Un-Bali-vable

We had arranged a car and driver thanks to the recommendation of a friend and Joyo met us in the hotel lobby at 9am.  We had already set up our plans because we knew we didn’t want to spend all day in the car like we had 8 years ago.

Our first stop was Tegallalang Rice Terrace.  This is close to Ubud and also quite well known.  But we got there early enough there were only a trickle of tourists around and no touts pushing their whatever as “the best” and “most beautiful”.  While Joyo waited with the car we walked along the sidewalk looking at the terraces and marveling at how the heck they didn’t wash away.  There would be the occasional stairway heading down and finally we took one. 

Steps turned to stepping stones which turned into a dirt path which turned into a sidewalk.  There was no option but to meander, so we did.  There were several giant swings which looked about as safe as climbing Half Dome in flipflops.  Some had steel frames others were just hung from adjacent palm trees.  None looked as safe as a county fair carney ride. 

While this is a tourist attraction, it is also grows rice.  The flooded paddies had new shoots coming out.  The next paddy would be 2 feet over and a similar distance down.  I am guessing that this soil has a high clay content as they kinda defy belief.  As we headed back up different steps we realized that there were tickets sellers at the top selling access to the steps going down.  Oh well, we got away with it for free.

Pura Tirta Empul was our next stop.  This temple and its bathing pools was founded in the 10^th century.  Today it’s bathing pools are frequented by tourists and, one assumes, the occasional Hindu.  We donned our sarongs (they are free after paying the ~$3.50 USD entrance fee) and headed in.  First off was the bathing pools.  They are quite picturesque with offerings over about 20 spouting fountains. 

Lots of people, almost all westerners, were in the water, bathing their faces in the holy waters.  It seemed somewhat sacrilegious as this holy ceremony was turned into a tourist experience.  It also seemed somewhat unsafe after reading about a recent e coli contamination.  But it made for beautiful pictures.

Wandering the rest of the temple was interesting too.  My favorite was a koi pond in which the water was amazingly clear.  Watching water bubble up from the bottom I think it was clear because the sand bottom acted as a giant filter.  We also found it interesting that the exit of the temple routed you through a warren of aggressive shop owners.  One was able to cajole Christopher into her stall.  We quickly grabbed him and were on our way.

It was a short drive to our next temple, Gunung Kawi.  Honestly, I had forgotten what made this one special.  The first thing that made it special was the phalanx of shop owners that you had to pass through on the street to the entrance.  If we thought the ones at Tirta Empul were aggressive, they were nothing compared to the ones here.  Throwing sarongs over your shoulder telling you “you must buy”, not listening to polite Nos!  Finally I used my size and western rudeness to lead the way through.

After buying our tickets we started walking down stairs—LOTS OF STAIRS!.  You could see that we were headed down to the bottom of the river gorge but we didn’t remember what we would be seeing or how many steps it would be.  At one point Julie gave up and found a nice place to enjoy the view while Christopher and I kept going and going (all the time remembering that we had to climb back UP those stairs).

Finally, we entered a slot canyon, still headed down.  Looking at the walls I realized that this was not natural, it was carved out of volcanic basalt.  Hitting the bottom, we turned to our left and there were niches carved into a cliff that had carved shrines in them. All made out of 1 giant piece of stone.  The amount of effort to do something like this in the 11^th century is unimaginable.  

 

There was another section that had a temple with several rooms, again carved out of rock.  After we did a little exploring we headed back to the top.  250 stairs later we got there, dropped off our sarongs, and met Julie.  We quickly connected with Joyo and we were off to lunch at Pangkon Bali.  This restaurant set in rice paddies and geared to tourists, but was good and exactly what we needed.

Our last temple for the day was Besakih Temple, known as Bali’s “Mother Temple”.  Built over a thousand years ago it was always open to every caste.  It is built on the slopes of Mount Arung and has lots of steps.  The view from the front accentuates its height and on each side of the main steps there are terraces filled with colorful tropical plants.  Multi-tier pagodas dotted the grounds.


 

After buying our tickets we somehow acquired a guide, don’t quite know how, but we did.  He led us to a field in front of the temple and began explaining its history.  He also mentioned the importance of offerings and the next thing you know two, then three, women surrounded us with offerings for us to buy. A 100,000 rupiah later (about $7USD) we were owners of offerings, which our guide offered to carry for us (the least he could do assuming that he got a kickback from the ladies).

Offerings are everywhere in Bali.  Sometimes you literally are stepping on them.  They are typically small trays of woven palm with flowers, or a few grains of rice, or even a cookie.   I think we got the “deluxe package” as we had trays, flowers that looked like a sushi handroll, and incense.  Our guide placed them for us under a statue at the entrance to one of the temple compounds.

Our guide shared his knowledge with us.  We learned that the temple was dedicated to Shiva (The Destroyer), Vishnu (The Preserver), and Brahma (The Creator).  We learned that the black and white fabric that surrounds statues is known as “saput poleng” and symbolizes how opposites can work together in harmony. We learned how the unique style of Balinese gates, called “candi bentar” are similar to “yin and yang” and symbolizes the balance of forces.  We learned a lot for our 100,000 rupiah tip.

Bali is such an international destination you can pretty much eat and drink whatever kind of food you want.  For our first full dinner in Bali we thought Mexican sounded good—and it was, made even more pleasant by the fact that it was right next door.  A cheese quesadilla, some fajitas, and churros hit the spot.  Don’t get me wrong, we ate our fair share of Balinese food on this trip.  It’s just sometimes a little bit of home tastes good.