Bali has many enchanting places and this one will stay in my memory for a long time.
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It was the first temple I went to and its amazing settings - it sits on a 70 m cliff of the Bukit Peninsula - make for some breathtaking sights.
Of course, you need to be properly dressed to enter the temple, so you rent a sarong at the entrance and the nice ladies help you put it on. Although they got a bit lazy with mine, so it's not all that properly tied..
The impression those cliffs made on me is remarkable. I could have stayed there to watch the waves crash on rocks for hours without end.
The temple's grounds are rather spacious, so apart from the fact that you're discovering interesting, mostly 11th century, architecture, trying not to piss off the monkeys and breathing in the sea breeze, you're also on one of the most picturesque walks available in Southern Bali.
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| One of my favourite pics from the whole trip.
I know I look though on that one but I must admit he/she was kinda scary. Still, seeing how Japanese girls were afraid of the monkeys and hearing their screams while they were jumping behing their friends/boyfriends/husbands was one of the cutest things ever.
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Uluwatu has quite a big population of monkeys. At the entrance to the temple's grounds you'll no doubt encounter many elder ladies selling little plastic bags with peeled and cut fruit. In the beginning I didn't even realize it was for the animals, I thought it was a snack for the visitors (yes, yes I know, how stupid of me). However, the moment I saw the monkeys running around, and a lot of times visitors running after the monkeys trying to win back what'd been stolen from then, I knew better.
It's higly reccommended not to have anything that we cannot protect - meaning any kind of glasses or small bags - monkeys are so used to getting fed that they believe everything a person's carrying around is edible and rightfully belongs to them. So they exercise that law. A lot.
It's also the first time I saw diving monkeys and let me tell ya - they love it! Watching them climb neighbouring trees to later jump into the pool and swim underwater till they reach the shore is hypnotizing.
Hypnotizing to such an extent that one of those managed to sneak up on me and steal the little fruit bag I had in my hand. It was foreseeable, I guess. However, having a big bottle of water stolen from us isn't so foreseeable anymore. The interesting part was how the offender handled things. First the monkey seemed to have no idea what treasure she managed to run away with, quickly took the bottle out of the plastic bag it was in and tried munching on it. That wan't quite working out so she hit it to the ground a couple of times. After one or two minutes actually figured out how to remove the tap and took a sip...!
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| Dreamland like. |
After the monkeys, the cliffs and the temple, it was time to hit the beach. Not just any beach, though. I think it's safe to assume that 80% of the surfing population are familiar with Uluwatu beach.
The cave like entrance with numerous rock formation that you reach after having passed through a most unusual surfers village on the hills of the cliffs (only Internet cafes, warungs and surf stores/schools around) leads you to a beautiful spot, so famous among those waiting for the next big wave.
It's considered a pro's beach, as the waves do get big in here. In the area you also have other surf spots in Dreamland, Padang-Padang, Bingin and Suluban.
Even for a person basically unfamiliar with surfing, watching those guys was a treat.
A little rest was in order, so I climbed under some rocks and enjoyed sunset from a bit of a different perspective.
The little black dots you might or might not see on the water surface are surfers. That must be some way to welcome the setting sun!