Pura Tirta Empul

We headed out of Ubud after a great breakfast and drove up into the mountains a bit to Pura Tirta Empul, the water temple...there is a natural spring that comes up out of the ground here and the water is considered holy.  This water will help you with whatever you need.  It is an absolutely beautiful spot.

 This is at the beginning of the temple where you enter.  It is lush and green and cool.

There are canals all around the temple site with beautiful tropical landscape.

 These creatures guard the entrance to the temple and the black and white checks (found on many statues at temple sites) represent good and evil.

Loved this sign but have no idea what it means.  I think it means that this is a historical site and is protected.

As everywhere in Bali, the doorways are so beautiful.  It was hard to get a good photo because the back light was so strong.  

Looking up to the top of the doorway.  

 This is the roof and the colors are incredible.   I loved this beautiful carving.  I think sometimes while walking through these temples I sometimes forget to breathe.  Everywhere I looked there was something incredible to see.

Making our way back into the temple, we saw the first pool, so beautiful, but by no means the main draw; below I am walking thru another doorway and looking up.

The colors here are fabulous...rich oranges and yellows.

 I took so many photos of just one doorway.

 Guardians of the temple.

 We continue up into the deeper parts of the temple and find the typical Bali gate.

Heading to the main offering table.  All offerings get left here.  

 These are the offering baskets that are brought to the temple.

Anyone who wants help with any particular issue bathes in the water and stands under the fountain spigots.  Each one has a different purpose:  fertility, health, male strength, etc.  

No one is shy about dunking heads directly under the spigot.  

There is lots of incense burning among the flowers, food, and offering boxes.

My favorite bathers were the young men.  There were many tattoos-very intricate ones- and I thought it was sort of the opposite of an anachronism...modern men in such an old place, but Margie reminded me that tattoos have a protective significance in Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and so not what we might think of them as biker and gang affiliations. 

This side seemed to have more men while the other side had more women.  Don't know if this was the male "strength" side and the other side more connected to fertility and women's health.

Above these pools were more gates and ritual spaces where priests performed religious rites.

More wooden doors carved in exquisite detail.

Here there was a lot of gold in the detail carvings and paintings.

It's hard to see here but this is the natural spring that bubbles up and where all the holy water comes from.

More offerings were brought to a site behind the pools and here is where the priest performed the ritual.

Here is one ritual.  You can see  the offerings on the ground.

Incense being lit.  We could only observe but not enter into the place of worship.

These women wanted their picture taken with us, so we did and then we took a picture of them.   I love all the different dress and the different religious affiliations. 

Me and mom as we were getting ready to leave.  This temple was such an amazing place.  I loved being here.  Bali is so incredible.

More later about our trip to the coast.