The two hour walk to Goa Gajah Temple was incredible, along tiny rows no wider than 6 inches in places, and with wild flowers, cows and ducks along the way. As we walked through the fields a storm cloud started following us, bringing a cool breeze but somewhat menacing thunder… Just as we were making our way back on to the main road, the rain hit HARD! We took refuge in a corner store and had apple tea and spicy chips. We sat outside the shop for about 30 minutes then decided to purchase an umbrella and set off down the road to Goa Gajah again. We next stopped at a restaurant and had a meal and a beer. Jives had a dish of rice wrapped in a banana leaf and I had Goreng again. We shared two beers and then set off for the final stretch of the walk to Goa Gajah. 

We saw a waterfall along the way (Skcript) and then crossed the road to enter Goa Gajah. We paid 100,000 each ($10 Cad) and then went to enter the temple. Jives had to put on a sarong and sash, I was wearing a long skirt so I was told I was alright to enter.

We slowly descended into the temple. The stairs were very slippery and wet from the rain. First we saw the iconic mouth cave and the fountain area. We took photos at the cave entrance and then descended further into the valley and the temple. We came upon some giant rocks with carving in them, each wrapped in a sash.

We then followed the river and looked at two really beautiful and powerful waterfalls. I am sure the rain made the waterfalls even more intense than normal!

Afterwards we walked back up the stairs and out of the temple. A nice man named Gunther agreed to drive us back to our hotel for 100,000. The drive said it would be about 7 minutes, but the traffic in central Ubud was so bad that it took over an hour to get back to our hotel. We were at a complete standstill through Ubud city for most of the hour.

I am so glad that we did not stay right in the middle of Ubud city, but opted to stay just outside it (would totally recommend this). When we finally arrived at our hotel we paid Gunther double the agreed upon amount as he was not expecting the trip to take so long. He hesitated taking the money, but we figured one hour of driving was worth $18 to us, gas is expensive! We had a beer in our room and decided to head back to Naughty Nuri’s for dinner again. We both had the same meal as last time, it was so delicious! We then headed back to the room to pack our bags for our 7:30am flight to Lombok the next morning.