We awoke and had a beautiful breakfast, wandered the premises and found a small temple around the corner. Fresh incense was laid at the steps, a sign it was still frequently in use. We decided to stay another night, left the bulky backpacks behind, and rented scooters from the hotel. Our first destination was Tannah Lot, a cool little temple set on a small island just off the shore. Last time I went it was high tide, and I was unable to actually walk up to the temple, but the tide was low and we had no problem wandering over in our sandals as the water came up to our calves. We drank some water straight from the spring, and had rice placed on our foreheads to awaken our third eyes, and had flowers put into our hair. After checking out all the temple had to offer, including all angles of the main temple, and getting many photos of the various statues and gateways, a sanctuary with a bunch of reptiles, bats, and owls, it was off to Ulu Watu. Many people were surprised that we were going to head there, “much traffic” they would say.
The ride from Tannah Lot to Ulu Watu would be the most traffic intense journey on scooters of the entire trip. It took about two and change hours to get from one point to the next, including going on highways where lane markers were merely loose suggestions. Dealing with traffic coming around you in 360 degrees of cars and other scooters, as well as trying to figure out how to make the appropriate turns. It wasn’t long before Mark caught on and was scooting on the sidewalk like the locals to avoid the cluster of cars. Finally making it to Ulu Watu, it was time for more food. We watched a monkey steal a man’s sunglasses and was thrown a snack in replacement for the glasses, almost as if the monkeys had learned that if you steal something shiny from a human, you will be rewarded with food. The whole park was full of tourists, but also an equal amount of monkey souls I would guess. At one point walking along the cliff side, a small brigade of monkeys came by startling those who were lost in their phones not paying attention to the present moment. We picked up some Tridatu bracelets from an old lady and had them tied around our right wrists, and I scooped up a mala made out of Indonesian 5 mukhi rudraksha. Sunset is beautiful at this temple, but we still had a journey to get back to our belongings, so back into the traffic we went. Physically exhausted we didn’t make it up too much longer after getting back.
Continue to the next page for additional photos from the day