Ubud Day 2, Monkeys, Rings, Temples, Sunset Walk, and Dinner

July 22nd was my second day in Ubud, and I planned out the day prior what I all wanted to do and see while I was here so that I could strategically guarantee that I didn't miss anything in the four short days that I had here.

My hostel offers free yoga at 7am every morning, that and the free massage and breakfast was the main reason I booked this nicer place and justified the premium I was paying for it. So of course I went to the morning yoga session. Liv joined me for it which was so sweet of her, but I know mornings can be difficult for many people, and that was for sure all of us this morning for yoga. I didn’t even realize when the class started because a soft spoken Indonesian woman led the class. I was waiting for it to start, just reading some of the eventful news in America of Biden dropping out of the race when I looked up and saw everyone focused cross legged and heard a slight whisper in the air, I snapped into position.

The yoga session was an hour long and it was a long hour for sure. The instructor was very timid, had a thick accent, and I questioned if she had any certifications because some of the flows were unlike what I've had , and we did some of the more basic stretches and movements. But it was still a classic yoga practice and she made it challenging enough that some of the people around me had to drop a knee or stay in child pose to recover.

After yoga, Liv decided to lay back down for a bit but I was wide awake and thought I’d claim my free breakfast. When I got to the bar area to order my food, I was nervous if they wouldn't have vegan options, but boy did I luck out. The best item on the menu of three things (english breakfast, pancakes, or fruit yogurt bowl) was vegan… the pancakes. When they came out to me, the plate was absolutely gorgeous. The perfect amount of softness and fluff, they were quite thick and a light drizzle of syrup with fruit topped to add a little extra sweet to each bite. I sat down next to a ton of people that I recognized from the yoga class and who had quickly became friends and joined me in their circle. We all by chance arrived in on the same night (last night) so it was so great to be in the early stages of having so much in Ubud to see and trying to plan out how to see it all.

A few people already had plans for the day that weren’t on my agenda, another crew of people wanted to go to a waterfall pretty far away and rent a scooter to get there. I am still so fearful to drive or ride on a scooter that isn’t navigated by a local cab driver. So I made my own plans to visit the nearby Monkey Forest as I knew that would be a must see while here, and a french girl named Charlotte joined me for it! Liv and Freya were still asleep when I left so I texted them my plans, regardless I knew I would for sure see them at the jewelry making we had scheduled for 2pm.

The Monkey Forest was so sweet. It was a quick walk from our place, a small entrance fee, and just like that we were among the monkeys. There were a lot of workers there to watch over the monkeys and very likely the visitors as well to make sure that they followed the guidelines that were ever so tempting to break. These monkeys are known to be a bit of criminals so they ask you to not take out any food or drink, do not touch them, don’t get too close, and to hold onto your belongs tightly. I made sure to stay on militant watch as I wasn’t about to lose a phone, camera, or backpack to a monkey.

They must have been hungry because all the monkeys were very focused on the tons of food the sanctuary had scattered on the ground. It was great for them to have the food to distract them from our ever approaching presence and googly-eyed behavior. We all tried to get as close as we could to them, snatch the perfect photo, or just admire them casually roaming about. There were a lot of walking paths and as soon as we came across a cute monkey we would stop and awe at them for many minutes. We were not getting much seen in the park in the first hour because at the sight of any monkey we would stop and watch. Once we realized they truly were all over the park, we walked around some more to see all of the corners of their home.

One really cool place we ventured to was a temple that was below the main area and wrapped in trees with jungle-like roots. Tons of monkeys chilled here, it was a smaller space but my favorite in the monkey forest. Also, there was an adorable baby holding on so tightly to her mother that it made my heart melt. Seeing any animal in baby form is just about the cutest thing to exist on earth, and this was no deviation from that fact.

After about two hours, we felt content with all we saw in the Monkey Forest, and after all of the walking and early morning yoga, we were hungry again. We made our way to Mudra Cafe, a recommendation that I got from my Canggu yoga instructor. I think it is a well known place because Charlotte recognized the name as a friend recommended it as well to her so she was down. Selfishly I knew this place was plentiful in their vegan options, as almost every place is, but it still makes me so happy when someone agrees to go to a vegan restaurant with me.

It’s impossible for me to decide between sweet and savory when I am these vegan places, and Charlotte graciously agreed to split a meal with me so we could try move and have that mix of both. Her choice for the sweet was matcha chocolate pancakes (they were so good and the matcha was really light so it didn't take away from the flavor) and I picked the avocado toast for our savory dish. A second breakfast essentially but I loved it. This cafe was so vibes, a whole wall of it exposed to the open air, pouring in sunshine for all of us to enjoy.

Nearby the cafe was the Ubud Art Market and Charlotte and I were on the hunt for some souvenirs. She was a queen at bartering so when we saw a picture we both liked, she was the one that got it down to a way better price than initially offered. We had just enough time before my jewelry making appointment to see the Ubud Palace. It didn’t take long to walk through, about 10-15 minutes, which was perfect timing for when I needed to leave to head to the appointment.

I wasn’t entirely sure were the store was, the address Liv sent me was missing a building number so I knew the road but not where on it. As I made my way in that direction, I got the number which the building which happened to be the last one on that road. I felt so bad as I was now tracked to be five minutes late which felt like an eternity as I hate being late. Plus, I also had an encounter with a group of five large stray dogs and I was genuinely frightened one was going to make a move on me that I was stopped in my tracks and further delayed. Thankfully a string of cars passed by the road that split the group of dogs from me, I could have sprinted down the road I was so scared. My fear of animals seems silly at times, but I didn't get a rabies shot and you just never know how tame the dog is so I end up being nervous around each one. I was all good, but now doubly stressed with by my tardiness and the not so big dogs.

When I got to the silver jewelry place, it ended up just being us three in a private session and they just got done picking out their ring design so it truly was no biggy. I picked my design out very quickly, essentially the most plain yet appealing ring. I engraved Bali 24 on the inside of my ring and that alone made it all the more worth it. I am a gold girl and was nervous about spending so much on a ring that is not my color (the ring making and ring itself was $30) but it turned out beautiful and I slid it right on.

We got to be a part of the whole process of making the ring. Starting at measuring out the real silver to melting it into a ball to the stretching it the right length, width, and height. For the three of us we melted and stretched one piece of silver, but then cut off and designed our own. I got my own helper to guide me through the process. He would show me the technique first and then I would do it myself. The first thing I had to do was straighten out the metal and then make the design imprint by taking a stamp and slamming a hammer on top to mark the ring with the square design I selected. I was so fearful of missing my swing and hitting my fingers that I wasn't hitting it hard enough at first, but then I built up the confidence to put a little more thrust behind it. I also wasn’t as careful as I should’ve been when placing the imprinter down and making sure it stayed in place by the time I swung. I got many of the imprints uneven and in no way unison. Once I finished them all, the design wrapped around the whole ring and all of the imperfections added up and blended well to make a beautiful ring.

It remind me of what I say all the time, “in a perfect world” and saying that many times to people asking me early on about my summer plans. I would tell them that "I hope to travel Asia for three months before starting at Deloitte, you know, in a perfect world." But, so many times our world is not perfect, things may not go to plan, yet I fully believe everything happens for a reason and it all works out in the end. I think of life as little bumps in the road, it will never turn out how you perfectly imagine it to be, but how your life does end up materializing is just as big of a blessing as you could have hoped. You then become grateful for the mistakes, learning lessons, and errors you made to be where you are at in the exact moment. So, my imperfect ring is perfect to me as it symbolizes our lives are never how we perfectly plan them to be, but instead they tend to turn out better than we could have imagined. Ride out those imperfections and see where your life takes you.

After the ring making, Liv and Freya went back to the hostel while I went back into town to check out the temple I missed earlier. I was walking along the cutest street in the city with many stores that I popped in and out of. I found a great place to pick up a bracelet that was blessed by a local priest and symbolized dreams and aura. I thought it was cute and really wanted a piece that encompassed the fact I was living out a lifelong dream. I also looked around for any other cute gifts for myself and tangible items to help remind me of my lovely time on this amazing island.

I stopped for a hydrating juice before entering the temple. It was so tasty and a nice cool down before going back out into the city. I went to the temple and they gave me a skirt and robe to wear, this place was much smaller than I expected, they blocked off everywhere except the front, so you could only see the facade, take your fancy photo, and that's it. I was really disappointed we couldn't’ see more of the temple, but it worked out with timing because I was leaving anyways to meet up with my hostel mates for our night plans. We aimed to walk a ridge path at 5pm, see the sunset, and go to dinner at Zest (I don’t know how they all agreed to go to a fully vegan place for dinner, when in Bali I guess!).

The ridge walk was lovely. I got there at 5:10pm, Liv at 5:15pm, and the rest at 5:45pm. At least I had Liv to keep me company, and we were really getting to know each other which was so cool. We walked along this path that took us through the more natural side of the city, stumbling on a few hotels and restaurants along the way. It was a cute walk and I talked the whole time with Charlotte and Liv. Two other girls were with us but they were faster walkers than us. I chose the back of the crew because I had been on my feet all day and never even went back to the hostel to rest. We ended up walking 60 minutes and two miles, one mile down and the other back. A highlight of the walk was coming across a hostess of a restaurant holding two puppies in her arms and when I asked to pet the puppy she let me just hold it. Holy it was a cuteness explosion and I loved the mini stop we made on the walk for that.

We were pretty hungry by the end of it and it got so dark also that we needed to use an iPhone flashlight, but we made it out safely. In sum, a cool walk but the sunset wasn’t very prominent and the rice paddies were quite covered with other things such as some plain looking trees or buildings. As it got later into the night, the hunger grew in us all, building up my excitement for Zest because I heard there was so many good dishes and I could chose anything on the menu, a rare occasion for me.

Thankfully the restaurant was only a five minute walk from the trailhead and it was a bit of a tangle to find a table because there was five of us from the walk and three more were joining us, so we started at one table that we already had to push two together, and then eventually when the other half of the group came we moved to some couches. We had to wait a bit for our food because it was packed, again a great sign this place is good, but luckily I was one of the first to get my meal and I dove in quickly, just for a few bites to tie over the extreme hunger (it was past 8pm and I hadn’t eaten since 12pm). I ordered a pizza and it was extraordinary. I enjoyed my food, I also got this orange chocolate peanut butter mouse and a few other girls also got dessert so it made me feel so good to enjoy the sweets with others.

It was so wholesome to be there with 7 other people I met at the hostel but if you were to look at us it would have appeared as though we were a friend group going out for dinner. I feel grateful to have met so many friends at the hostel in Ubud and it's encouraging as I go forward in my trip. I am definitely warming up to the idea of hostels that Europe had temporarily threatened. We chatted through the night, exchanging our travel stories and the cultural differences from our home countries. I always love the conversations I have with people I met, the exchange of ideas and experiences that broaden your perspective and assumptions you might hold of a person or place. My heart felt so full looking around the table, feeling so blessed to be here in Bali surrounded by some amazing people.