Lions and tigers and bearcats, oh my
Jun. 4th, 2024 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luckykaaAt least two people said we had to go to Ubud. I'm not sure we saw all the parts we were meant to see but we had a nice time.
First stop was Celuk village. This is where all the silversmiths operate. We were told it's a traditional market - actually it seemed to be a jewellery showroom but we were given a short demonstration of jewellery making. The rest of our time there was spent window shopping, althoughflickums was taken by a Pisces necklace some decided to get one of those.
Didn't really have a lot of time though because we had other things we wanted to see, and have evening plans. This was meant to be an easy going chill out holiday.
Next stop was the waterfall. First though was souvenir hunting. Flickums finally got the damn wooden dolphin she wanted to buy. After that, it was a matter of making our way to the bottom of the hill stopping along the way for the Instagram opportunities. They provided many places to pose. There's a small pool at the bottom which was absolutely great for cooling off. This gave us the energy to get to the waterfall itself.
Swimming is restricted a little. It's not possible to go under the waterfall, but it's possible to get quite close. However, doing so requires walking across a narrow bamboo bridge, and dealing with unsteady footing in the lake itself. Flickums did not feel up for it. I did.
The walk up looked daunting but there was a lift. The lift belonged to a restaurant though. But as long as we bought a drink they were happy to let us use it.
Next stop was monkey sanctuary! They're quite feisty. One poor woman got climbed on, then got bitten.
Back to the hotel, and we learn that despite booking pickup at a reasonable time, the snorkelling people will be picking us up at 6am! Soured my mood a little. I only agreed to an epic 3 hour road trip on the basis that we weren't going to have to start at stupid o'clock!
So I was a bit sulky for a bit. Still, my mood improved when we got to the night safari. This is essentially a zoo. It was the first place we saw that had cuddly toys so Flickums bought me a snow leopard as a peace offering - there was really no need since my grumpiness was aimed at tour companies changing the rules on me and not at my lovely wife. I bought flickums a tiger. I named my snow leopard "Malik" and Flickums named hers "Murder Mittens". Flick later saw an elephant that looked lonely so adopted that and named it Audrey. It's a supernatural reference.
The tour started in what looked like a Tomb Raider themed park. Various statues and buildings, but it was the general squareness and moneys climbing on it that really gave the video game vibes. I was trying to work out where the lever to open the door would be and how to get there. Decided to grab a snack instead. then we were called to do the first part of the safari. A walking tour of some of the exhibits. They have Komodo dragons and an elephant and a pangolin and a binturong (also called a bearcat because although it's neither bear nor cat, it has a bear like body and a cat like face) and more monkeys!
This completed, we were herded into a cage on the back of a truck and driven round to exhibit to the animals. Saw some lazy lionesses, Apparently they'd had a tiff with the lion and he wasn't there that day - we saw him later as he watched us eat dinner - not sure what the tiff was about but it was probably more about the way he said it than what he said,
We saw zebras and got to feed them carrots, and we saw big cos with massive horns, and got to feed them carrots and camels that ate our carrots. And we saw elephants and get to feed them more carrots. Highlight was the tigers. They jumped right on top of the cage. the keepers few them tasty meaty nibbles there.
Evening ended with a photo op with some parrots and an iguana, and a buffet dinner, followed by an African dance festival. It had a lot more fire than the fire dance!
Back at the hotel for an early night, because we have a frustratingly early start. The hotel is willing to provide a boxed breakfast which is nice.
First stop was Celuk village. This is where all the silversmiths operate. We were told it's a traditional market - actually it seemed to be a jewellery showroom but we were given a short demonstration of jewellery making. The rest of our time there was spent window shopping, although
flickums was taken by a Pisces necklace some decided to get one of those.Didn't really have a lot of time though because we had other things we wanted to see, and have evening plans. This was meant to be an easy going chill out holiday.
Next stop was the waterfall. First though was souvenir hunting. Flickums finally got the damn wooden dolphin she wanted to buy. After that, it was a matter of making our way to the bottom of the hill stopping along the way for the Instagram opportunities. They provided many places to pose. There's a small pool at the bottom which was absolutely great for cooling off. This gave us the energy to get to the waterfall itself.
Swimming is restricted a little. It's not possible to go under the waterfall, but it's possible to get quite close. However, doing so requires walking across a narrow bamboo bridge, and dealing with unsteady footing in the lake itself. Flickums did not feel up for it. I did.
The walk up looked daunting but there was a lift. The lift belonged to a restaurant though. But as long as we bought a drink they were happy to let us use it.
Next stop was monkey sanctuary! They're quite feisty. One poor woman got climbed on, then got bitten.
Back to the hotel, and we learn that despite booking pickup at a reasonable time, the snorkelling people will be picking us up at 6am! Soured my mood a little. I only agreed to an epic 3 hour road trip on the basis that we weren't going to have to start at stupid o'clock!
So I was a bit sulky for a bit. Still, my mood improved when we got to the night safari. This is essentially a zoo. It was the first place we saw that had cuddly toys so Flickums bought me a snow leopard as a peace offering - there was really no need since my grumpiness was aimed at tour companies changing the rules on me and not at my lovely wife. I bought flickums a tiger. I named my snow leopard "Malik" and Flickums named hers "Murder Mittens". Flick later saw an elephant that looked lonely so adopted that and named it Audrey. It's a supernatural reference.
The tour started in what looked like a Tomb Raider themed park. Various statues and buildings, but it was the general squareness and moneys climbing on it that really gave the video game vibes. I was trying to work out where the lever to open the door would be and how to get there. Decided to grab a snack instead. then we were called to do the first part of the safari. A walking tour of some of the exhibits. They have Komodo dragons and an elephant and a pangolin and a binturong (also called a bearcat because although it's neither bear nor cat, it has a bear like body and a cat like face) and more monkeys!
This completed, we were herded into a cage on the back of a truck and driven round to exhibit to the animals. Saw some lazy lionesses, Apparently they'd had a tiff with the lion and he wasn't there that day - we saw him later as he watched us eat dinner - not sure what the tiff was about but it was probably more about the way he said it than what he said,
We saw zebras and got to feed them carrots, and we saw big cos with massive horns, and got to feed them carrots and camels that ate our carrots. And we saw elephants and get to feed them more carrots. Highlight was the tigers. They jumped right on top of the cage. the keepers few them tasty meaty nibbles there.
Evening ended with a photo op with some parrots and an iguana, and a buffet dinner, followed by an African dance festival. It had a lot more fire than the fire dance!
Back at the hotel for an early night, because we have a frustratingly early start. The hotel is willing to provide a boxed breakfast which is nice.
