Day 3: Bali -Tampak Siring & Goa Gajah (part 3)

For this trip, I booked the driver, Ketut, in advance through e-mail as I thought the price he quote was quite reasonable, Rp350000 (RM120) per day (8 hours). Below is the car used by Ketut.

We saw this everywhere we went, Bali women carrying stuff on their head. They are good at it too. They can carry just about anything... here the lady was selling shawl.

It looked like this woman has some supplies to make her offerings

Our next destination was Tampak Siring (somewhat in the middle of Ubud and Kintamani) where Pura Tirta Empul is built around. The name Tirta Empul signifies a crystal clear stream which is used as the holy water for religious ceremony.

This wall by the hillside totally captivated my attention...

The shrine before the Holy Spring... loved the trees, making the place looks so surreal...

Near the entrance, a large pool with lots of Koi fish...As usual visitor are only allowed up to the main courtyard. From there, one could enjoy the exquisite twin shrine & split gate, common in most temples in Bali.

Several people were praying & making offerings, while a priest looked on from a side pavilion.The holy spring which bubbles up in the inner courtyard is believed to have magic curative powers...The wall around the pool of the bubbling holy spring... Clear cool water spouts from mossy walls. Got Koi swimming in this smaller pool. Over 1000 years old, the temple and its two bathing places have been used by the people for good health and prosperity because of the spring waters curative powers.

Wish I could take such photo too...The 12 water spouts and the big pool..Even got ang moh getting all wet...

Oddly, the way out is not the as the way in. They had diverted unsuspecting visitors, like us to a few rows of wooden stall selling cheap souvenirs. Only after 5 minutes of walk we found our self safe from the unfortunate taunting of cheap t-shirt & handicrafts. Some even quote us in RM without even asking our nationality o_O"

Next on the list was Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave) since it was on the way and we still had time. Hubby was whining "NOT ANOTHER TEMPLE" hahaha... it had started to drizzle.

The main highlights of this temple are the short cave with the massive carved face entrance and the holy pools. The area of the cave is located in a steep valley, makes it looks so beautiful from above. The cave below is reached by climbing down a series of steps. At the bottom of the steps, the 1st thing we saw was this, looks like some square ancient relics, like prehistoric gravestones, standing firm in a large rectangle.Recent excavations (in 1954) unearthed bathing places in front of the cave with 6 females figures, representing goddesses holding water spouts.

The scary entrance to the man-made cave, with 2 statues flank a demon head over the entrance:

Inside the damp and dark small cave (t-shape), on the left-hand side in a niche is a statue of the Hindu elephant-headed god Ganesh.

Nothing much lar as the cave is so small & dark. My silhouette on the way out of the cave.On the way to our hotel, we saw these Balinese women & Ketut stop at the road side so that we can take a photo of them. wow... awesome feat...

~con't~