Day 4: Uluwatu
Leaving Jimbaran Bay was hard to do. Especially given the awkward send-off from the hotel’s version of Armond—these bizarre, tropical-shirt-wearing, constantly smiling managers who insist on talking to every guest every day actually exist! The drive, too, though only around 30 minutes, was painfully start and stop due to the many strings of scooters trying to edge their way into the single-lane traffic, kicking my motion sickness into gear.
When we pulled into the Alila Villas property, however, the noise, cars, and scooters melted away and I was led through a maze of minimal, open-air cement structures lined with plants and moats still as mirrors to a restaurant at the edge of the world. That’s what it feels like, anyway, overlooking the sharp cliff drop into the endless blue of the Indian Ocean.
I had lunch while I waited for my room to be ready—beef rendang (sorry to my readers), a nearly sauceless curry that’s a Malaysian/Balinese specialty recommended by the woman who greeted me. So. Good. They also brought out a boat-slash-mancala-shaped board filled with small portions of twelve different sambals—red and green chili, pineapple and red currants, smoky shaved coconut, fried onion, a syrupy sauce, styrofoam fish crackers, and more. Too much for little me, but all incredible. While I ate, I watched tourists from other parts of Asia, one after the other, walk out into the sculptural box-like cocktail bar that extends out over the cliff to snap Instagram pics.
My only complaint thus far: that the bathroom in the restaurant is quite literally the stuff of my recurring nightmares: a toilet stall missing a wall. Not. Chic. Especially at an Indonesian restaurant serving spicy food!!
On the way to my room, the same woman asked if I am afraid of monkeys. No, I said, and she seemed grateful, then told me that if I have an “encounter,” to simply ignore them, and not to feed them or leave any food lying about. Though I spent the rest of the day lounging about what turned out to be a full-on villa with a little pool and outdoor daybed, I’ve yet to catch sight of a monkey, though their barking sure kept me up at night.
