Drive to Ubud, More Monkeys and Butterflies too!
Before heading to Bali, I had done a lot of research to determine exactly what I wanted to do while there. I knew this was probably going to be a one shot opportunity, and wanted to get the most out of it.
I had chosen Lovina Beach as my first stop, because I knew it would give me a chance to see some of the country side just getting there. I also wanted to go on the Dolphin Sunrise Boat trip, and try snorkeling again.
Ubud was my next destination. I wanted to spend some time in this art community, and see what life was all about in the mountains of Bali. Ubud offered the famous terraced rice fields, but more importantly, the Sacred Monkey Forest.
I had also decided while I was in Bali I would make a trip to their Butterfly Gardens. When I set up my ride from Lovina to Ubud, I had expressed this desire several times, to be sure they understood I wanted to make a stop along the way to Ubud.
My driver, Wayon, was very friendly. Once we got underway, he asked if I would like some music, and I replied “Sure!”
On my drive from the airport to Lovina, the driver had played a tape of Balinese music, which I fell in love with. Throughout my trip I heard the same Balinese music, at restaurants, walking past music stores, a passing car stereo, all playing this same melodious sound of a flute, bells and bongos that added a touch of magic to my trip.
He slipped a disc in and Bob Marley was wailing at me. It was a nice change, I did enjoy it, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.
I mentioned again that I wanted to stop at the Butterfly Gardens, and he laughed and said “No problem!”.
From the route we were taking I guessed that we would be passing the area where the monkeys hang out by the roadside. I was debating whether to ask him to stop, seeing that I had already stopped there on the way to Lovina, and the fact that I would be seeing more monkeys once I got to Ubud.
As we got close to where they were, I decided “Hell yes I was going to stop!” Not too often you have a chance to see monkeys like that up close, and hand feed them to boot!
He obligingly pulled over, and I scrambled out of the car to purchase the food, bananas and a bag of peanuts. I was in a different section than I had been on the way up.
I had chosen Lovina Beach as my first stop, because I knew it would give me a chance to see some of the country side just getting there. I also wanted to go on the Dolphin Sunrise Boat trip, and try snorkeling again.
Ubud was my next destination. I wanted to spend some time in this art community, and see what life was all about in the mountains of Bali. Ubud offered the famous terraced rice fields, but more importantly, the Sacred Monkey Forest.
I had also decided while I was in Bali I would make a trip to their Butterfly Gardens. When I set up my ride from Lovina to Ubud, I had expressed this desire several times, to be sure they understood I wanted to make a stop along the way to Ubud.
My driver, Wayon, was very friendly. Once we got underway, he asked if I would like some music, and I replied “Sure!”
On my drive from the airport to Lovina, the driver had played a tape of Balinese music, which I fell in love with. Throughout my trip I heard the same Balinese music, at restaurants, walking past music stores, a passing car stereo, all playing this same melodious sound of a flute, bells and bongos that added a touch of magic to my trip.
He slipped a disc in and Bob Marley was wailing at me. It was a nice change, I did enjoy it, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.
I mentioned again that I wanted to stop at the Butterfly Gardens, and he laughed and said “No problem!”.
From the route we were taking I guessed that we would be passing the area where the monkeys hang out by the roadside. I was debating whether to ask him to stop, seeing that I had already stopped there on the way to Lovina, and the fact that I would be seeing more monkeys once I got to Ubud.
As we got close to where they were, I decided “Hell yes I was going to stop!” Not too often you have a chance to see monkeys like that up close, and hand feed them to boot!
He obligingly pulled over, and I scrambled out of the car to purchase the food, bananas and a bag of peanuts. I was in a different section than I had been on the way up.
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One monkey was holding a bottle, playing with it. A short while later I heard an explosion as glass hit the pavement. I was busy down the road feeding other monkeys, I never turned around to check it out, but my guess was that the Monkey had gotten tired of playing with the bottle and had tossed it away.
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I passed out all of my bananas, and opened my bag of peanuts. I noticed a young couple with two small children standing nearby, so I asked the parents if their kids might like some of my peanuts to feed the monkeys, and they were delighted with the offer. I reached over to the young girl, who was around 6 years old, holding out the bag of peanuts for her to grab some.
Just as she was reaching in a big monkey came running up and grabbed the bag from beneath and ran off with it! There was no way I was going to try to take that bag of peanuts back from that monkey! I had managed to grab a few of the peanuts that had spilled from the bag when he grabbed it, and offered them to the kids. They were thrilled with feeding them to the monkeys. |
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A vendor was passing by with strawberries, so I bought a few baskets and fed those to the monkeys as well.
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Visiting the monkeys on this side of the road gave me a different view. On the way in we had stopped at a point that overlooked a lake. On this side we overlooked a valley.
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Once again I dragged myself away from the monkeys and returned to the car to coninue our trip. We still had a long ways to go.
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On my way to the Butterfly Gardens I had no idea what to expect. In fact I was trying not to put too many expectations on it. I had visited a butterfly garden in Thailand recently, and had huge expectations built up of the butterflies I would see. Turned out there were only 8 brown butterflies, rather disappointing. When we arrived, it looked promising. A beautiful butterfly sculpture welcomed you to the gardens. 
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The grounds were beautiful. after paying my way in, I entered a small sectioned off room that housed all of the crysalis and newly hatched butterflies.
A friendly attendant was there, and she asked if I would like to hold a newborn butterfly. She put the butterfly on my hand, and proceeded to place one in my hair and another on my shoulder.
These butterflies were huge! I would swear they were 6 inches across!
Their colors were so bright, yellows, greens and reds. So beautiful!
A friendly attendant was there, and she asked if I would like to hold a newborn butterfly. She put the butterfly on my hand, and proceeded to place one in my hair and another on my shoulder.
These butterflies were huge! I would swear they were 6 inches across!
Their colors were so bright, yellows, greens and reds. So beautiful!
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Just around the corner outside the nursery was an area of exotic bugs. I have never seen anything like these before and I was simply amazed. The attendant said they were mostly found on Java.
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The garden area is huge, well maintained, and a pleasure to walk through just for the plants. The butterflies you run into are just an added bonus.
I strolled around catching a few butterflies 
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I could have spent all afternoon there, but I still had a ways to go to get to Ubud. And my driver would need to drive all the way back to Lovina after dropping me off, so I didn’t want to delay the trip too much.
I definitely was not disappointed, and would encourage anyone visiting Bali to make the trip to the Butterfly Gardens near the town of Tabanan. On to Ubud. |
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