September 26, 2012  Temple Journey in the Mountains

The hardest part of doing this blog is to pick the pictures from the hundreds of shots.  We'll post just a few as we are again traveling this afternoon. We had a playful time traveling up the mountain to the first temple - Pura Ulna Danu Bratan.  Goddess Danu is the goddess of Rice, Water, and Beauty. The Balinese worship the One Supreme God who is the Creator.  The temples each have a different focus of the energy and purpose much as in the Catholic Churches.

The focus on their life if to be in service, from their hearts to God first and then to Family, village and others second.  

Our playfulness started with Koybayan motioning me to follow him.  This temple within the temple sits out in the water but the lake was lower this time.  As I followed him we each got our feet stuck in the muck.  Here I sit rinsing off my feet in the water and giggling about it.  Later I realized that this was just preparation and it allowed me to connect more deeply with the Earth Mother.

 This temple is a very busy temple with tourist from around the world.  We went into the inner temple that you can only enter for prayers. Entering the inner temple we felt a sense of inner calm.


Our second stop for the day was the Village of Giriloka on Lake Tamblingan - the people hold the sacred energy of the protectors and caretakers of the lake and the temples around the lake.

The water level had risen in the lake and those closest to the lake had to relocate their homes.  You could see many tents being used for temporary shelter.  The people here live very much in the way of the early Balinese.  They prefer to speak their Balinese language instead of Indonesian.

This is the village temple that is also under water.

Crossing the lake to Pura Ulan Danu Tamblingan  was  a  playful pilgrimage to the stone age site.

Stairways to the ancient site.  A few years ago David and I could barely reach the top without stopping many times.  This time we each walked up the steps with ease. It was as if the energy of the site was nw welcoming us.

  This site has been kept natural with just a few structures.

After our prayers we paddled back to the village then headed to Munduk were we found a home stay and enjoyed the sunset with our supper.

All of now for we are off on another adventure to the temple of Ulu Danu that is in the crater at the top of Mt Batur.

More later.

Blessings to all,

Pam and David