zipped up book bag but nothing would have prepared us for what we were about to see.

Even before we walked into the forest, monkeys were walking in the street like tiny little humans walking on their hands and feet. O-kay, so they don't believe in cages here like the good folks in the Shanghai Zoo. OSHA's jurisdiction doesn't quite reach Asia Pacific. We bought some bananas from a lovely old Balinese woman at the entrance to the park and walked in.

IMMEDIATELY, monkeys were on us, like white on rice, trying to get to the bananas. Those monkeys were FIERCE! I realized a bit too late that reading the brochure for the sanctuary would have been a good idea BEFORE we walked in. The sanctuary doesn't mind if you feed the monkeys bananas, but they suggest holding your hand up over your head so that the monkeys can climb up your body and grab the food. Then, they use their little 5-fingered hands to peel the bananas and eat them, just like we do! If at any time, a monkey starts hissing at you, that means she or he is being aggressive and the best policy is to drop the banana and walk away slowly. Again, would have been nice to know before we went in, as Marc seemed to be attracting the aggressive monkeys. Eventually we got the hang of it:

Marc got in on the action as well, keep your eye on the monkey on the right.

After the sneaky monkey got the banana, Marc pointed to the older, fat monkey and called him stupid for letting the other guy steal his food, like the monkey could understand him.

My favorite monkey was this little guy, sucking his thumb just like a little human baby. He was only a few inches tall so I had to zoom way in:

In the middle of the park, we came across a temple and, like all temples in Bali, we were required to wear sarongs to cover our legs. Marc looked quite handsome in his:

On our way out of the temple, we found a monkey who had made a new friend. This little guy climbed on this man's head and was licking his bald spot! He even picked at the man's remaining hairs like monkeys do in the wild - he actually thought the man was another monkey!

After playing with the monkeys for a while, we went into town and shopped to our hearts' content. We bought a tall, skinny mask to add to our collection, as well as plenty of souvenirs. Marc bought a large abstract painting from an art gallery and even got to meet the artist who had been working upstairs from the gallery.

Later in the afternoon, we reluctantly went back to our villa to get ready for dinner that night. We had a reservation at the cool place to see and be seen, Kudeta. Everyone that we had talked to who had been to Bali had recommended this hip beachfront bar/restaurant whose claim to fame was its unhindered view of the beautiful Bali sunsets. We got there just in time for the show and boy were we in for a treat:

We sipped cool fruity drinks, soaked in the ambiance and took pictures of the sunset. Everyone on the island who was young and beautiful seemed to be there and the surfers came in straight off the beach for a drink. After the sun set, we sat for dinner and enjoyed a seafood feast. I had arranged for a special birthday dessert to be brought out for Marc and the waiters came out singing Happy Birthday in English and Balinese. They laughed when Marc claimed he was turning 29 which made my night. All in all, it was a wonderful birthday until I got the check. That is the first and last time I sign on the dotted line for a $1,265,110 dinner,* but it was well worth it.

Happy Birthday Marc from your Sugar Mama Fiancee!

*$1 U.S. Dollar = $9,344 Indonesia Rupiahs, but STILL nothing prepares you for a million dollar dinner bill!