Ubud and the Monkey Forest

The day after our arrival at the new hotel, the morning begins with a very delicious breakfast. It is 27 degrees with a partly cloudy sky, and there is quite a lot on the plates: toast with mango, bananas, strawberries and pink pieces of fruit, a salad with radishes and edible flowers, a croissant with butter and red jam next to melon, watermelon and half a lime, and a waffle with banana, dollops of cream and chopped nuts. There is also a pot of tea and a cappuccino with a leaf pattern in the milk foam.

Afterwards we head over to Ubud and visit the Monkey Forest. It is a patch of forest with Hindu temples where long-tailed macaques live. One of them sits in the fork of a large tree, its long tail hanging down.

Then we move on to the city, where Annina is doing some shopping. It is raining heavily. In front of a shop stands a petrol pump labelled Pertamax and Pertalite, the names of two grades of petrol from the state-owned company Pertamina. In a fridge stand bottles of Bintang, an Indonesian beer brand, packed tightly together, with a white cake on top.

For dinner we are back at the hotel. A fresh coconut with a straw and a mint leaf stands on the table, a logo engraved in the shell. Served is a black pan with pieces in brown sauce, topped with a small heap of fine white strips and a purple flower, along with flatbreads studded with peanuts. In the background a plate of rice is waiting.