arjuna stood tall in the night
Frida, my friend from Mexico, and I arrived safely in Bali from the Philippines after a long flight delay. Hearing the Balinese traditional music and seeing the cultural decorations, it really triggered a sense of exhilaration in the both of us, realizing that we are actually now in Bali! I had a contact waiting to pick us up, recommended to me by someone on Couchsurfing. His rates were cheap and he was actually there waiting for us at the airport with a sign up. He put our stuff in his trunk and we headed off into the night towards our hostel in Ubud.
It was way past midnight, and I was already fighting the drowsiness but couldn’t help but look outside the window. Even in the darkness, just trying to catch a glimpse of Ubud’s vibe.
Going through the empty and dark streets of Ubud, I noticed that they have a lot of tall and beautiful statutes based on Balinese mythology and Hinduism to which I later realized is just actually called Balinese Hinduism. I recognized the great Arjuna from the Mahabharata which was quite a breathtaking piece of art. We were told by our driver that there were hundreds of languages and that Bali is one of the few non-Muslim islands in Indonesia.
He was able to find and drop us off at our hostel that was tucked a bit deep in some farms. It was already very late so I took a shower and headed straight to bed in our dormitory.
scooter test ride
We woke up and got ready for the long day ahead. I had a shower and ate breakfast below, delicious fruits and pancakes. Our hostel had scooters for rent and Frida became the designated driver, we were using a scooter to go around Bali’s hotspots but the first order of business was getting some cash exchanged. It was quite a bumpy ride as Frida wasn’t used to driving a scooter anymore though she used it a lot back in Mexico, we had a lot of close calls and I’m sure she was quite stressed.
We went to Tegallalang Rice Terraces first, it was blistering hot and we hid under my anti-UV umbrella which really saved our skins. Always bring an umbrella for the harsh sun! It’s saved me so many times from unnecessary suffering. We only got to explore a portion of it as the other half required some cash to enter. The swings and signs all required some money as well and we were trying to save up as much as we can for the rest of the day so unfortunately we couldn’t splurge too much at the first spot.
the holy spring of tirta empul
We went to Tirta Empul Temple next. We had to wear sarongs, a colorful fabric to wrap around our waist, to enter the place. Some trees even had them on quite similar to how Japan‘s trees would have a yorishiro wrapped around them.
Tirta Empul was a huge complex featuring a holy spring which is believed to have healing properties. There were plenty of pilgrims in line, waiting for their turn to bathe in the sacred waters. Aside from that, the temple complex was huge and it had numerous smaller shrines and temples. It was a very spiritual area and it was our first encounter with Balinese culture. We walked around for a long time, making sure we didn’t miss anything. We even saw a group of Balinese-Hindu people praying together in some sort of ceremony.
When we got out of the place, we were recommended a restaurant by one of the guys standing outside the temple. He touched Frida’s crystal necklace and Frida was making comments that she usually wouldn’t let anyone else touch them to keep the energy pure but what’s done is done.
We still went with him and we ate one of the best traditional Balinese meals so far. It was in front of a rice paddy field, having the best views and the best meal was a big win and it was still super cheap, we couldn’t believe it!
the ancient temples of gunung kawi
Next up, we drove to Gunung Kawi. Here, it also had its own rice terraces but this time around there weren’t any people and it was just as good as Tegalalang. This place had a much more raw energy to it, we had to hike up and down and go through forests only to find more paths leading to caves and waterfalls. It was a very spiritual trek. There were these temples carved into the mountain walls and caves that somewhat resembled homes where people could have possibly lived in thousands of years ago.
We had to take our shoes off to enter the holy areas on the other side of the mountains which grounded us more to the divine energy of Gunung Kawi.
bali traffic & the elephant cave
As they day went on, traffic started to get bad and Frida was getting too nervous driving around such tight spaces. We had to get off and walk towards our next destination, the Goa Gajah aka the Elephant Cave. The main sight was the cave with the face on it but the surrounding area was actually really fun to explore as well.
There were more temples at the backside with lotus-filled ponds. There was even a waterfall hidden that we had to hike down for, I thought the place was flat but Goa Gajah was actually a ravine.
We went back to our place to rest for a bit, surprisingly unscathed. I was chilling by the hostel’s second floor balcony on some beanbags, talking to this girl who said she came to Bali to do some yoga. We exchanged stories about our plans to go to Gili Trawangan while Frida caught her bearings after a stressful ride back to our hostel. She didn’t want to drive the scooter anymore and I completely understood after seeing just how chaotic the traffic got as it approached rush hour.
sacred monkeys
From there, we walked towards the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary which was only a few minutes away from our hostel. There were already dozens of monkeys just hanging around the roofs and electrical wirings on the street. Some were quite naughty. We saw plenty of monkeys destroying motorcycle seats, completely tearing them apart like stuffed toys. I’m sure the drivers would be coming back to a very unpleasant surprise.
The sanctuary itself was a temple complex situated inside a forest that’s inhabited by hundreds of monkeys. With both culture and nature mixing, the experience of the place itself made it one of the my favorite places in Bali. There were monkeys of all ages and sizes, the baby monkeys were particularly adorable. They even had a graveyard for the monkeys that passed away and I saw a couple of monkeys paying respect, just sitting there looking solemn. Fights errupted, though it was hard to tell if they were just playing or really going at it.
The route was wonderful as it took us all across the forest and we were able to see the ancient temples, rivers, waterfalls while under the shade of the trees. There was one guy who tried touching the monkeys while trying to take a photo, he got his finger bitten and he went crying to the staff asking if he was going to be alright, lesson learned my dude.
It’s no surprise that Dalem Agung Padangtegal Temple was said to be under the protection of Lord Hanuman, the Hindu monkey-god or vanara who accompanied Lord Rama in the Hindu epic, Ramayana.
Interestingly, the Kecak Dance, a Balinese dance, portrays the sceneries from the Ramayana. It really shows just how connected Bali is to Hinduism. Lord Rama himself was accompanied by an army of Vanara, monkey-like forest-dwelling people, to rescue his wife Sita so it makes sense that this forest would be revered as sacred.
circle of life
For dinner, we found a quaint restaurant and I had some delicious Nasi Goreng, Indonesian fried rice. Frida and I talked a under the cover of the night with just candle lights. It was a really unassuming place. We talked about where we were right now in our lives and what exactly we’re looking in this trip. How we wanted to grow, where we wanted to be. All the while there were a lot of bugs and the giant geckos were having a feast themselves. Such is the island life. The next day, we then went off to Gili T.
