Entree Kibbles: Uluwatu Temple - The Sea Temple on the Cliff @ Bali [Indonesia]

Sunday, October 08, 2017

Uluwatu Temple - The Sea Temple on the Cliff @ Bali [Indonesia]

Just like Bangkok, a first-time visitor to Bali would likely want to visit the numerous signature temples on the Indonesian island; i was no exception despite knowing nothing about them.

Today, i am going to touch on one of Bali's six key temples; Uluwatu Temple. Although not as famous as Tanah Lot, the scenery there was breathtaking! Shall show you more pictures shortly.

Do remember to buy your tickets from the counter; 30,000 rupiahs for each adult and 20,000 rupiahs for each child. Notice that blue signboard at the side? I didn't read then as i thought it wasn't in English! Turned out point 2 was in English and was a reminder for visitors to remove glasses, earrings, hats and caps. Why?

To guard them against the troop of thieving monkeys in the temple! There was another reminder right at the counter about the monkeys and other do's and dont's; to my face some more! That's the reason why i don't agree on too many notices and signages; people like me would just disregard them.

See, yet another one!

Entering the temple compound, which was huge by the way. Those wearing shorts, even the men, would be requested to hide their hairy legs using the sarongs that were available for free usage at the ticketing counter.

Weather wasn't hot and it's quite relaxing to walk along the wide, stone path that's flanked by trees. p.s. i am venturing in alone as my tour mates had an urgent need to use the washrooms.

At the end of the path was a large open-air courtyard with option to go either left or right.

Since i can see a lot more visitors on my left and there was that beautiful walkway bordering the cliff, i thought turning left would be a better choice. Nevertheless, i can check it out first and explore the right upon the arrival of my tour mates.

Pretty right?

The "strictly prohibited" sign. Knowing how adventurous some people can be (especially with the allure of attracting more likes on instagram), i can bet with you that the second rule would be constantly flouted.

Well, i presume the temple would be way higher as it would have made better sense; whether visually and religiously. However, i didn't seem to see any Balinese temple architecture on top...

Once i walked further, i can finally catch a peek of what appeared to be a fragment of the Balinese temple architecture; the three-tier roof of a structure that's right at the top of the cliff.

A closer look of the structure that's perched on top of the approximately 70-meter cliff!

Met up with my travel maters again and we decided to go to the right side of the courtyard. As weather was pretty good, the agreement was to explore the left side later on.

Climbing up the long flight of stairs!

Right at the end of the stairs was a gated compound with bold words loudly declaring that entry would be limited to worshipers only! That's really quite a bummer since there's an admission fee that we had paid for.

However, i can understand the frustration if i am the local and have to face the cameras-touting, noisy tourists when all i want is to pray in peacefulness.

So, i did to the best of my ability; a shot of the temple compound through the gates. Just a basic information on the temple - it was estimated to be built more than a thousand years ago with expansion throughout the years!

Those wanting a close-up shot can do so with the above that's near to the temple and open to the public. I am wondering; the material used for the roof was coconut husk? Can't be animal hair right?

Decided to take another route to descend from the cliff and got into a single-storey building that opened up to the amazing view to the side of the cliff. That guy relaxing by the "window" had taken a great spot to check his phone!

So many people were taking their own sweet time to capture the view behind them! Can't blame them for being so inconsiderate as i might have done the same thing.

Here's Alex with the landscape behind him!

Wasn't it stunning!? A thought ran through my mind; should anyone survive a fall down the cliff, how would he be able to get back up? The waves were so strong and there wasn't a path / stair going down to the bottom of the cliff.

Putting my foot here would be my limit as i have a fear for height and i doubt i can survive the fall. As you get older, you tend to get apprehensive about doing things with a likelihood to threaten your life; not because i am afraid of death. I am just fearful of the situation that i don't die and have to suffer for a prolonged period of time.

Not sure what the sign means; guess it's related to rubbish?

Knowing myself, i would definitely want to trek all the way to the end of the path but i am not just travelling with Alex (whom i can bully into accompanying me). I had to consider the rest of my travel mates too.

Surprisingly, they were enthusiastic and to be totally honest, much more motivating than Alex whose main aim at overseas destination was to sleep in the hotel. =_=

Temple structure at the edge of the cliff; i took like dozens of similar photographs and would select a few to be published in this post.

The undulating terrain.

It had already started drizzling at this point and this had resulted in raindrops on my lens that i didn't realize until later! Hence, do excuse me for the quality of the photographs which, to be honest, wasn't too bad as it added a different layer of beauty to the place.

A few jutting-out platforms provided opportunities for more photo-taking for your narcissistic selves. Selfie sticks were not banned, unlike drones!

Strong, strong waves!

Ocean in front of us, with nothing in the horizon! Quite a relaxing view, especially when the wind was blowing into our faces. If i were the king, i would likely build a palace here.

Since i am no king, i shall be satisfied with just the sheltered pavilion ahead of us. In actual fact, we needed a roof over our head as the rain drops appeared bigger at this point!

Way we had walked so far.

Reaching the end of the path - we reached at about 3.00 pm but i would have recommended visitors to visit the place at around sunset as the entire stretch of the cliff faces the west. Pity the period we went Bali was plagued with rather rainy weather and sunset wasn't available through the three nights we were there.

The end. Nope, not yet the end of this post though! Anyway, did you spot the numerous creatures in the picture? It's the same animal that i wrote of earlier in this post.

Monkeys although their real official office would be long-tailed macaques! Common even in Singapore, the ones here were of a different nature. Check out this post for more information on my encounter with them.

Photographs showing the entire stretch of cliff leading to the temple and the temple itself. Wondering why i don't have many panoramas? Have a feel and would append them towards the end of this post.

On our way back as the rain showed no sign of stopping and we wanted to prevent a situation of getting stuck there for an indefinite period of time!

Not to mention as well that we didn't have raincoat and only one travel mate remembered to carry an umbrella! Tsk tsk, i should drill into my 37-year old brain that i must remember to have one small brolly in my bag whenever i travel.

Imagine your back lying on the metal fence and it gave way!

A scary thought for an over-imaginative mind.

Last photograph of the iconic temple structure.

Took another side route and chanced upon the above. For a moment, i thought monkeys were highly regarded to have a monument built for them.

Upon a closer look did i realize that the statue on top appeared to be fighting the monkeys. Looked like a person who had his stuff stolen by the thieving monkeys of Uluwatu!

Heavy rain started pelting halfway through and i ran all the way to the ticketing counter where i returned my purple sarong! You know what's the funny thing? In my haste for shelter, I slipped and fell on the tiled flooring! So embarrassing!