Friday, October 20, Day 7 Departure Day

We requested a late check out because our flight was not until 1 am; yes, you read that correctly, 1 am was our scheduled departure time on October 21 but we would plan to be at the airport by 11 pm on October 20. 

We had time to relax and repeat my birthday morning with a swim, breakfast and a soak in the hot pool. And we decided to try a pizza again for lunch because Neil talked to them and convinced them to leave it in the oven till the bottom was crispy brown. So much better.

There was the usual flurry of checking out with Komong coming too early to carry our bags while we were still packing and then figuring out how to cash in the wristband. Wayan was standing by and we were loaded up and saying goodbyes to everyone before we knew it. 

Our first stop was just down the road from the resort at the temple Puna Jati Batur which is on the shore of Lake Batur. One website refers to it as the oldest temple in Bali. The other temple associated with it is Puna Segara Ulan Danu Batur which is located in the lake and connected to the shore by a wooden bridge. The temples are basically part of the same complex since you have to walk through the Jati Batur Temple to reach the wooden bridge to the temple on the lake.

As we drove near to the temple, there were cars parked everywhere on the road and the parking was packed full. It became clear that it was a celebration day for the entire village. Wayan double parked and stayed with the car while we went to explore. I felt completely under-dressed with all the villagers in their beautiful temple finery. The entire temple complex appeared to be filled with seated family groups both inside and out of the temple. We chose not to go into the temple itself because it didn’t feel appropriate but we did walk around outside and up to the top to overlook the temple. We could look straight down to the wooden bridge and Puna Segara Ulan Danu Batur where the priests looked like they were just coming out to begin the ceremony. The gamelan orchestra was already playing and we enjoyed the music for a little bit before we headed back to the car.

We drove along the South edge of Lake Batur and began the climb up out of the caldera. There were picturesque views all the way up and we stopped for a photo at the very top before starting our way South and downhill toward the airport.

Our next destination was Kayuan Demulih, a holy water temple in the little village of Demulih. It was in poor condition with the lack of maintenance but we could feel nice energy in the temple, feeling like it was sacred going back for centuries. Here’s a short video showing it clean and beautiful. The large pool no longer held much water and was stagnant. The back pool where the spring water entered the temple was still full but it was sad to see so much trash in it. There was a concrete wall section at the front and it became clear that this was the public shower area divided between the men and women. The shower is turned on by pulling the cork out of the pipe coming out of the wall! An older woman was surprised to see tourists there as she was leaving and scurried off as we arrived. The older man who arrived while we were there was so intrigued to see us there, he stayed staring at us the entire visit. We still had a Canang Sari, the small trays of offerings from our day at Pura Besakih, the Mother Temple. Wayan helped Neil make ceremony at the small shrine at the back of the temple grounds.

As we were continuing South, Wayan pointed out the rice field we saw being planted on Monday. It was now flooded and we could see the very young plants poking above the water. A short while later, Wayan pulled off to the side of the road and asked if we would like to visit a typical Balinese family home compound. They were friends of his who accepted a donation for tourists to visit. We walked in the front gate and along the first house building and then we stood in the courtyard as he pointed things out. There were two solid built buildings on the property which were the residences, a kitchen building that looked to be constructed of bamboo and rattan, and a kitchen garden to the side of it. There was a wooden building which Wayan said was the granary and tool shed. At the rear of the property was the family temple. We could see several shrines built in the area. Two toothless old men of the family were entertained watching us the whole time. Children and old folks on Bali seem to be bored and have plenty of time to interact with us if we’re interested. 

Our next destination was to see a Balinese dance performance as part of my birthday gift. Wayan thought we were early so asked us if we wanted to visit one of two markets. We chose the craft market. But the traffic was so congested and slow that we crawled along and ran out of time. We decided we needed to go straight to the temple for the dance.

There are dances performed most evenings at the Pura Puesh Batubulan temple. A portion of the temple outside grounds is set up with covered theater seats and a stage in front of one of the temple gates. Pura Puesh Batubulan Kecak and Fire Dance was the performance we had purchased tickets to see. There were three dances scheduled: Kecak, Sanghyang Dedari (dance by young girls), and Sanghyang Jaran (a fire dance.) All of the dances were accompanied by a choir of men using only their voices instead of instruments to weave complex percussive chants. 

I was there to enjoy the dances as art, while Neil, the anthropologist, was unexpectedly intrigued by the deep spiritual history of the dances. They date back centuries if not thousands of years, with similarities to shamanic trance dances found in ancient cultures around the globe. The first dance, the Kecak, was modified in the 1930’s to depict stories from the Ramayana (putting a Hindu veneer on the ancient dance). But originally, those dancers would offer themselves to be temporarily inhabited by deities or ancestors to drive away sickness and death and to allow them to express their wishes to the village.

According to the handout we were given, Sanghyang refers to a spirit that dives to the mortal realm, and Dedari means ‘angels.’ In its original form, performed in village temples for centuries, the girls would be placed in trance prior to dancing. They would then perform a free-form legong dance, with the angelic spirit moving them in synchronicity. Similarly, for the boy’s dance, an entranced boy on a costume horse (jaran) dances around and then upon a bonfire made of coconut husks. Where else around the world do indigenous cultures have entranced dancers tread upon hot coals?? Seems to us we were seeing a glimpse of Balinese culture that predated the arrival of Hinduism.

After the dance performance, Wayan offered to take us to the “souvenir shop” near the airport since we hadn’t had time to stop at the other market. It turns out Krisna Oleh Shopping Center is a five story shopping center with the fifth floor holding a large pool and open air restaurant. We hadn’t had a chance to eat dinner and we headed to the fifth floor for some food. I thought it might be a food court but instead it was a fancy sit down restaurant. With limited options, we enjoyed a nice meal before spending over an hour shopping. When we got to the basement to meet Wayan at the car, it was the only vehicle remaining in the garage! It was a short drive to the airport and we arrived at 11 pm exactly two hours before our departure time. We said our goodbyes to Wayan and got a last photo with him before sorting ourselves out with our luggage and changing for an overnight flight. We checked our luggage and went through passport control. We were on our way home!

After a short flight without any sleep, we landed in the Philippines at 5 am with a 12 hour layover. Our plan was to spend the morning in old town Manila seeing the sites and to enjoy a meal before needing to get back to the airport through what we heard would probably be horrible traffic. It was raining when we landed. Rain wouldn’t melt us but we weren’t prepared to lug our travel backpacks around all day while trying to keep everything dry. And we felt overly tired. We decided to just stay in the airport all day. We did find a few benches without arms (very rare) where we took a couple of naps during our layover. And I found a delicious piece of chocolate cake at a coffee kiosk to complete my birthday celebration.

After another redeye flight, we landed in beautiful sunny Oahu. After customs and passport control, we boarded our Maui bound flight and were thrilled to see our home out the window as we came in for a landing. Home again, home again.

Thank you for coming along with us on our Southeast Asia adventure.

Wednesday, October 18, Day 5

Neil asked what I wanted to do today; did I want to go explore? I said I wanted to just relax after three intense days of touring!

As you could see from the photos in the last post, our villa at Toya Devasya was marble and wood and open air. And best of all we had our own private hot pool. We could step out of our bedroom and into the pool. The pool had a continual flow of the hot springs water spouting from a statue at the far edge of the pool. The pool maintained a bathlike temperature. A little more heat would have been nice, but it was at a temperature where we could stay comfortably in the water as long as we wanted without overheating.

Breakfast was included with our room. We put on our suits and robes and headed out to explore the resort. There was a central area with restaurant counters that had different types of food: Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Indian, and Western. They had a multipage menu that we could order from and not have to wander around to all the counters. They had very sweet waitstaff hovering around to assist you. We found one waitstaff who finally understood we had tickets for breakfast and explained the menu to us. She took our order and we found a table that overlooked one of the infinity pools. A lot of other folks were arriving and claiming tables. We figured out these are the day visitors who can buy entrance and hang out all day. An option for us next time. 

While we were waiting for breakfast, a man appeared at our table and introduced himself as Komong and said he was sorry he hadn’t greeted us last night as he was at a ceremony at the temple. We couldn’t understand the word he used for his role but we finally figured out he was our personal valet and/or concierge. He wanted to know what time we wanted our room cleaned. We settled on right away since we were heading to the hot pools and he got on the radio to call this housekeeping staff. He asked if we needed anything, and we requested two extra towels and another lounge chair.  (As a note: There were about 12 villas. In our three night stay, we only saw one other villa occupied. We definitely got personalized service.) With our breakfast came a pot of burning oil to keep the flies away from the food. It was necessary and appreciated.

We next headed to the HOT pool. We discovered it the night before when we were moving around the infinity pool to the back (and away from the loud pounding music that started pouring out of the bar at sunset.) The hot pool is up a few steps and through the Love Cave. I am serious, that is what they called it. Anyway, that is where we spent our soaking time among the purple elephants spouting nice hot water! I wonder if the elephant theme was inspired by Ganesha?

After we were like prunes, we headed back to our room to dress and explore the town for restaurant options. Exploration only went a few hundred yards in either direction on the dirt road that had very few eatery options for lunch and dinner. We tried one for lunch and the food was extremely disappointing with the prices about the same as the resort. We decided to eat at the resort for the rest of the meals and got a wristband for charging meals and drinks. The wristband was waterproof and can go in the pools with us.

We rested in the afternoon and used our private pool. We went for happy hour at the bar and then enjoyed dinner in the second floor dining room at sunset and a soak in the hot pool to end the evening.

Thursday, October 19, Day 6 My Birthday

Soak, rinse, repeat. My birthday was perfect.

Neil served me morning tea floating in our private pool, we went to breakfast in our robes, we sat in the hot pool, we met the owner by happenstance, we explored the resort, we went down water slides, then repeated the soaking.

Komong arrived at breakfast to confirm we were ready for our room to be cleaned. I gave him the keys, just as yesterday, even though we never did figure out how to lock the front doors so it really didn’t matter. He would then return the keys to me while we were in the hot pool so we knew the room was ready. He also wanted to know if we needed a driver to the airport the next day. He called his friend to come talk to us at breakfast. The short version is the driver wanted to charge a lot more than Wayan because we wanted to do some touring on the way to the airport. I sent a Whatsapp text to Wayan and he confirmed he would pick us up at 3 pm the following day. Transportation secured.

Neil had researched having us take a boat ride on Lake Batur on my birthday. The boats were very large pontoon boats with some plastic chairs. Reviews said they were a comfortable ride. They would take you across the lake to see a cemetery (with skulls hanging around), and a statue of Dewi Danu, the primordial water goddess in Balinese Hinduism. I know it is a cultural tradition for the village and the reviews said the guides do a very good explanation but nothing about it really attracted me. And where the lake had been flat the first day of our visit, we woke to a windy white capped lake and were happy to not have planned a boat ride.

Neil was asking Komong questions about the source of the hot water and other details like temperature and flow rate. (Neil is fascinated with spring water in general.) He was having a hard time explaining when the owner happened to walk by and Komong introduced him. The owner (Ketut) lives in Australia most of the time but was in Bali as there was work being done on property he was overseeing. He was thrilled to answer Neil’s questions and show us the site of the spring and the wells including the new one being dug because the original hot water well had been cooling. That answered one main question by learning all of the resorts in the area sourced their hot water from underground. The spring flow has greatly diminished due to all the wells on nearby properties pumping vast quantities of water.

We were out and about so we decided to walk the rest of the resort. We found the tent camping area with “tentalows” where you could rent a tent with beds and shared restroom/shower facilities. The dock and water sports were accessed from this area but were not in operation as it was low season. We found more soaking pools and the olympic size chlorinated swimming pool. There were two pools where they had water slides. We had to carry up a two person inflatable innertube boat like thing to ride down on. Naturally, we had to check out both slides! A few times! We were laughin’ and hootin’ like kids.

After lunch, another birthday present: I got a massage in our room on the outside lounger! Lovely!

For dinner, we actually dressed up in clothes, ha. I had noticed earlier a chocolate cake and some chocolate pudding cups in a refrigerator by the Japanese food counter. We asked to get chocolate pudding for dessert with our meal order. The process was so confusing because the servers said those were for breakfast but finally they sold us some. The best way to describe them was Neil’s comment that they were JLOs – Jello Like Objects. It was a firm brown jello with NO flavor. I didn’t taste even a hint of chocolate. We had a few bites, ate the whip cream off the top and that was my birthday dessert. (That’s okay because on our layover in Manila airport, I found a coffee shop with chocolate cake that I thoroughly enjoyed.)

We would have had another soak in the hot pool after dinner but they drain it at 7 pm, scrub it, and refill it for the next day. Instead I floated around our private pool before bed. What a wonderful birthday.

Tuesday, October 17, Day 4 North Bali continued

After our seaside lunch at Warung Taman Sari where we enjoyed the food and the beautiful blue ocean beside us, we continued East for a few kilometers arriving at our next destination of Air Sanih, where we swam in the fresh water spring pools. There was a temple across the street honoring the holy springs (remember basically any spring or water source is holy on Bali) but for once we didn’t visit the temple but headed straight to the spring pools located right next to the ocean. Wayan waited outside in the car for us. We paid our very reasonable fee and headed in to view the pools and change into our suits. It was a warm afternoon and several locals were enjoying the pools and grounds around the freshwater pools. We enjoyed floating around the pool in the clear water and sunshine before heading back to the changing rooms. Neil took a photo of the (clean) changing room to give you an idea of the full local experience with the squat toilet and bucket! We found Wayan across the street catching a nap and were on our way again.  

We continued East toward our final destination on the North coast. As we drove along the coast, we saw many stony beaches lined with small outrigger fishing boats with brightly colored accents. I got the impression that they fish early in the morning or at night.

Our next destination was Pura Ponjok Batu, a large temple constructed of black lava stone situated right on the North shore of Bali. Some say it was built to balance all the temples built on the South shores of Bali, however, that idea might be misleading. Restoration work was started in the 1960s and statues and carvings uncovered are estimated to date back to the 8th century. Other excavations provide evidence of religious activity as far back as 2500-3000 BC. 

The name Pura Ponjok Batu, means “stone on the edge.” (link) The temple sits on the point of a small peninsula and the structure itself is made from volcanic rock. There is a holy spring coming out of the volcanic rock at the ocean side at the base of the temple and it is only accessible at low tide. A shrine has been built there and all the holy water for ceremonies is collected from this spring. When Neil went to photograph the spring, the priest hovered nearby very protectively to make sure he didn’t get too close.

It was time for us to leave the coast and head back up the mountain. Wayan was somewhat familiar with the area because he has an uncle who owns property a few kilometers away. So, rather than take one of the major highways, he took a small single-lane farm road. We began our climb back up the mountain by driving through a village on an alley that just kept going up and up. There was no traffic and people openly stared at the rarity of a nice car going by. 

We drove up and around a huge stone walled area that Wayan said was a failed resort project funded by local politicians. It appears they ran out of funds before the building construction was completed. It is much drier on the North side of Bali and we were seeing different types of crops in fields and forests. We passed miles of clove trees and we would see tarps laid out beside the road where the farmers would spread out the clove pods to dry before bagging up for sale. We passed what appeared to be wild cacao trees and Neil had us stop for photos. As we drove up and up we were soon ascending right along the narrow ridge top and we could look straight down on both sides of the road. Impressive road engineering! There were villages and houses situated right on top of the ridge clinging to the edge. The slopes on both sides were used for farming and orchards. 

We eventually rejoined the main road we had taken on our downward journey to the coast. A short distance uphill was Pura Indrakila which we had bypassed on our way down. The website states: “Indrakila Temple stands on a hill as a replica of Mount Indrakila, the place of Arjuna in India.” We made a sharp turn up a small road and came into an empty parking lot only to find the temple locked up. However, the views in all directions were incredible and we spent time feeling we were on top of the world. It is said the king used to meditate here; we can see and feel why. In the interest of time, we decided to forgo our backup plan of visiting the megalithic site Pura Puncak Penulisan.

During our planning, we had selected a spot on the Google map labeled Pinggan Viewpoint because the guidebook said it was a good overlook of Lake Batur. But Wayan’s navigation app failed to find the “Viewpoint.” Wayan doubled back a few times and we finally settled on a spot to get the best “overlook” photo. 

At this point our backcountry adventure began. We were winding around country roads among garlic, shallot and onion fields and taking turns Wayan thought would lead us downward. He finally stopped to ask some guys hanging out at a road intersection and they said the turn was back a ways but he could make it eventually the way we were going. Hahaha, turns out they drive scooters, not cars. decided to continue on and the road got much narrower and came down between a steep cliff and a bamboo forest where only motor scooters were traveling. We even saw one scooter that had died on the steep track and been left to rot. What were we getting into?? And suddenly we were out in the light and among garlic fields again. We still laugh about our adventure through the backroads.

We wound our way around the North end of Lake Batur into the town looking for our hotel: The Ayn at Toya Devasya. Wayan was unsure of the location and finally asked a security guard at the “day visitor” entrance to Toya Devasya who pointed us to the main lobby. Once the staff was assured we had reservations, everything happened quickly with our luggage being unloaded, goodbyes said to Wayan, and we were sitting at the hotel lobby front desk. It had been a long day driving and I was ready to get to the room and then into a hot pool! A few things were explained (lots of flies due to the agriculture fertilizer in the area and wristband needed to charge things at the resort), some arrival papers signed and then the bell boy and our front desk agent were carrying our luggage down, around trees, and up steps to bring us to our lovely villa named Gerbera. (All the villas are named for flowers.) 

The villa was marvelous. After photos and videos, we quickly unpacked to get our bathing suits on and get out to the hot water infinity pool for sunset overlooking Lake Batur and Mount Abang. Neil was antsy while I unpacked a little longer than necessary and we just made it out in time for the last of the light and color. It was still beautiful and fun to be hanging out in the pool and watching the light fade on the lake and mountain. For dinner, we decided on pizza because they had a wood fired oven. They even delivered it to the room. Unfortunately it was made by Balinese who’ve seen photos of pizza, but never tasted one. Imagine an undercooked soggy crust with no flavor in the sauce and you have the right idea. We ate the whole thing anyway! We took a night time dip in our private pool and slept well in the big comfy bed. Neil dreamt of going into the restaurant kitchen and teaching the chef how to make a fantastic pizza from scratch (which he could totally do). In his dream it made the resort a tourist destination for the pizza alone.

Intro

Remember, to see larger versions of the photos along with their descriptive captions, click on the gallery photos at the bottom of the webpage. You can conveniently use the arrow keys to go forward and back through them.

To enjoy a nice soundscape while you read and view photos, you can listen to the Balinese instrumental music playlist Neil created a on Spotify. We listen to it while writing to help us get in the proper mindset. Accounts on Spotify are free and you’ll need one to listen at this link: Bali Soundtrack.

Tuesday, October 17, Day 4 North Bali

Today was moving day. After staying four nights in Ubud overlooking the tranquil rice paddies we were happy to be heading to Toya Devasya Hot Springs on the shores of Lake Batur to stay at a five-star resort villa at for my birthday! But to get there, we planned a day of adventure.

We awoke at sunrise and took a final walk along the narrow paths among the neighboring rice fields. We enjoyed the morning light on the flooded fields. Neil talked to the farmer of the field that was right outside our room and found that he was having a villa built on one of his fields. It was the one we could see straight out our window. Once it is finished, he will probably make more money renting it out than he would by farming rice in the same spot. Also, he was getting old and the passive income would be far less work. But I think he was wise to still farm some of his land and stay diversified while the villa bookings got started.

We finished packing and headed for our last Ubud breakfast. We still had a few ball caps left and Neil offered a hat to our manager and his two staff. The manager snatched up the octopus hat immediately and was so excited. The others were more shy but eventually chose one and all were beaming as they put them on. We could hear unusually happy chatter coming from the kitchen while they prepared our breakfast. 

Our driver Wayan, who was also delighted to receive a nice hat, was ready to drive us to some North shore temples, stopping at other sights along the way. He said he hadn’t ever been to some of the temples we had in mind, so it was to be an adventure for him as well. He had me text him the Google Maps route we had figured out and that was what he followed for our drive North. At least in concept since he took some narrow backroads we could use to avoid tourist toll stops on the main road.

Our first destination was Pura Ulun Danu Batur on the crater rim high above Lake Batur. On the backroads going there, we passed a variety of interesting fields, greenhouses, and grow tables raising crops suitable to higher elevations. Eventually, we made it up to the beautiful Pura Ulun Danu Batur, a Hindu temple dedicated to the Lake Goddess Dewi Danu. The temple had originally been located down on the edge of the lake but was damaged by volcanic eruptions. In 1926 the temple was moved and rebuilt on the rim to overlook the lake.

We parked across the street opposite the temple and Wayan helped us tie our sarongs. We paid our fee in what seemed like a community social center where women were gathered visiting with one another while doing their handiwork. Children and grandparents were also there. Without all the toys and electronic devices Western kids take for granted, children on Bali are delighted to play catch or goof around for a few minutes with grey-haired tourists. The grandparents doing childcare watch with huge smiles as they get a brief respite. Helpfully, an elderly guard halted traffic for us to safely cross the busy street to the temple.

The Balinese consider water as sacred as it is essential for life. Temples are often built on springs and natural watercourses, which are absent on the dry rim, so we were happy to see several fountains and ponds as we walked in the entrance of the temple. I’m sure the burbling cascading water features were welcoming to Danu, whose statues were prominent. The temple complex was large and there was a lot of activity going on. 

Next, we drove down to the north coast and proceeded to Pura Maduwe Karang which is a small local temple dedicated to the rice god Dewi Sri. There was a father, mother and small toddler in the pavilion when we entered the first courtyard. The man came over to be our guide and spoke fairly good English. The temple is known for its reliefs and when I asked about the one that made it famous, he smiled and said we would get there. He took us around explaining many of the carvings and then we ended at the carving of a man on a bicycle. Our guide told us that when he was a child he was filmed by an Australian film crew doing a feature on the bicycle carving believed to be W. O. J. Nieuwenkamp, a Dutch artist who brought the first bicycle to Bali in 1900. After it aired in Australia, the temple became a popular tourist stop and for a while our guide was often recognized by visitors who’d seen the video. Neil found the whole thing whimsical. 

As we drove along the North coast, we passed an open air restaurant right at the seaside, and smoke was rising from an outdoor cooking fire just being lit. The setting looked so enticing we pulled a quick U-turn and stopped for lunch. Seafood was on the menu as well as chicken satay, grilled over a coconut husk fire. We had Wayan join us for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed our break by the beautiful blue ocean.

We have so many photos, I am going to divide this travel day into two posts. More shortly!

Intro

After a busy few weeks of holidays, work, and birthdays, we are back on the job of writing and we hope to finish postings of our October trip in the next few weeks. I hope you enjoy them.

Remember, to see larger versions of the photos along with their descriptive captions, click on the gallery photos at the bottom of the webpage. You can conveniently use the arrow keys to go forward and back through them. To enjoy a nice soundscape while you read and view photos, you can listen to the Balinese instrumental music playlist Neil created a on Spotify. We listen to it while writing to help us get in the proper mindset. Accounts on Spotify are free and you’ll need one to listen at this link: Bali Soundtrack.

Monday, October 16, Day 3 East Bali

Our driver, Wayan, picked us up at 7:00 a.m. We’d been up about an hour by then, having our morning matcha green tea as usual, along with a to-go breakfast of a couple hard boiled eggs and some fruit. The hotel made it up for us and delivered it the night before and we kept in our mini fridge, very convenient.  

Even though distances were short, traffic is terrible on Bali and our driver estimated a 10-hour day for us to make a circuit of a few important stops in southeast Bali. First on our list was Pura Besakih, also called the Mother Temple since it has been the most important Hindu temple on Bali since at least the 1400s, and it was an ancient holy place before that. Neil had visited it in 1995 and had a beautiful experience. Back then he drove up on a motorbike, parked by a side gate and wandered right on in with nobody else visible.

But first we had a pleasant surprise. Wayan knew Neil wanted to see waterfalls. Our original wish list for the day’s itinerary had included some waterfalls, but they were up side roads and we had eliminated them to bring our planned route down to only 10 hours. However, Wayan knew of one waterfall we could swing past on our way. Air Terjun Tibumana had a lovely swimming hole and would be great for afternoon heat. Since we were there in the early morning before 8 it was almost empty. We enjoyed visiting the beautiful spot but didn’t take time to swim. 

A short way down the road we briefly stopped to see a rice paddy being planted. It was one of those beautiful moments of serendipity to be in the right place at the right time. It looked like an extended family that was accustomed to coming together to help plant each other’s crops. Keep this rice paddy in mind because we ended up driving past it days later and got a few pictures of the happy little seedlings.

About an hour later we finally arrived at Pura Besakih. We were both blown away at the modern high-capacity infrastructure which had built up to handle the high volumes of tourists and worshipers. A huge multi-level parking structure for at least 1000 cars, plus special areas for dozens of large 50-passenger buses. Luckily for us, it was a very quiet day and the vast spaces seemed almost empty.

We paid our fees and were assigned an English speaking guide. We then rode a shuttle about a kilometer up the hill to the temple gate area. Our guide explained how every family lineage on Bali (26 of them) had a small family temple adjacent to the public temple. He took us inside his family temple and showed us the various shrines and structures, some of which go back 14 generations or more. He then handed us off to a cousin who showed us the public temples.

We carried with us some Canang Sari, small trays of offerings for the temple, which we purchased from some pushy women at the shuttle stop. We planned to pay our respects to the island and people of Bali by doing a traditional offering ceremony. As part of the preparation, Neil bought a ceremonial udeng, the traditional headwear for Balinese men. We got it from a little family run stall where we had fun interacting with the newest member of the family who helped Neil pick it out. Sadly, the little guy was not happy going out in the bright sunlight for a photo. 

The main temple complex is large with wide vistas looking out over the island. With 86 public temples in addition to the 26 family temples, it seems like there are side temples and beautiful carvings everywhere. Evidence suggests the earliest temples may have been 2000 years ago. The meru towers were beautifully eye-catching. We made our way along, trying to look at everything. We could feel it was a sacred holy place with the serenity of hundreds of years of prayer infused into the stone. There was a funeral limiting access to an area they used, but at a side shrine our guide led us through the process of giving offerings in thanks and gratitude to the beautiful land and people of Bali.

Incense lit and offerings complete at Pura Besakih, we proceeded another 350 meters uphill to Pura Gelap, or the Temple of Lightning, which is much less visited. It felt like a much more holy, peaceful place. I found out later it is often used by those who wish for the holy light of the universe to guide them for the benefit of humanity. I still feel slightly transformed by the experience.

Our next stop, about an hour away, was Pura Lempuyang, often called the Gate of Heaven. It is a breathtaking place, both because of the beauty and because of all the steps to climb. On a clear day you can see Mount Agung in the distance (nice photo at the link above), but Agung was mostly hidden by clouds the day we were there. The courtyard and temple were busy with tourists so we didn’t experience it as a sanctuary of the universe as it was originally intended. 

From this perspective, the hot springs resort where we stayed at the end of our trip was located on the far side of Mount Agung, and later you’ll see pictures from that direction. Neil vaguely remembers news of the 1963 eruption which killed about 1900 people. More recently it was active 2017-19 spewing lava and ash and causing the airport to close. Nevertheless, Neil said there’s no lava in the forecast and we could hike to the top of Mount Agung as a day trip (please, please).

Not far away from Pura Lempuyang, and on our way back, we stopped at Taman Tirta Gangga, a beautiful spring-fed water park. While the spring itself has been considered holy for hundreds of years, the water gardens are privately owned by the descendants of the Raja of Karangasem, who began construction in 1946. We hadn’t planned on swimming, but the pools sure looked inviting. There was an area where some minor construction was underway and we were intrigued to see them move a large mound of soil not with wheelbarrows or motorized scoop loaders, but with a line of about a dozen women who balanced large baskets of soil on their heads. In two trips they moved a truck load of soil (almost 80 cubic feet)!

Since we were close to the east side of the island, Neil asked to get pictures of a beach. Wayan knew a great spot and drove us to a white sand beach called Virgin Beach. It looked so inviting we both got out our suits. I just enjoyed the cool breeze and took pictures. Neil swam out beyond the shore break, floated for a while as he saw the beach moving along, and got some good exercise as he fought the rip current to make it back to shore. He was pretty worn out. Someone with less strength or swimming ability might have been swept out to sea. We picked up dinner at a very local take-away with Wayan’s help and ate in the room at sunset. I took a dip in the pool to cool off before dinner. No life-threatening rip current. Nice.