Tanah Lot Water Temple
I woke up on the first at around 9am, packed up, and split from the group for an early return to the main island. I arrived at the Blue Water Express office only to find out that I had been scammed by a “sales rep” back on Lombok (the same guy that managed to get us to Gili Trawangan in the middle of the night after all the boats had stopped running… a true fucking saint). After paying an extra 100,000 rupiah, I was “fortunate” enough to be bumped to the second fast boat of the day. I ended up paying nearly $80 for a $50 boat ride. AWESOME.
The boat ride was quick though. Much nicer than the ferry ride, and my taxi to Kuta was included in the price. I was back in Kuta and settled into the Hotel Bali Dwipa by about 3pm.
After a quick shower (and the first warm one in days), I went to the front counter and arranged transport to go see Tanah Lot at sunset. Just as I was leaving, I had my first encounter with the Sailor, but more about that in the next post.
Tide is coming in and forcing everyone back to shore.
I rode on the back of a scooter to the water temple with my driver and pseudo-guide, Made (pronounced Ma-dee). When we got to the temple, it was PACKED. It looked like half of the Javanese population was at the temple that day. It was quite difficult to get a good picture without the entire crowd in the shot.
None the less, it looked fantastic. Tanah Lot is on a rock cropping up out of the ocean about 50 meters from the cliff along the coast. When the tide is out, it is possible to walk across to the temple on land. When the tide comes in, water floods the gap and separates the temple from the mainland. The temple also happens to be on a west-facing coast, so it is perfect for sunsets.
Just before the legendary sunset.
After wandering about and taking pictures from every possible angle, Made and I went up to the cliff where I could get some good pictures of the sunset behind the temple. Thankfully, at this point the tide was driving the crowd back up to the main island, so there were not so many bodies crowded into the photos.
After the sunset, we rode back to the hotel. I laid down for a quick nap before going out for a Friday night on the town… and slept for 10 hours instead. It was much needed, however, after the last few nights of poor sleep.
