Helen of course had been strolling through the forest like the pied piper. She probably could have opened up her bag and taken some new friends home with her. I wasn't about to let one hop on my shoulder, but standing in front of a moss covered statute seemed easy enough. Half wondering if a fur covered bullet was going to use my head as a trampoline, we still managed to get a decent photo. Sarah stepped up to the plate next and success! I mean, it should be since as previously mentioned, she's been on the lookout for these guys for going on 18 months now. The ruckus started however, when she got down from the ledge and found herself a little too close to two brothers tussling over a banana. 
I don't know who was more startled, Sarah, myself or the little guy who now found himself staring up at someone significantly bigger than himself. Sure enough he latched his little fingers onto her ankle and when she hurriedly backed away there was some monkey mouth to person ankle contact. This is where the two diverging stories occurred. If you were to interview the person involved in the incident they would tell you that they got a little nip on their ankle that barely broke the skin. If you were to interview the mammal with a tail it would likely tell you that it was tired from all these people being around, was yawning and then someone dragged their foot along its mouth. Then he had to go steal a banana from someone, just to get rid of the taste of person. This of course was mine and Helen's take on the story, feel free to come to your own conclusions.
After having lunch next to a rice paddy and picking up some souvenirs we found ourselves next to the pool a few hours later, enjoying fresh coconuts and marveling at the ant colony that would show up to drink the sugar water that came with your coconut. I'm not just talking about a few ants, I'm talking about enough to possible carry the whole coconut away if they put their minds to it. 
Of course by now a thought had been percolating for awhile in someone's head and the decision was made to make the trek back to Ubud to see the resident physician. Luckily we had seen the clinic to stop in on our way back to the hotel. After answering a few questions about when she had gotten bit, if the monkey seemed sick (it did not) we found out that simply washing the "wound" with soap and water cuts down on your risk of getting sick, but since there was a 5% chance of still turning into Old Yeller (this of course assumes the monkey itself was unwell) we opted for the rabies shots, one in each arm. Turns out the medical facilities in Indonesia are pretty good, clean and efficient. We also learned that someone gets bit about 4 times a day, so I think they always have a ready vaccine supply on hand.
Talk about an adventure - a day that started out with a variety of egg dishes, fresh squeezed juice and local coffee ended up at the Ubud clinic. As we sat in the open air restaurant for Christmas dinner, dining on local Indonesian dishes we could all have a good laugh about the ordeal. Of course some of us may have been chuckling from the get go, but all's well that ends well. The rest of the time in Bali was spent on cheap massages, Bintang Beer, fresh made ice cream and lounging at the pool. Not a bad place to spend Christmas at all...... especially since we'll never forget where we were on Christmas in 2013.
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