Bali tour with visit to Besakih Temple

Our busiest day involved taking a tour around Bali, and visiting three temples named: Goa Gajah, Pura Besakih and finally Gunung Kawi. The tour started with watching the famous Balinese dance. This involved a highly skilled dancers and theater performance, showcasing Rangda the witch and the beast Barong. We thought it was really funny, and especially enjoyed the hand and facial movement of the female dancers. After that we got stuck in traffic for almost two hours! The island is very busy, and there were lots of cars and scooters leaving Kuta with the same idea as us! Oh well, we found ourselves visiting the first temple Goa Gajah. A quick note, Goa Gajah was built in the 9th century, and it has a cave, that was supposedly used as a sanctuary. The main sculpture above the cave is the shape of an elephant, that is why they also call it the Elephant Cave. After the temple, we drove through dozens of sprawling rice fields, and visited a coffee plantation. We tried twelve different teas and coffees, and relaxed beside coffee plants. We visited, Gunung Kawi temple, and finally Pura Besakih, one of the most famous temples on Bali. Pura Besakih is located on the slopes of Mount Agung. It is cherished, and viewed as the holiest Hindu temple in all of Bali. We were told that the many different colours symbolize the deities in the Hindu religion. After a long day, we made it back to our hotel and slept away.

One thing we admired, was that most, if not all Balinese had some form of a temple ingrained in their homes, and even their work! Even the corner stores, one called Circle K, had a temple on top of it. The designs are very beautiful, and in many places we could spot the national symbol of Indonesia, Garuda.Read more