Belukar

Day 8
This morning I got up and packed my bag instead of going to morning yoga. After I got everything together, I checked out and got breakfast at the onsite cafe. Then I headed over to Monkey Sanctuary, a natural habitat of the Balinese long-tailed monkey where they run around free. The place was pretty big and had a couple temples within it and monkeys running around everywhere; there were a bunch of baby monkeys which were adorable. Throughout the place there were signs warning not to look into the monkeys eyes because they take that as a sign of aggression and to make sure you hold onto your belongings because monkeys like to steal things from you. I spent about an hour here enjoying the monkeys and then decided to take a walk around town. I stopped in a dress shop and bought a navy flower maxi dress which was handmade. I decided to go to a store to buy one because I didn’t want to be harrassed by all the street vendors. When I got back to the hostel Emma and I got a taxi to Uluwatu, located at the northern part of Bali (it was another place that I read was popular for cafes and surfing). Emma had no solid plans so I am glad that she came down with me to explore. We checked into our hostel (which was completely dead, didn’t see anyone there and our room was completely empty besides us), we got changed into our bathing suits. We got a grab (like an uber but technically illegal because it takes away from the local taxi business) and went to a popular restaurant called Single Fin which is on a cliff overlooking the ocean and a great place to watch surfers. We got mojitos and I got a chicken burger which was not good, the place was overpriced for sure but you are paying for location. Right next to the restaurant was a beautiful infinity pool that we took a quick swim in. After cooling down in the pool we dried off and got a cab to Uluwatu Temple for the famous Kecak fire and dance show. This dance and fire show actually tells a story through ritual dance and chanting. When we got there we paid and walked in and grabbed a seat with a good view of the ocean in hopes that we would experience the popular Bali sunset, but unfortunately we didn’t get much of one. The show wasn’t really what I was expecting but it was very entertaining. It started with a bunch of men in a circle chanting and then all these people in costumes started appearing. There was a monkey character that ran through the stands messing with the audience which was hilarious. We were given a piece of paper that explained the story line and without it you would be completely lost as to what was going on. I was expecting there to be more fire in the show but it was only one little part. I felt like I got a better idea of the Bali culture and the beautiful location didn’t suck either. We tried getting another grab because the taxis were kind of expensive but our grab driver wanted us to walk away from the temple and taxi drivers. As we walked away we were walking into the dark with no street light on a main road with no one around, it was sketchy to say the least. We were finally able to get a grab and get back to the hostel. Right next to the hostel was a pizza place where we grabbed a late dinner and then walked over to a convenient store to get snacks for breakfast the next morning. When we got back our AC wasn’t working in our room and out of the 3 rooms they had only one with working AC; so we slept in a room with 14 people.Read more