Temples

Today we hired a van and driver and went touring in the countryside and mountains.

We drove out of the populated areas into the more rural areas.  Bali has a population of around 4 million people on a land mass of 5,620 square kilometers, so no place is not populated.

We drove through a multitude of villages - up narrow, steep winding roads while visiting with the driver.

Here are some things I learned:
Wayan is the number one name in Bali
Made is number two
Nyoman number three
And for all you " Eat, Pray, Love" fans Ketut is number four.

Balinese are very family orientated and live together in family units. It is a patrilineal society so the sons stay with the parents after marriage and the daughters move to the husband's family. As the older sons get married they develop their own living area within the family compound, the youngest son stays with the parents and looks after them in old age. As families become larger they expand dwellings but remain in the same village. One fellow we visited with has a family of over 100 when they all come home for holiday and festivals.

Seventy five percent of the Balinese are Hindu, fifteen percent Christian, five percent each Muslim and Buddhist. There are temples of various sizes and dedicated to various Gods through out the island.

Every family has its own temple on their property, then the village or district temple and on up to the main temple for all of Bali. Temples are dedicated to the sea, the rice crop, agriculture and many other things that govern life. Some temples are even a joint temple between Hindu and Buddhist.

We visited three temples yesterday, the first Pura Taman Ayun was built in 1634  and has been nominated for UNESCO recognition. The second temple, Pura Ulan Danu is a joint Hindu- Buddhist that is built in a lake on islands and completely surrounded by water. It is dedicated to a water Goddess and pilgrimages are held here to guarantee water for the farmers. Believe me, if yesterday was any indication it seems to work well. While at the Hindu/Buddhist temple the Islamic mosque on the hill just above the temple was calling the faithful to their midday prayers.

At the temple entrance

There are a multitude of tourist shops and vendors at every temple. At the mosque at the lake it just poured yesterday but, being good entrepreneurs, there were several ladies running around in their rubber boots, all the tourists were in sandals, renting umbrellas for the afternoon. 

Temple in the lake

We went to the ancient rice terraces in a place called Jatilwih. This is another area that has been nominated for UNESCO recognition, as these terraced paddies have been here for years. There are mile and miles of terraces that cascade down the mountains. These terraces are probably a maximum 15 feet wide and then step down to the next one by 4 to 5 feet. The fields are all flood irrigated and the individual rice seedlings are all planted by hand. The growing rice is as green as green can be.  

 Rice terraces

We ended the day at a sea temple, Pura Tanah Lot, which is the most visited temple in Bali. It is built on a rock off shore and all supplies have to be taken to the temple through the surf. Bali is surrounded by sea temples like this that were all built within sight of the next one. This one is popular and must have a couple hundred tee-shirt shops and food stalls. 

Temple in the sea

The closest neighbor to the temple is the "water sucking" golf course Le Meridian Nirwana resort. The locals are really upset with both the resort and the golf course. The resort because it is built higher than the temple, which shows a lack of respect, and the golf course because of the amount of water it takes to keep it green, with out producing anything. 

Water sucking golf course