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Published: September 28th 2005
Dance performance
Not only the girls were admiring the dancer's magnificent clothesOur last destination on Bali was
Ubud, the city with the highest concentration of cultural sites on this island. It is not very far from Lovina and normally we would have taken a public bus, but we wanted to see more temples lying on the way, so we hired a car and a driver. The main receptionist of our hotel in Lovina made a good and honest impression on us, so we accepted when he offered to arrange this for us. We left Lovina, but not without bidding a hearty farewell to M. Hamel and headed towards Mount Batur. The road to the 1,710m high volcano, which is the most active volcano on Bali having erupted 20 times during the past 20 years, lead us through spectacular landscape. Lake Batur in the centre of the caldera is considered sacred and we planned to visit Pura Batur, spectacularly positioned on the side of the crater. Unfortunately this is one of the most visited and commercialised inland areas in Bali. When we wanted to enter the temple, we were very impolitely requested to rent a sarong, which in itself was not new to us, but the price they wanted was so exuberant that
Mount Batur and Lake Batur
Lake Batur in the centre of the caldera is considered sacred we refused to comply and only saw Pura Batur from the exterior. An unpleasant event, but the stunning views on the volcano and the lake compensated us for the human mischief. There was another temple around, the last place on then crater rim, so we tried this one. Over 300 steep steps lead up to it, the temple’s most outstanding feature were a number of weathered old statues (dated between 1011 and 1335), which now stand protected by wooden roofs. This temple was nice, but now we were looking forward to visiting Bali’s holiest and most important temple,
Pura Besakih, situated on the slopes of the sacred Mount Agung.
After paying a ridiculous entrance fee we could go on until a parking lot surrounded by souvenir stalls. At the information counter we were stopped just as we were about to enter the temple complex. We were politely but firmly informed that entrance was not allowed without a local guide. We were not pleased believing in another attempt to rip us off and asked around. But all the locals present, our driver included, confirmed this statement. There was no fixed price, the amount was up to us, which we did
Mount Batur
Beautiful volcano (1,710 m) which is the most active volcano in Bali having erupted 20 times during the past 200 years not like at all. Stephan decided to pay one part before the tour, and in case of us being satisfied, would pay some more. Sounded like a clever plan. We were lucky, our guide was knowledgeable and when he realised that we were interested and also had a dim idea about Hindu gods, became more personal. Pura Besakih is not one temple, but a complex of 22
puras that lie scattered over the south slope of Mount Agung, at an altitude of about 950 m. Of these, the central, largest and most important is the Pura Penataran Agung, the Mother Temple of all Bali. It is here that every Balinese, whatever his or her class or clan, can come to worship - although in the past it was reserved for royal families. Our guide provided us with many precious explanations that helped us gain some more insight into Hinduism. The complex is very special in so far as all gods of the Hindu trinity are worshipped there side by side and that their main altars are recognisable by a colour code: white and yellow for Shiva, black for Vishnu and red for Brahma. We had never seen this in India
Split gate of Pura Tegeh Koripan
Over 300 steep stairs lead up to this temple standing at a aheight of 1,700 m and which is the last place on the crater rim of Mount Batur and also Brahma temples are a rarity there. We also learned another characteristics of Balinese Hinduism, namely that only the white cow is sacred to them. We were quite unlucky with the weather, during our visit it rained several times and we could not enjoy the spectacular view on the rice fields, it was all covered in mist. But we did admire the multitude of multi-tiered thatched roofs, quite many with 11 tiers. In the end we gave the rest of the fee directly to our guide, which pleased him as well as us.
We had stayed in the temples for quite a long time, so we arrived in
Ubud in the dark. Already around Pura Besakih, traffic had got denser and the closer we came to Ubud the worse it got. This part of Bali, more or less the central region, is dotted with volcanoes, of which the highest (Mount Agung) rises to 3,140m. As volcanoes are not normal mountains due to the effusion of lava on their slopes, all the roads around them run in the direction of the sea, that is north-south in the creases of the volcano. As soon as you want to move east-west,
Statues at Pura Tegeh Koripan
They are thought to be portraits of royalty and date from between 1011 and 1335 the ride strongly reminds of a roller-coaster, up and down, up and down. Even in the settlements this phenomenon is discernible, like at our hotel in Ubud. We ignore how many steps - up and down - we had to climb from our room to street level. Nice daily physical exercise. The hotel was very nice, laid out in a wonderful garden teeming with flowering shrubs, the hibiscus being the favourite. Every morning a lady walked around with offerings to the multiple shrines, all the statues had hibiscus flowers tucked behind their ears, some big leaves had even been pierced with them and our terrace and room were also decorated with red dots. They were renewed every morning! Furthermore, there was no eating room, so breakfast was served on the terrace, every morning something different. We liked the place very much. Ubud is a rather dispersed community, spread over hills and valleys with deep forested ravines and terraced rice fields. It has become the cultural heart of Bali, with its numerous artists’ studios and galleries as well as plentiful supply of shops selling clothes, jewellery and wood carving. Unfortunately, the town has succumbed to tourism in the last few years,
Beautiful head at Pura Tegeh Koripan
For centuries they stood in the open, now they are finally protected by a wooden structure with a considerable amount of development. For backpackers, this place is rather difficult, cheap accommodation is not easy to find and food is rather pricey and westernised. All the restaurants, bars and cafeterias are posh, though beautifully laid out and tastefully decorated. We were not completely at ease there, feeling shabby in our traveller’s clothes. The tourist is not considered to walk, every second a man asks ‘Transport?’ with a gesture as if turning a driving wheel. No, we do not need transport, our two feet suffice in the rather small town. The other problem for the pedestrian are the pavements. Although lining practically all the streets, they are interrupted every few metres to let the cars pass more easily, are cut in an inclined way all covered with glazed tiles. We constantly glided them down or slipped on our way up, so we preferred walking on the streets. Despite these minor difficulties, the temples in Ubud’s surroundings are definitely worth a visit.
One morning we spotted some girls with elaborate headgears made of palm leaves and abundantly decorated with flowers. They were also wearing special costumes and practising dancing. This aroused our curiosity and we followed them into
Hazy Pura Besakih
Bali's holiest and most important temple was hiding its secrets from us the courtyard of a hotel. This time we would get pictures of Balinese girls, as one friend of ours had wished to see. Inside, another ceremony was going on a round a shrine set up in the middle of the courtyard. To our left, an orchestra was sitting and playing traditional tunes, to our right a stage had been set up. There was a constant coming and going, the girls or elegantly dressed adults, carrying drinks or food (e.g. one complete suckling pig) to and fro. Once again people welcomed us very friendly and bade us sit down. Soon we found out what the stage was for: for a dance performance. A man dressed in rich clothes put on different masks and for each mask used a different kind of dance, one was more like a speech (which we unfortunately did not understand), we were almost hypnotised by how he moved his feet and hands. Next came the little girls performing a dancing circle, in one of the intervals a lady was gripped by a desire to dance and incited several others to follow her, resulting in a refreshing improvised bout of joie de vivre, which we enjoyed a lot.
Courtyard at Pura Besakih
On the left side you can see a shrine, the more roofs it has the holier it is, 11 roofs being the maximum There were quite a few tourists watching and taking pictures, most of them stayed in the hotel, and all were given to eat and to drink. Once again, the Balinese people showed us their gentle and welcoming side and we are grateful to have experienced their positive side too.
The first monument we visited by public transport was
Gunung Kawi’, literally ‘Mountain of the Poets’, one of the most unusual temples on Bali. A steep rock stairway, with high sides, leads down to the bottom of a humid, tree-filled, ravine surrounded by wonderful rice terraces. At the bottom lies the temple. The whole complex was literally hewn out of the rock during the 11th century, when it was thought to have been created as the burial ground for a king and his wives, who probably threw themselves on his funeral pyre. It is believed that the five
candis (=sepulchral monuments) on the north bank of the Pakerisan River were for the king and his four wives, whilst the four on the south side may have been for four concubines. This monument was impressive for its absolutely stunning position and less for its artistic value. Once again, we had the
Shrines at Pura Besakih
Shrines wherever you look... chance to watch religious life acted out, a huge number of men and women were preparing a large-scale ceremony considering the number of offerings they had already prepared and were preparing. Our next stop was at
Tirta Empul, one of the holiest sights on Bali and a popular pilgrimage stop. We went there on foot, so we avoided the numerous trinket stalls around the car park. This temple is built on the site of a holy spring which is said to have magical healing powers. The outer courtyard contains two long pools fed by 30 or more water spouts, each of which has a particular function. The holy springs bubble up in the inner courtyard, swallows too love their water, we watched many of them take a sip of the holy drink in the unbelievable swallow way, by slightly brushing the surface without ever reducing their speed. The temple has been grandly restored and contains some magnificent thrones the pillars of which are covered all over with brightly coloured wood carvings. The temple was beautiful, beyond doubt, but we were far more impressed by the crowds of worshippers making their offerings and praying as well as splashing in the holy
Nagas at Pura Besakih
Wonderful nagas guarding a staircase waters which were of course also endowed with numerous offerings. On our way back to Ubud we stopped at a third site, one of the oldest holy places in Bali, dating from the 14th or 15th century. Cut into the rock are 20m of vigorous carvings depicting village life, intermingled with Hindu and Balinese gods. An old lady looks after the small shrine of Ganesh and ensures that a donation is placed there. She actually lives quite near and bustled after us when we approached the site late in the afternoon, almost in the dark. The carvings were good, very vivid, but it was not possible to take convenient pictures of them.
Our hotel was situated in the Monkey Forest Road, so we also visited the namesake spot. It is a small stretch of protected rainforest where a large population of sacred macaques live. They are all over the place, kings of the monkey forest and man is the intruder, being fed and pampered by rangers and tourists alike. This was the season of the babies, so the female specimens were rather aggressive. What we liked most about this species is that both sexes have imposing whiskers, which gives
Wooden door at Pura Besakih
This exquisite piece depicts Shiva and his wife Parvati them an almost human look. Ubud being the best place to experience Balinese culture, our last evening was dedicated to a performance of Kecak Dance. It is in fact a relatively recent creation and was inspired by the chorus found in the sacred trance dance and the sound of the chattering crowd of men crouched watching a cockfight. A central person in a state of trance communicates with a god or ancestor, while the surrounding chorus of men rhythmically chant
kecak kecak, which encourages the state of trance and gives the dance its name. The dance itself is based on an episode from the Ramayana, actually the same as performed in the Ramayana Ballet in Prambanan. We spent a nice evening, but this performance impressed us less on the artistic plane than the Javanese counterpart, it seemed almost exclusively made for Western tourists.
The end had come for our stay on Bali, in Indonesia and we left the country with mixed feelings. The country does not have many architectural wonders (except Borobudur and Prabanan), but its natural sights, be it the beaches and the sea, the volcanoes, the exclusive flora and fauna made it a diversified country to visit.
Demon at Pura Besakih
Like many statues in Bali this one was covered by a classical loin cloth Unfortunately, the decline of tourism has left deep scars in some people’s minds and makes them downcast. We do not regret having come to Indonesia, mostly we encountered wonderful people and saw some fantastic things. Our next destination is Malaysia, let’s see what awaits us there.
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thanks
I am leaving for indonesia/bali in a few days - thank you for this useful information