Story time 👇
I went to Nusa Penida’s famous Kelingking Beach twice in the same week back in 2020, just before the pandemic.
It was during that weird time when lockdowns hadn’t fully started, but Indonesia was already sending travellers from certain countries home.
The first trip was stunning—we played in the waves at sunset as golden ocean mist lit up the beach, and I got some epic shots of @meganhassa.
A few days later, I returned with @josiahwg, @bryanhynes, and @sashajuliard to camp overnight. Sasha rented a tent and stove in Denpasar for $3, Josiah got food, and Bryan and I brought water.
If you’ve been to Kelingking, you know that the steep hike down to the beach means leaving is a huge effort.
While we setup camp, Sasha crashed his drone into the cliff, so he and Bryan went on a retrieval mission while Josiah and I stayed behind.
That’s when we realized two things: Josiah had forgotten all the food except Oreos and a single pack of instant noodles, and about 30 hungry monkeys—deprived of their usual tourist handouts—were charging down toward us.
We stood waist-deep in the ocean, watching helplessly as our camp turned into a monkey yard sale. If we tried to leave the water, they snarled, ready to attack. About 20 minutes later, Bryan and Sasha returned— I can’t remember if they got the drone—but the monkeys scattered into the jungle, disappointed with our lack of food. They took our Oreos, but at least we still had our increasingly precious noodles.
As the sun set, things felt good. We had a fire, our tent was set up, and the entire beach to ourselves. Then we saw the lightning… A tropical storm rolled in fast, drenching everything. Our tent was too small for 4 grown men, so Bryan rigged a tarp while Sasha attempted to cook. Sand stuck to every surface, we were soaked, starving, and had no sleeping mats.
I remember lying in the tent—sweating, drenched, covered in sand—and just laughing at how hilariously chaotic the whole thing had become.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. Adventures like this make the best stories, and doing it with friends makes them even better.