Walk to Penestanan

The arrival of the monkey colony at Cendana always causes a stir. This morning they were in the adjacent rice paddy and climbing up to the edge of the swimming pool for a drink while we were at breakfast The staff spring into action to shoo them off including two of the young men on staff using well aimed slingshots this morning - which worked well!!

 

During the pandemic the monkey colonies left the Sacred Monkey Forest at the bottom of Monkey Forest Road because there were no longer tourists feeding them. Apparently the Sacred Monkeys belong to the village of Pengosekan, to the south of Ubud, but the Banjars of that village didn't feed them either during the pandemic even though they gain the financial benefit of tourist admission charges to the monkey forest during the good times. Ubud people are unhappy about this situation because the monkeys are now doing damage to the surrounding properties in their quest for food.

Anyway we decided we'd do a walk to the village of Penestanan this morning. Penestanan is to the west of Ubud, on the way to Sayan which is sited on a ridge above the Ayung River. We started out heading down Jl Raya Ubud to the bridge over the Campuhan River before turing into Jl Raya Sanggingan (which takes us to our fave The Indus eventually).

We turned left pretty soon and climbed the famous (and steep) Penestanan stairs.

Once we were at the top pf the stairs it was obvious we were in a quieter area, much more laid back than Ubud is these days. Apparently Penestanan has always been an artistic centre and it was where the German artist Walter Spies settled in the 1930s when he lived in Bali. 

It was easy walking along these picturesque laneways although a fair bit of climbing was involved.

The temple on Jl Katik Lantang looked like it was decorated for a ceremony today.

And we saw quite a few locals dressed for the occasion too.

Rob captured this great shot of the new and old bridge across the Campuhan River on our walk back to Ubud town.

After two hours or so of walking we were ready for a long stop at Casa Luna and an eventual (excellent) flat white coffee after we'd cooled off enough.

The afternoon was spent in our usual way reading relaxing and enjoying some lovely time in and around the pool. Dinner tonight was at Cafe Wayan! 

Was that Hugh Grant by any chance, descending the stairs from room 303 of Cendana Resort on his way to dinner?