Off to Kuta to pay for tickets.

Day 18 - January 28

Uluwatu Temple

I was able to get the plane reservation for Medan done this morning over the telephone. Once again the Garuda credit system did not process my card information so we had to drive to the Paradiso Hotel in Kuta to pay for the tickets. We got in touch with Putu to see if he could drive us down. He was johnny on the spot. We got our reservations paid and made the one needed to  get from Medan to Jakarta as well.

Since we were in the area Putu suggested we go see a few things since we were in the area. We certainly agreed and off we went.

The Uluwatu Temple is perched on a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean. Indeed this temple is breath taking. It is probably the most picturesque of all the temples we have seen on this trip.  I would guess the cliffs to have a drop of 200 feet or so to the rocks below. I would say beach but the beach is large rocks that look very sharp even from the top of the precipice. You can walk along the edge for more than a quarter of a mile and each view is more spectacular than the last. Truly a setting that is beautiful beyond compare.


The flowers that are planted around the grounds are spectacular as well. Many of the trees were in bloom and attracted hundreds of butterflies. These were much more interesting to me than the other wildlife in the sanctuary. That is probably because I have seen the similar monkeys in other places on the trip. The monkeys here are aggressive. They will take hats and glasses right off from your head. One person was bitten the day we were at the temple. Be careful. Don't carry anything that could be construed as food to the monkeys. Just generally stay away from them. My wife and I have no problems. Watch children closely that may be with you.

Uluwatu Temple

Padang Padang Beach - Our driver dropped us off at a small Hindu Temple. He told us to descend the stairway to the beach and he would park up the hill across the road and that's where we could find him when we were done. The small temple is down the first flight of stairs which is steep and the first two steps are tall so be careful. 

Down to the Beach

There are monkeys here. On our way across the temple platform a monkey tried to take my wife's water bottle. It didn't get the bottle but is did startle her seriously. Be careful where there are monkeys. The stairway then proceeded through a large crack in a humongous rock. I guess you could say cliff side. The passage is narrow and winding. In some places two people cannot pass at the same time. At the bottom of the stairs there is a lovely beach. The beach is not long but in a cove in the cliffs that surround it. My wife got her feet wet intentionally and I got mine wet not so intentionally. It wasn't too crowded as the surf was pretty calm. It's a popular surfing beach when the wave are appropriate. Nice place to visit and like the title says getting to the beach is half the fun.

After the beach we had an hour and half drive back to the hotel so we opted not to see any more places. We were really bushed from doing all this stuff on a day we were going to relax. Both Bonnie and I dozed on and off on the way back to the hotel. Putu told us he would wake us when we arrived at our destination.

 We had dinner at the Nomad again this evening. We had very different dishes than the last time and they were very delicious. The service was good, the food was great so it’s a good place to eat.
When we got back to the hotel we began searching again for a place to stay in Medan. We didn’t really decide so we went off to bed. We had decided that tomorrow would be a day of rest. Not big trips or little trips planned.