Am I talking about locals? about tourists? Or about monkeys? Continue reading and you might get the answer!

We’ve been in Bali for the last couple of days and needless to say, the difference between Bali and lake Toba is big and clear. Before leaving the quiet and sometimes not too exciting area of lake Toba we decided to seek out one of the quietest corners of the lake. We had a short stop in Taman Eden where we spent the night. We met Made the park owner’s younger brother, a friendly yet quiet and reserved young man, the morning we left we even managed to see some wild monkeys moving through the treetops, can you see the link to the title yet? Anyway, they were rather hard to spot and we spent fifteen minutes staring at trees with wide open mouths.

Fast-forward a few days later, after the stakeholder meeting and after the long traveling days, we found ourselves in Bali. More specifically we found ourselves in Uluwatu temple, a very nice place. Walking through the area you can understand how monks would be able to lead a peaceful, simple and spiritual life. The same cannot be said for the monkeys though… the fattest, most overfed and spoiled monkeys I have ever seen. They would grab any opportunity to eat or to steel your things. If the steeling doesn’t succeed, an angry hiss is given out of frustration. We saw a monkey steel a girl’s phone which we felt was karma for feeding them, but I’ll spare you all the karma talk.

Now we’ve discussed wild monkeys and fat ones guess which is being discussed next? Yep semi-wild monkeys on the coasts of Uluwatu beach. Not much to say other than that they seemed comfortable around humans but looked like monkeys and not like their obese cousins in the temple. Now if you still don’t get the title then… I don’t know… read the blog again?

Written by: Karim Aboufarha

 

Uluwatu monkeys