A short trip to Uluwatu Temple

It is very easy to get lazy in Bali as everything invites you to indulge yourself and just “chill out”. Even sightseeing might seem like something for “tomorrow” when the pool looks so tempting, the food is just delicious and the sunbed promises full relaxation. Still, after a while we felt that it was time for some culture and the island’s landmark temples were something we wanted to definitely see before leaving.

Our befriended couple who were spending their vacation in Bali at the same time as us (we had some great time in pools and on motorbikes together) told us very good things about the Uluwatu Temple so one extremely sunny day we got up and went to check it out.

As the road there leads through the main southern road, we mentally prepared for the traffic: some suffering in the sun and car fumes. To our surprise, it wasn’t that bad at all that day and after a maybe 25 minutes ride we arrived at the temple area.

We’ve heard it gets very crowded towards the evening as everybody flocks to see the sunset so we played smart and visited it in the early afternoon. The very big parking, mostly empty upon our arrival, confirmed we made the right decision.

As it is a place of worship, every visitor is asked to wear a pretty fashionable sarong which makes for a very cool view once you are walking around the temple. I was a bit puzzled to see the remark on women having their periods not being allowed to walk the steps of the temple. After some research I found that the actual rule rooted in Balinese Hindu religion is even a bit broader:

“You may not enter a Khayangan [among others: Temples] if you have wounds or are bleeding; have recently lost a relative; or have a child less than four days old.”

Obviously, there is no strict control happening (except for the one in people’s own conscience).

The temple, one of the main attractions of Bali, is indeed very old and very beautiful. It is a place of dramatic scenics, with waves crashing against 70m of cliffs, stone stairs and temple reaching back to 11th century. We walked along the cliff on the path made of stones and every sight was just breathtaking.

The Uluwatu Temple is definitely worth an excursion, one should be warned though: take care of your belongings as the temple is inhabited by many malicious monkeys who want to steal your stuff and will only exchange it for some goodies. We stayed safe but there were many tourists half-laughing, half-crying over glasses lost to a macaque.

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