Tour Day #2 -- MountainTemples Rice Terraces

On the second day of touring Gede drove us to a more western area of the island, not far west but about central west. To go farther west would have involved staying overnight in a hotel and we did not want to leave the boat overnight. Seemed like we would never get away from the heavily populated areas. But eventually we made it through the capital of Denpassar and were headed up the mountainside to a temple at the top of a mountain.









Every temple has posted signs regarding who is allowed to enter. Most of these rules are the same for every temple. Here is a sample of the rules which were posted on this particular mountaintop temple:



“Those who are not allowed to enter the temple:
1. Ladies who are pregnant
2. Ladies whose children have not got their first teeth
3. Children whose first teeth have not fallen out yet
4. Ladies during their period
5. Devotees getting impure due to death
6. Mad ladies or gentlemen
7. Those not properly dressed
All devotees entering the temple should maintain cleanliness and environmental conservation.”

I guess number 5 means people who are diagnosed with a terminal illness. And I don’t think number 6 means angry people but crazy people. Every temple banned women who are menstruating. That seems to really bother those male priests for some reason. Reminds me of the book, “Clan of the Cave Bear.”

This temple was built in the 13th century and is a very large complex with a lake off to one side. Some of the statuary was worn smooth to the point that the statues were no longer identifiable. Priests were busily scraping lichen off the stone walls. This temple appeared to require a lot of maintenance. Possibly the very humid high-altitude jungle location contributed to the maintenance issue.




The temple grounds seem to go on forever as we walked up and down wide esplanades of stone steps from one temple to another. Many of the areas were off-limits to tourists. Other areas were open only for day-visitors for meditation. There was such an aura of peacefulness and tranquility. Here is a photo of Bill and Michael walking toward the lake with the shrine in the center. Up and down stone steps for hours.




A group of older women were inside the main courtyard of the temple making and weaving various items for an upcoming celebration ceremony. They had been weaving baskets for 5 days and had accumulated quite a pile already.


In the rear area which was forbidden to tourists were lots of pagodas. We have no idea of the significance of all these pagodas.








Rice Terraces
After the mountaintop temple Gede took us for a drive through the mountains to view the rice terraces. These are so pretty. Exactly what I wanted to see on Bali. We stopped for lunch at a hillside café with a pretty view, marred in my photos only by the telephone lines strung on the poles along the roadside.

We enjoyed a good lunch of traditional Balinese foods. Mine and Linda's were the traditional style spicy and tasted very good. Bill and Michael stuck to the bland tourist version of Balinese dishes. They served us red rice which is not sold in the stores but is grown locally. I bought a kilo just because it is so unique. The rice grains themselves are actually colored light red. The rice is a bit coarser and chewier than white rice. Another dish was the traditional Balinese finely chopped spicy green beans. Those were very tasty. Bill’s meal was served with a tiny bowl of ginger flower spicy pepper condiment. It was too spicy for him so he gave it to me and it complimented my meal perfectly. Bill and Michael drank a local Bitang beer. If I can get the photo uploaded, check out the size of those bottles.

After lunch we went back to touring temples. Bill and Michael were getting tired of temples by now. But the scenery in the mountains between the temples and with all the large and small rice terraces was breathtaking. BTW, the hillside rice terraces are irrigated from the top (of course); but the flow of the water is controlled by the property owner at the bottom of each terrace.

Crater Lake Temple
The next temple was originally built on a crater lake. It was way up on the top of a mountain in a volcano crater that filled to form a large lake. The original temple was a small pagoda with accompanying structure. These 2 structures seem to be stone floating on the lake. They have lots of carved stone frog statues surrounding the 2 temple buildings on the water.

Today there is a much larger temple on the ground near the original pagoda temple. It is divided into 3 major temple areas with impressive stone structures and courtyards. This temple is different than the others we visited. It just feels different.

There was a huge tree on the grounds where many people were gathered to make offerings and to pray. Remember, everything has a spirit and they believe a special spirit occupies that large tree.





Most of the temple grounds were devoted to well-landscaped gardens and pathways. Bill was getting his fill of temples by this point and was getting a bit silly. He needed a little time-out sitting under a tree.




Mengwi Moat Temple

Pura Taman Ayun Temple is located in the village of Mengwi, which is 18 kilometers west of Denpassar. This was our last temple of our tours. Taman Ayun temple is surrounded by a moat. Actually, it is surrounded by 2 moats. There is a large wide moat surrounding the entire temple complex and park. Near the center of the complex is the old temple and it also is surrounded by a smaller moat filled with the most unusual water lilies.

The history of this temple is closely associated with the beginning of the Raja of Mengwi. It was built in 1643 A.D. and was the Royal Family temple of the Raja. The temple is a place to worship and honor the Royal ancestors.

Following the pattern of most Balinese temples, there are 3 connecting temple yards. The innermost sanctum is surrounded by a chest-high stone wall and the water-lily moat. Visitors are forbidden in this inner sanctum. This innermost area is known at the Utama Mandala or highest circle. The middle yard is known as the Madia Mandala or the circle in between. The outer space is known as the Nista Mandala or the humblest circle. The various pagodas serve various purposes, including the housing of ancestors’ spirits of the Royal Family. Only special priests are allowed entry to this inner sanctum.

There are several shrines in the inner sanctum besides the one dedicated to the ancestors. These other shrines were built by the Raja to ensure that his kingdom and people would be able to share in the prosperity of the nation, and also to enable all the people at the village of Mengwi to conduct the religious ceremonies customary to Balinese life. The Royal Family no longer lives on the temple grounds. Today they live in a palace block or so away.



Bill has seen all the temples he cares to see. Hopefully he will recuperate from temple overload before we do a land tour of Cambodia next year for their magnificent temples. How can you visit Asia and not see this stuff!

The Elephant Cave Temple -- first day of temple touring

The Elephant Cave Temple was discovered only about 40 years ago. It is down a steep hill and there are carved stone steps to get down there. A couple of farmers were out looking for some metal to make bells and came upon a very large elaborate stone carving. It is about 60 feet wide and 20 feet tall. There is a face carved above the entrance, and a large elephant head carved just to the right of the entrance. There are several smaller carved stone statues of elephants at various places near the entrance, most of which are on stone pedestals.





The farmers explored and found that this was the entrance to a “cave.” No one knows hold old this cave is, who built it, or what purpose it served. It is not a naturally formed cave. It has a tunnel entrance about 6 ½ feet tall, 4 feet wide and 30 feet long. There are alcoves with waist-high deep ledges all along the entrance tunnel. The tunnel meets another similar tunnel, forming a “T.” At the end of the tunnel off the left side of this “T” the tunnel curves around and exits behind the elaborately carved façade. There are waist-high alcoves all along the interior of the cave. Nothing natural about the formation of this cave; it is very obviously man-made. And it is totally black. Don’t know what was used to color the stone black inside the cave.

There is an unusually tall tree in the center of the complex. It is different than any of the other trees in the surrounding jungle. There are also several very large stone platforms in the complex. Today one of these platforms is used for the current temple and several of the platforms are used by the priests for their various ceremonies.


The largest stone platform is used by the gamelan (orchestra) for the temple. The gamelan were leaving just as we arrived near sunset and were carrying their large gong and drums up the steps as we were getting our obligatory sarongs and sashes.





There is a depressed water section of this temple complex where water flows out of carved animal heads on the walls. This is right in front of the very tall unusual tree. Near the bottom of the stone steps down the hillside there is a stone platform where hundreds of old carved stones have been placed and stacked. These stones were excavated from the site and were from the ancient temple. The priests would like to reconstruct the ancient temple, but they have no idea how these stones should fit together.

Temple of the Holy Waters -- first day temple touring

Next on our itinerary was the Temple of Holy Waters. Since I do not have a guide book I cannot tell you the Balinese name for this temple. The name was far too long and had way too many syllables for me to remember it. The water temple is a very large temple. The grounds are lovely.

Lucky us, we arrived on a day of special celebration so there were thousands of people bringing offerings to the temple, as well as special dancing performances and pilgrims washing away their troubles in the holy waters. It was quite a sight and a bit overwhelming in the crowds. I especially enjoyed watching the small boys in their all-white headwraps and sarongs. The tiny little fellows were so adorable and tried to look so serious.

Most of the visitors had rice affixed to their foreheads. Some also affixed grains of rice to their temples, ear lobes or throats. I don’t remember the significance of the rice, but even the small children had rice on their foreheads.

The traditional clothing of the Balinese women is very beautiful; quite striking with their tight long skirts or sarongs with ultra-tight bodices beneath tight lace tops. The undergarments can be either strapless or with normal bra straps and back closures. But there is always a contrasting color sheer lace over-blouse that fits tight against the body with tight sleeves. These outfits do not look comfortable but they do look good.

The women use a little donut-type thing placed on top of their heads to cushion and hold very large bundles or bowls or baskets. It amazes me to watch these women with large bowls of fruit on tops of their heads while sitting sideways on the back of a motor scooter. That must require a lot of balance coordination. Same as when they walk up or down steep inclines with those big bowls or baskets atop their heads. The Balinese take these offerings to the temples and place them on an altar of sorts. They make their prayers and then take the offerings back home to eat. They believe that God takes the essence of the offering when they place it in the temple and that by eating the food (mostly fruits) that has been offered that they imbibe special grace from God. That is a nice thought and better than letting all that food rot in the temple. The offerings ranged from simple bowls of fruits to very elaborate designs in huge baskets. It is supposed to be the best that a family can afford.

Inside the temple grounds is a large pool surrounded by fancy carved stone walls. This is considered a very holy place and is where an underground spring surfaces. They have an intricate system connecting this pool to a lower area that has many carved stone heads of animals projecting from a wall. Water pours from these stone animal heads and falls into another pool. People desiring to wash away their troubles in life walk into this pool and place a small offering on a wall ledge. The water is about hip height on most of the people. They walk around and place their heads beneath the water gushing out of the stone animal heads. Most of the people started at one end of the long wall and went to each stone animal head to get dunked. But some of the people only went to specific stone animal heads to be washed on the head by one particular spirit for their particular problem or trouble. The accumulated water in the pool stays clean because it constantly drains to yet another pool where large goldfish are kept. The water continues to be gravity-fed down the hillside to several other pools and eventually to small streams running off into the jungle. All the water looked clear and clean because of the continual circulation.







We saw a special dance by group of young women. Only virgins are allowed to perform that dance.













Then we watched a dance by a group of pre-pubescent girls. They were all lined up and waiting to perform and you could tell some of them were nervous. But when the gate opened and they went to the stage area of the temple they did pretty good. It obviously was a big honor for them to perform this dance in the temple on such an important celebration day.








Friends took a photo of the two of us standing in front of the drum house in our temple sarongs.

Near the drum house we came across a group of teenage boys in fancy costumes. Bill tried to trade his Astros baseball cap for one of their costume head-dresses, but the boy good-naturedly declined to trade. There were also several giggling teenage girls sitting nearby and they weren’t willing to trade their head-gear for a baseball cap either.

















For some reason I especially enjoyed watching the very small boys with their dads.

Temple Tour -- first day

After the barong dance we started touring temples. I did not even try to remember the names of the various temples. Heck, I can’t even remember the names of the towns, much less the names of the temples. But it was a pretty and pleasant drive seeing different parts of the island of Bali. Our tour guide was named Gede (pronounced Guday or good day as the Australians say). Gede used to work for a local travel agency but recently resigned to begin studying to become a Hindu priest. He does occasional tours to supplement his income while he is preparing for the priesthood. This was a great asset for us because our tour guide knew all the inner workings of the temples and could explain the religion in ways we could understand. Gede had rented a very nice small van for our 2 days of touring. Air conditioning worked great so we were traveling in comfort. Michael and Linda on S/V B’Sheret accompanied us on this tour. We have no travel guides for Bali, but Linda has several. So Linda arranged our itinerary. Bill and I were just along for the ride.

At the first temple we rented sarongs and sashes that are required for entry. I had worn a long skirt and Bill had worn long khaki pants, because we knew that visitors to these temples should be appropriately dressed to show proper respect. But almost every temple required each visitor to rent a sarong and sash, regardless of how that visitor was dressed. Each temple had a specific color sarong that was required for entry into that particular temple.


The first temple had a major ceremony last week and there were huge offerings displayed in the courtyard in front of the main temple entry. The colors of the offerings were beginning to fade and some of the offerings were beginning to smell a bit ripe from the fruits and animal by-products used in the manufacture. Pork skins or rind was a popular item used to form faces on some of the larger offerings. Some of these offerings were 6 feet tall and very, very elaborate. One was a barong that was at least 6 feet long and 4 feet high.

After walking through the courtyard we reached the entry edifice. One is always supposed to enter a temple on the left side of the edifice, usually up several or many stone steps. As we entered the main temple area behind the entry edifice, there was a stone statue about 4 feet high with hands posed with both thumbs up with right hand inside left palm , signifying “welcome and best wishes to you. “ Later, as we exited on the right side of the entry edifice, there was a similar stone statue with hands placed palms together and fingers pointed upward. This signifies “peace go with you.” The Balinese believe that everything has a spirit -- sounds like Native Americans, doesn't it? So, therefore, each statue has a spirit. To please the spirits of the statues they "dress" them in cloths. That is why most of the statues are seen wrapped in cloths of various colors. Each color has a special significance.

There were lots of interesting shrines and pagodas and stone carvings inside the main temple area. One brick wall had extremely intricately carved stone patterns. There were too many interesting things to include in this blog or to post photos of everything.










One particularly interesting hanging to us was made of replicas of ancient Chinese coins. We found this interesting because we recently read “1421—The Year that China Discovered the World.” Apparently the Chinese were visiting Bali a very long time ago because many ancient Chinese coins have been found on the island. These artifacts are too valuable to be displayed on the outside of structures within the temples and be exposed to the destructive elements of weather, so replicas have been produced. Each coin is a circle with a square hole in the center. I have no idea what metal was used to make the original coins or the replicas.

Gede explained the peculiarities of the Balinese calendar. A Balinese month always has 35 days. The current kamelon period started in April of 2009 as we westerners know it. After 6 months or 210 days there is kamelon (not sure of that spelling). At the end of another 6 months or 210 days they celebrate another kamelon. That second kalemon completes one Balinese year. They are preparing to celebrate kamelon this month on October 24 of our western calendar and this will be the beginning of a new year. This kamelon is a special celebration for something that occurs once every 5 years. So all the temples are having lots of celebrations.






After the first temple, Gede drove us up to a very scenic spot at the top of a mountain for lunch. Lunch was less than satisfactory (and quite expensive by Bali standards) because it was a buffet and we were very late arriving there, so it consisted of a lot of steam-table dregs. And I got eaten alive on my legs by tiny insects of some sort while we dined on the outdoor terrace. But the scenery was lovely. There was a large crater lake and a double-crater volcano and remains of a large lava flow. The restaurant was on top of an adjacent mountain looking down on the crater lake and the other volcano craters.

Barong Dance

Sunday morning we started our tour of Bali off by first viewing a traditional CV. Catur Eka Budhi in Kesiman, better known among westerners as The Barong & Kris Dance. This dance is divided into 5 acts like a play, each act telling a part of the story. This play/dance represents the eternal fight between good and evil. The mythological animal called the Barong represents a good spirit, and the Rangda represents an evil spirit. Throughout Bali one sees black and white checked fabric draped around statues and decorating buildings. This checked fabric is worn by many men, especially those working in or around various temples. The white color stands for good and black for evil. The Baliniese Hindu believe that both good and evil spirits exist and that like everything else in life, these spirits must be balanced. So they make offerings to both good and evil spirits daily. At special celebrations and festivals and certain ceremonies, offerings must be made to the evil spirits before commencing.

A gamelan (orchestra) plays that strange music over tone for quite some time before the actual dance begins. This music sounds like a tinkling, drumming jumble to our ears. The Barong dance is set-up on stage with the arrival of a tiger and a monkey. Then 3 masked male dancers appear, representing men working in a forest making palm wine. One of the men has a child that is killed by the tiger. The 3 men get angry and attack the tiger. The monkey helps the tiger in this fight, and during the fight one of the men has his nose bitten off. (I got lost on the significance of this entire part as none of these characters reappear during the remaining acts of the dance.) The Barong appears and dances around stage. The Barong sort of resembles a huge lion, with 2 men dancing around inside the hairy costume.

Act One: Two girl dancers appear, representing the servants of Rangda, the evil spirit. They are looking for the servants of Dewi Kunti who are on their way to meet their Paith (prime minister). (We had never noticed before that when the Balinese women dance they stick their butts way out. Probably for balance.) The costumes were quite colorful.

Act Two: Two servants of Dewi Kunti appear. A servant of the Rangda changes into a witch and enters both servants, causing them to become angry. The angry servants meet their Paith and all go together to Dewi Kunti.

Act Three: Dewi Kunti appears with her son Sadewa. Dewi Kunti has promised to sacrifice her son Sadewa. But a witch appears and enters Dewi Kunti before she makes the sacrifice. Dewi Kunti becomes angry and orders the Paith to bring Sadewa into the forest. The witch also enters the Paith so that the Paith will not have pity on Sadewa. Sadewa is taken into the forest and tied to a tree.
(Okay, we are following it up until now but still don’t see the significance of the first 3 men and the bitten-off nose.)

Act Four: God appears and gives Sadewa immortality, but Rangda the evil spirit does not know this. Rangda appears; ready to kill Sadewa and eat him; but Sadewa is still alive. Rangda then surrenders and asks Sadewa to redeem himself. Sadewa agrees and then kills Rangda, sending Randga into Heaven.

Act Five: One of the servants of Rangda is called Kalika. Kalika comes to Sadewa and asks him to redeem her also, as he had redeemed Rangda. Sadewa refuses. Kalika gets angry and changes herself into a boar and there is a great fight between Sadewa and the boar and lots of servants. The boar is defeated. Then Kalika changes herself into a bird, but is defeated again. Then Kalika changes herself into Rangda. Sadewa meditates and changes himself into a Barong. Still the Rangda seems to be too powerful. The fight seems to be unending. Then followers of Barong appear and help him fight the Rangda.

And at this point we got totally lost. The deal is that the Barong dancers when fighting Rangda pull out ceremonial daggers called kris and try to stab themselves to death. But the power of the good barong prevent the daggers from entering their skin, and they are unable to stab themselves to death.

This entire story is supposedly about the continual fight of good and evil. But it doesn’t appear that good ever triumphs over evil. The battle just continues. After the dancers are unable to stab themselves, the dance ends. Much later in the day we visited the temple of holy waters and saw the “real” barong kept there in a shrine. When the barong dance is performed in the temple ceremonies, the barong dancers are in a trance. They actually do try to stab themselves with gold daggers, but no one has ever been successful in killing himself. Sometimes the skin is broken and bleeds, but no one has been killed performing this dance. As in other things, the power of true believing overcomes.

After the dance performance we visited some stone carving places. At one place small boys were working on carving the soft volcanic stone, which is very smooth. It was surprising to see the intricacy and quality of the work of these young boys. And before all the liberals in the USA start yammering about abuses of child labor, please remember that these people are delighted to have these jobs. Their culture is not the same as 2009 USA. They want these jobs and are very proud to be able to work at this age.

Next was a small gold and silver working shop. The men use whatever tools are available to work these precious metals. One man was using an old large nail to bend the silver around to form shapes used in jewelry. From looking at the beautiful finished products one would never suspect that old nails had been used to make these necklaces. Sitting near the men were several roosters in woven cages. These are fighting cocks. Cock fighting is very popular in Bali.

As we were driving away from the jewelry shop we saw this man carrying a bed platform down the street on his head. Happy guy.