Ubud Warnings Or Dangers

AVOID UBUD MONKEY FOREST AND ANY OF THE HIGH TEMPLES WITH MONKEYS!

All monkeys on Bali are macaques, which in dominant males, display a high degree of aggressiveness.

Excerpted from U.S. Embassy Jakarta Medical Bulletins

When a human primate is bitten or scratched by a macaque, we have three chief infectious disease concerns that you need to know about. The worse is:

B Virus

B virus is the low risk/high consequence issue about which we wish to provide you information. We admit up front to our harboring high hopes of your altering or, better yet, abandoning your typical tourist related behavior when around these creatures, whose behavior can place you directly in harm's way.

Cercopithecine herpesvirus 1 (B virus) is enzootic in (makes itself at home among) monkeys of the genus Macaca. We are not talking here about
orangutans, chimpanzees, gibbons or other non human primates, rather we refer strictly to macaques. When a macaque monkey is infected with B virus it normally experiences little more than we do when we have a cold sore. Cold sores in man are caused by a close "cousin" of the simian B virus herpes simplex type 1.

Monkey B virus is transmitted from macaques to humans through bites, scratches or saliva splashing into the eyes or onto other mucous membranes. When a human is infected with B virus, we have more than a simple cold sore to deal with, however. Unlike what happens in the virus-harboring monkey, B virus infection...in man this often causes a rapidly ascending encephalomyelitis with a fatality rate of approximately 70%. Encephalomyelitis refers to infection involving the brain and spinal cord.

You can read more about this here, in an article published by the CDC in February, 2003.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EiD/vol9no2/02-0272.htm

Under NO CONDITION even think about bringing or purchasing ANY narcotics anywhere in Bali, or anywhere in Indonesia for that matter. This includes cannabis even in small amounts. The drug laws here are VERY strong, including death by firing squad, and there are plenty of foreign nationals languishing in the Kerobokan prison in Bali. In Kuta and other party areas of southern Bali, young touts may offer a joint or two, but chances are they are working with the police. Bali is intoxicating enough, and one can enjoy all sorts of alcoholic beverages if needed to unwind or just party.

Many people assume because Ubud is in the foothills, they will not have to watch for the sun. Be careful. we had to abandon one walk because the sun was just too hot. You can easily get sunstroke if you are not careful, wear a hat and drink LOTS of water, even at night it can be quite warm.

This isn't anything to really be alarmed about
or is it?
When we were at one of the temples we saw a boy with a kitten. When we talked to him we found out that he had found this baby Civet Cat and was raising it.
Are these cute little animals what causes SARS? Is that only if you eat them as they do in China?

Don't know if it is consider as danger, but you might take care of your water. Better to keep it inside your bag, and not as my friend Rudi keep his. Monkeys here love to force-taking out your water, and runaway! Nothing to loose, but i was surprised and shocked when a monkey jump down my leg and grabbing my bottle! :)) Another surprising experience with monkey.

Greeting for my monkey! ;) Hey, drop me a line when you read this, will you? :))

Not just in Ubud, but almost everywhere in Bali, you will be harassed wherever you go by people trying to sell you things.
I am not condemning the people who do this but just giving you some warning. The locals are poor and are struggling more than ever now to make a living since the bombing in Kuta.

Here is another warning. If one of the touts approaches you as you enter somewhere, such as a temple, and you tell them, "later", meaning you will 'look' later this will lead to confusion and maybe an angry scene.

They will wait for you and when you come back will say that you said you would buy something later. If you really don't want to buy tell them this clearly and don't attempt to let them down gently suggesting that you 'may' buy something later.

We arrived by ship and when we came ashire, we were surrounded by nearly 50 people all wanting to sell us carving, postcards, pencils,give us a tour etc. We hadn't expected this intensity and it was a little frightening. We were dressed in jeans and t-shirts...those who came ashore "dressed" were nearly attacked. Next time, we'd make sure we had a car waiting.

Hati-hati dengan monyet-monyet, jangan mengulurkan anggota badan ke monyet, bisa jadi ia akan mengigit. Jangan memegang kepala monyet.