Visiting Uluwatu with Donovan and Carrie in Bali

Donovan and Carrie’s first day in Bali involved waking up to a buffet breakfast at Bali Agung Village, the hotel they are staying at on Jl. Dhyana Pura in Seminyak.

They paid the Baliblog price of $38 per night and were booked in for 2 nights.

I had called them and said I would arrange a car for us to drive around for a few hours. The place I picked was located on Rum Jungle Rd and I quickly rented a Peroja for 150,000rp per day. Without the need for a passport I jotted down the number of my fake driving license and was off to the races. “Just call me if you need it longer.” said the manager.

Picking them both up from the hotel it was funny because Donovan was dressed entirely in my clothes and I brought Carrie a new pair of surf shorts that I have had for a long time but were too small for me.

Our destination was the famous surf spot Uluwatu down on the western tip of the Bukit. In order to avoid a traffic jam on Jl. Uluwatu I decided to get back on the Bypass and go all the way to Nusa Dua, before climbing the hill into the central part of the Bukit. This route gave Donovan and Carrie the chance to check out the scenery and the Bukit is generally a pretty quiet spot.

Our first stop was the cliff overlooking the famous surf break. We sat at a little warung and ordered a surfer type snack. My tempeh burger was decent and cost 17,000rp. The cliff top place offer food, drinks, ‘ding repair’ and there is accommodation, some quite decent looking.

Uluwatu has 5 breaks and we watched many surfers and body boarders take ride after ride on the high tide swell. There must have been 40 people in the water at least.

The 3 minute walk up to the parking area led us back to the main road. Just around the corner is the entrance to Pura Uluwatu, the famous temple overlooking the ocean. We paid 3,000rp each to get in and donned the sarongs and ashes provided. There was a ceremony going on so the parking area was a zoo with all the usual stuff you’ll see at a Balinese ceremony… satay vendors, kids toys and drinks sellers.

Pura Uluwatu does have a few mischievious monkeys and we were told to watch our glasses and loose items. The temple itself has an outer courtyard ( jaba) down below, a middle courtyard (jaba tengah) higher up that leads into a cliff top inner courtyard (jeroan). All offerings are brought to the inner courtyard and worshippers were passing from one courtyard to the next after giving offerings and receiving blessings from the priests.

It was lovely to see the Balinese kids and adults dressed in their traditional costume. I think for Donovan and Carrie it was cool because this was their first visit to a temple and there was actually something going on there. Unlike a mosque or a church, many of the larger Balinese temples remain deserted for most of the year. Only on special occasions will they be mobbed by the faithful. Each Balinese house will have a family temple which will receive daily offerings. Add to that the 3 village temples, the Pura Puseh (founders temple), Pura Desa (village temple) and Pura Dalem (temple of the dead) and one can see that on a local level there are many places and opportunities for a Balinese person to show observance.

We were not allowed into the courtyards but could see in. The access route around the side of the temple allowed us the chance to peak in and see the people receiving blessings inside the inner courtyard. We kept that to a minimum though and held off of taking photos there.

Heading back to Kuta we stopped at the beach. Neither Carrie or Donovan have had to fight off vendors yet so I though ‘in at the deep end’. Actually it wasn’t too bad and while they were splashing around I went and picked up a couple of air tickets for the Gili’s next week. Denpasar-Mataram-Denpasar ran me 460,000rp on Merpati. I could of got 400,000rp on Lion Air but there comes a point when you would rather spend the extra $7 and know the plane has been serviced. Merpati seems a decent domestic airline. I used the small travel agent outside Okie House hotel on Poppies II. I ordered the tickets the day before and they got them for me, no money down.

From Mataram we will take a taxi to the port and a ferry to the Gili’s. Donovan and Carrie are coming too which will make it a fun experience.