Bali - Ubud - Temples

On our third day in Ubud, we hired a private driver to take us on a tour. He only cost $40 for the day which seemed beyond reasonable to us. We chose to see three different temples on our tour (along with rice terraces, a volcano, the coffee plantation, and to watch and chat with wood carvers while they work). But this post is just about the temples.

The first temple we visited is called Gunung Kawi and it is the oldest temple in Bali. It was built in the 10th century. In order to get to the temple you have to walk down 300 stairs ... and then to leave it you have to walk back up them too unfortunately.

This picture is a little washed out but we took it of the temple from above while walking down into the river gorge that it sits in so it's the only picture we have that shows most of the temple at once:



Since it's so old, there isn't much to it but it does have many shrines carved into the rock walls that surround it. There were 10 shrines total and they were for the king and each of his family members including his 4 wives. It was traditional in Bali for the king to have many wives even though they did not love each other - they were business deals with other royalty to join two families together or to maintain control over certain land or riches.



This is where you would go to sit and meditate in one of the openings:



Some sculptures:



The next temple we visited was called the Temple of the Holy Spring ... because it had a natural spring in it. This one had a huge pond filled with big fat koi that you could buy food for there and feed:



Here's Martin in his sarong, which is required attire to walk inside the temple (you can also just wear pants or something that covers your knees):



A few more pictures:







While you were not allowed to swim in the pond with the natural spring in it (which we did not get a picture of), you were allowed to swim in several other small pools contained around this temple. People bathe here for healing and spiritual merit.

The final temple we visited was the Elephant Cave Temple. As the name implies, this temple has a cave:



It was very hot and muggy in the cave and it wasn't very large. There were a few shrines in it and some little holes where people can sit and meditate.

It also had some water where you could wash your hands and face to help purify your spirit:



And a lot of piles of rocks that are not allowed to be touched or moved, ever:



The piles of rocks are the Buddhist part of the temple, while the cave is the Hindu part. The Balinese religion is a combination of Buddhism and Hinduism so many temples have aspects of both. Most temples in Bali are made up of the colors red, white, and black, each color having its individual owner from one of the manifestations of the godhead - Brahma (the creator), Visnu (the preserver) and Shiva (the destroyer). I think they also, along with yellow, represent the elements air, earth, water, and fire (not in the right order).

People in Bali worship 3 times per day, every day, usually in their family temples or smaller local temples. The big temples we visited are only used once or twice per year for really big ceremonies.

That's your brief tour of the temples that we visited. All of the temples that we saw in Bali had very intricate designs and were impressive to look at ... much like many churches in Europe with intricate paintings, stained glass, or mosaics on the walls and floors.