Bali is also a pilgrimage. A venture into a land where Gods still have a say in what happens in the household. The country is such as every few steps one would come across one form of worship or the other. Temples are in abundance, the most popular being Tanah Lot temple – mere 15km from Alila Villas Soori – further evidence that God is omnipresent in this island. Be it homestays, be it luxury villas, Bali invites you on a journey of Gods.
Pura Tanah Lot and Pura Alas Kedaton are two of the most popular temples in Bali. They are what attracts the tourists, and rightly so. Pura Alas Kedaton is famous for its population of wildings: the monkeys. Step onto the temple premises and thousands of eyes will gleam at you from treetops, ramparts, walls and the grounds. The monkeys seem to enjoy all the attention and would gracefully wait for you to snap their picture before demanding compensation in the form of a fruit. Pura Tanah Lot, on the other hand, is besieged by waves. Although no monkeys exist to photograph, what keeps the eye focused here is the amazing sunset. Come evening, tourists armed with their high-tech cameras to phone cameras all flock to immortalize the glorious sunset, as the Sun pays day’s homage to the deities of the land.
In addition to these two main temples, there are many small temples scattered all across the villages. Even if one does not see a temple immediately, it is rare to stroll the streets of Bali without coming across one religious pageantry or the other: the people may be dancing in praise of Gods, maybe chanting in praise of God. If you are to truly experience the journey of Gods that this tucked away land of nature’s finest offers, there are tours available, dedicated to this function; to prove to you, the foreigner, that there is more to Bali than what meets the eye.
Shehera Fioni is a travel writer who writes under the pen name Catalina Forbes. Her content is based on many thrilling escapades offered to travellers across the world.