Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Uluwatu Temple, where monkeys steal your shoes

After our visit to some of the many beautiful beaches of Bali, we headed to Uluwatu Temple, which is located up on the cliffs in a spectacular location. I kept wanting to say "Uluru" after teaching a book on to my students about a murder mystery near Uluru in Australia.

Once again, there were monkeys everywhere. Everywhere! And they were completely out of control!

I definitely witnessed one steal a water bottle from someone, much to their chagrin, then give his/her baby monkey the water.

Towards the end of our time there, I witnessed 2 separate monkeys steal 2 separate people's flip flops.

Off of their feet. While they were walking. Just ripped them right off of their feet! It was alarming, especially since I was wearing sandals. There was much clenching of the toes.


The dreaded monkeys.
Uluwatu itself was very cool though. It was built in the 11th century and is one of 9 temples in Bali that are supposed to protect the island from evil spirits.

Supposedly, Uluwatu means "the temple built on coral reef" but I am not sure if that is a correct translation, since the root words also mean "head" and "stone."

It is high up on the cliffs overlooking the ocean and it is definitely a place to return to at sunset, should I ever return to Bali.
That sunburn line...


Please ignore my bizarre skirt. Shorts were not allowed within the temple, which apparently includes shorts to the knee that are exactly the same length as the weird skirt I was forced to wear.




We wandered around the temple for a while, avoiding the monkeys and enjoying the view.

Here is an elephant.
Here is a staircase.

Monkeys preparing for attack.
My sunburn...








The pathway along the cliffs.
Monkeys hiding in the trees.

Notice the monkey drinking from a water bottle, which it had stolen from a woman.




A monkey mid-run.

Pausing from his exercise.


Old man monkey just hanging out.










The flowers were beautiful!



Be careful of the monkeys!
That sunburn...

And that was Uluwatu temple. Unfortunately my next blog post probably won't be written until after Christmas, due to the fact that I am currently in Malaysia then heading on to other adventures in Cambodia,  Thailand and Nepal before heading home for the last time. I will update this with travel news and my feelings about leaving Korea approximately a month from now.

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