monkey forest of doom!

so yesterday, we got up, emailed y'all, and then walked into town. two things i forgot to mention yesterday:
1. motorbikes. it's like that stupid bumper sticker in maine that says 'motorcycles are everywhere!' in bali, it's really true. everyone and their uncle is cruising around on some little bike or another, and most of the time, they have kids on them. no joke--the other day i saw a bike with a TWO YEAR OLD asleep on the front of the bike. yesterday i saw a whole family (2 parents, 2 kids) sandwiched in all together like a club sandwich of love. it is crazy. about half the people wear helmets, and NO one wears real shoes.
2. women with things on their heads. ok, i know i am probably being really provincial here, but you see these women (usually about 70 years old) walking down the street with laundry baskets, firewood, whatnot ON THEIR HEADS. i kid you not, yesterday we saw about an 80 year old woman trying to get a giant collection of wood and god knows what else onto her head, and it must have weighed about 40 pounds.

anyway, we went into town, and did a little shopping (i am working on the bartering skills) and i got some balinese shoes (like the ones jenn j just told me about!) and a scarf and we got some cool paintings, but the defining event of the day was definitely the MONKEY FOREST. TIM decided it was a great old idea to hit the monkey forest (i think it was an attempt to collect on my life insurance, but the joke's on him: i ain't got none!). so we each paid $1, went into the forest and BAM! monkeys everywhere, running around like little demons. we took a bunch of pictures, and at one point, when i was trying to get one of a little baby, its satanic mother came after me! i was at a COMPLETELY safe distance from the little bastard, and still she came at me, her pointy white teeth glinting in the sun (ok, there was no sun, but go with me here). i fled, in terror, and we continued along our road of fear. suddenly, as we're INNOCENTLY walking to the temple, a GIANT BOULDER COMES FLYING OUT OF THE TREES and barely misses us. we look up, and some other wretched monkey murderer is running away, LAUGHING! then, some crazy demon monkey feeder comes along with 90 pounds of green leaves, and suddenly, there are monkey devils EVERYWHERE, just like in the birds! they're coming out of the trees, out of the road, from under leaves...it was damn scary! we maneged to escape with our lives (barely), but i think i have lost my fondness for monkeys. the last time i experienced that kind of monkey-induced terror was when i was 6 and watching the wizard of oz with margaret ann sheridan, and let me tell you--now i know where the idea for those flying monkeys came from!

after the monkey drama, we went home and i took a nap (to try to recover my wits) and eventually we went to dinner. tim will provide more info on dinner, but i will tell you that i almost had a rumble with the wicked, nasty german hostess, who tried to bully us into getting drinks, then mocked me when i ordered one without alcohol, and then mocked me AGAIN when i started to take my drink to dinner. she told me a waiter could take it, and when i asked if she was sure (i can carry my own drink, for god's sake) she turned around and said to me, 'no one's going to drink it!' and laughed an evil laugh. OH NO SHE DIDN'T! she's lucky i was hungry and it was a fancy place or i would have kickboxed her head right off. and with these thighs, i could do it.