Bali Day 5 - 4 Temples and a rice terrace

Bali Day 5 - 4 Temples and a rice terrace - SEAsia Day 60

Recovering still from the lack of sleep the night prior we slept in and had a bit of a lazy morning. Around 11 we rented mopeds and set out to see 4 temples in the area of Ubud.

The first temple features a famous cave known as Goa Gajah. The Elephant Cave was built in the 9th century and serves as a sanctuary. An adjacent bathing temple is found a short distance from the cave. The cave and temple had been lost for many years, the cave rediscovered by Dutch archeologists in 1923 and the bathing pool 1954.

Pura Kehen a Balinese Hindu Temple set on a the foot of a wooded hill was the second temple that we visited. This temple is dated back to at least the 13th century, with some inscriptions possibly referring to it as late as the 9th. On any other day this temple might have been appreciated more but it felt untidy from a festival a day or two prior and did not have any features inside that wowed us. Maybe we have seen too many incredible sites.

Refreshingly Pura Tirta Empul also known as the Holy Water Spring temple gave us that sense of wow. Founded in 962 A.D. and is the site that Balinese Hindus travel to for ritual purification. A fascinating place despite the crowds, we would highly recommend anyone traveling to Bali to take time to visit this special place.

The final temple we would visit was the 11th century Pura Gunung Kawi. The temple grounds are split down the middle by the Pakerisan river and features ten seven meter high shrines cut into the opposing cliff faces. The walk down into the valley was beautiful passing rice terraces on either side. Overall the temple was very unique and we were happy to have spent time here.

Our final tourist stop of the day was Tegallalang Rice Terrace. This place represented everything that unregulated tourism ruins. The top of the valley was lined with hotels and restaurants and shops. There were workers staged in the fields charging for photos, random people asking for donations along the paths for apparent maintenance of bridges. Several "Bali swings" were erected in places that forced you to pass them to continue walking through the valley. The place felt entirely staged and like a waste of time. Oh well not everything can be wonderful on a trip.

Dinner was a bit of a drive to get to but the place looked wonderful when we arrived. The grounds at Moksa looked beautiful and we were greeted and seated promptly. We ordered food as just as it arrived the open air restaurant was swarmed with hundreds of flies. Apparently being next to a natural area after it rains a couple days prior is a bad idea. The restaurant lights attracted swarms of harmless flies as soon as the sun went down. Lights were turned off and we ate by candlelight which made the evening even more memorable. The food was excellent and if we are every back in Ubud I am sure we will return to this delicious and beautiful restaurant.

A short drive back into town and we wrapped up our day eating some ice cream waiting for a downpour to pass.