The Independent Women's Club

[12] Just friends, right?

[12]

Today's our last day here in Indonesia. Yano told me that he already booked our ticket yesterday while I was in the workshop. Five days isn't enough to explore Bali, but I realized so many things throughout my stay here. Since we will be returning home tomorrow, Yano and I decided to visit at least one of the most popular temples here.

It's my first time visiting a temple, so I'm not sure what to expect. All I know is that we have to be quiet because it's a sacred place. Yano seems to know a lot about it, so I feel assured. We've decided to visit Tanah Lot Temple. It's quite far from Ubud, so we used a motorcycle to go there.

Tanah Lot is one of the most famous attractions in Bali. It's a Hindu temple that sits on top of a large and scenic rock formation. It has been said that the sea has separated the large rock from the mainland, and during high tides, the rock is surrounded by the sea, making it one of the most amazing sights to witness when you're visiting Indonesia. Aside from that, people go there to watch the sunset, so Yano and I went there early to get the best spot. Isn't it a memorable encore before returning to our reality?

We came across a beautiful architecture of the temple's Balinese gate. Inside, there are lots of art shops offering local products such as clothes, Balinese sarongs, jewelry, paintings, woodcarvings, and the like. Since it's low-tide, it is possible to walk across the sand to the temple. There were already lots of visitors in the area, but it's not as crowded as we expected. It's our lucky day.

"Kelly," said Yano before pulling me closer to him. He pointed at the stranger in front of us who's currently holding Yano's vintage camera. I was about to take a pose when he suddenly placed his hand on my shoulder.

"1...2...3..." I heard the click shots after that. After taking the camera from the stranger, we started walking again.

"I'm curious about how the pictures will turn out. I'll give you a copy when we returned home," he said while putting back the camera inside his bag.

I smiled when I realized that inside that camera, there's proof that Yano and I went here together. A proof showing that coming here wasn't just a dream...that it happened for real. At some point, it made me happy.

"When we go back, all of these will remain as memories. After a decade, it would probably more like a long beautiful dream than memories that happened for real. We will remember all the places we had visited, but we'll probably forget what it looked like, what we did there, and all the conversations we had." I let out a deep sigh. He stopped walking, so I looked at him.

"Are you sure you can forget these memories after a decade no matter how beautiful it was?"

I looked at the sea and its heavy waves. "The beauty...of course, I won't forget how beautiful it is...but that's probably the only memory that will stay after a decade...the word beautiful," I looked at him again. "You see, I don't have a sharp memory," I laughed.

"No. You don't have to keep everything in your memory to remember every single thing. Once a memory has entered your soul, no one can take it away from you. The reason why we went here was to discover ourselves. Don't you feel any changes after exploring this place? I think those changes are enough to remember every single thing that happened here. That's why no matter how old I get, I don't think I can forget the memories I had in this place," then he looked at me. "On top of that, you're with me throughout this journey, Kelly. That's just impossible to forget."

"Fine," I said while raising both of my hands. "I lost the debate," I surrendered. He just laughed.

After looking for the best spot to watch the sunset, we took out the food and drinks we bought at the food stalls. In just a few minutes, we'll be witnessing the beautiful sunset of this island. There are lots of people staying at their respective seats while watching the wonderful view with their loved ones. Yano and I were probably the only ones here who don't have that kind of relationship. We're not a family nor a couple. We're just friends who barely know each other.