Kuta, Bali

I had planned to spent the afternoon on the beach after my surf lesson, but instead i sat outside my room at the losmen waiting for my teeth to set!!


OK with the disasters out the way its time to see stuff. I found the Hard Rock Cafe, Bali and had a drink there for Greg, and visited the memorial to the Bali bombings of 2002 which i found quite beautiful.

There are two nice temples to visit not far from Kuta. I went to Tanah Lot first, this is a sea temple on a rock which is inaccessible at high tide. To get into the temple complex all visitors and locals must be wearing a sarong, including the men. You can rent these at the entrance. The temple itself is on top of the rock and not open to foreigners but if it is low tide you can walk across to the base, where i had a blessing from the priests.

First you have to wash your face in a small stream that flows out of the rock there, then one priest will dab water into your hands from a bowl held by another. You have to pretend to drink this, this is done three times and on the third time you rub the water onto your face and hair. A third priest then stick a few grains of rice to your forehead and the blessing is complete.

Back on the main land you can sit on the cliff top with a beer and watch the sun set behind the temple. this is what most people come to see and its one of the most photographed scenes of Bali and it is gorgeous.

It is believed that if you visit the temple with your partner before your marriage then the marriage will fail, i don't know the reason for this though. The temple itself has mostly been reconstructed as the constant pounding of the waves against the rock inevitably wore it away. It is still an important site for the Balinese though.

The second of the two temples i visited was Uluwatu, another sea temple though this time on a cliff top. Again foreigners are not allowed into the temple itself but can walk around the grounds which a full of statues of gods and mythical beings, so long as they are careful of the monkeys!

The monkeys here are crafty they often steal things and only return them when they are exchanged for food. Some have even been known to dangle their stolen items over the side of the cliff until the food is produced.

I got punched in the nose by a monkey trying to steal my glasses right off my face. The little critter came from out of nowhere and with a flying leap made a grab, fortunately he missed but his little fist slammed into my nose instead- it was quite a shock, it didn't hurt but my nose is still a little sore after the surfing incident. I spent the rest of my time at Uluwatu half blind. This is another good place for sunset.

Just down from the main temple is a naturally formed arch way of rock that juts out into the sea its very pretty and today they had ceremony out there, the walkway was decked out with fronds and woven grasses and millions of offerings. It kind of looks like our harvest festival with corn dollies.

Offerings can be found everywhere over Bali, it is made up of a little packet made from banana leaf and holds a bit of rice and other food stuffs, some flowers and a joss stick. They quite small they fit into the palm of your hand and they are left outside shops and houses, at bends in the road, at junctions, in family and communal temples. As soon as the parcel touches the floor the essence of the offering is absorbed by the gods so the dogs eating them, people treading on them and cars driving over them is not a problem.

Each family will have its own temple compound withing the family compound this is an enclosed area with a few or more decorated columns that honour the gods and their ancestors.

Dogs roam all over the place mostly wild and either ignored or mistreated, as it is believed that they fraternise with evil spirits and this is why they bark all night. Though some people do now keep them as pets.

I spent quite a bit of time down on Kuta beach too, i never did get back on a surfboard but i did get a bit of a tan. I also got so see them filming a couple of episodes of the Australian TV programme Bondi Rescue: Bali, which was interesting.