Uluwatu

I had really enjoyed my time in the forests of Ubud.  I felt refreshed from the seclusion and the intense greenery of the jungles made me forget about the outside world.

That part of the trip was done now.  We were heading south towards Uluwatu.  The wedding we were attending would be on the cliff tops in the south, so it made more sense to move a bit closer for the second half of our holiday.  On our way there, we decided to include some sightseeing of Uluwatu.

We went straight down to the far southern end of the island.  There we stood and looked out on the cliffs towards the ocean.  The landscape around us was far drier than what we had experienced in Ubud.  It was a harsher environment, but still beautiful in its own way.

Whereas up north, everything felt a bit more intimate and enclosed with the dense forests, here I felt the open expanses.  Looking out towards the ocean, the strong winds coming in from the ocean was incredibly refreshing.

Renee enjoyed the walk and she seemed to suffer under the heat of the sun far less than me.

After walking around the cliffs for an hour or so (and seeing more monkeys), we jumped back in the car and went to the Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park.  This park is in the middle of Uluwatu and it contains some enormous statues that almost all tourists to Bali will see at some point.  The largest of the statues is almost impossible to miss and it stands taller than anything in Uluwatu by some distance.  In fact, as you come in to land, if you're seated face the correct side you'll see the enormous statue rising out of the ground.  It dominates the landscape and it is un-missable.

This history and legends behind this figure and scene are lost to me.  To the Balinese, the combination of Vishnu and Garuda seemed to be deeply entrenched in their culture.  We walked from the carpark into this enormous area that had been set aside for the statue.  The closer we got, the larger it seemed.  It was quite amazing just how much it dominated the entire skyline of the Southern part of Bali.   

The whole park had been set up in grand fashion, with large open vistas and big areas that seemed perfect for large crowds to gather.  It felt almost like the courtyard of a Mesoamerican palace or city.  With the roughly hewn stone walls everywhere, it created this sense of history that wasn't actually there given this was all a relatively new development. 

It all felt very different to Ubud.  We had gone from the dense and lush jungles to far more open and sweeping views.  This was a different experience, but it seemed to add to the allure and appeal of this strange and incredible island.