THE GATES OF HEAVEN

Mt. Agung is the highest point in Bali while Pura Lempuyang is one of Bali's six holiest places of prayer.

Balinese Hindus consider Mt. Agung as a representation of Mt. Meru, the spiritual central axis of the universe of three beliefs, and is therefore the equivalent of heaven. 

Pura Lempuyang's candi bentar or split gateway is actually the entrance to the middle zone of the temple that leads to the most sacred and holiest zone which directly faces Mt. Agung.

From the viewpoint of the holiest of holies, the candi bentar appears to be a portal to Mt. Agung and tourists who were mesmerized by this amazing panorama eventually referred to it as the Gate of Heaven.

We were Number 122 in the photo queue that took a 3-hour early morning trip from Seminyak and another 3-hour wait but we nailed the Gate of Heaven although she who really wanted it was not with us and that is so sad and disappointing.       

It was not our first gate of heaven though. 

Thieving monkeys distracted us in Pura Uluwatu but on the day after Christmas, we followed two Japanese ladies to the candi bentar of Pura Taman Ayun that leads to the paduraksa, the locked gate to the most sacred main sanctum where meru towers of different heights reach to the heavens.  

Pura Taman Ayun or the "Temple of the Floating Garden" was established in the 17th century and is exlusive to Bali royalty.  

It is part of an ancient subak irrigation system that has been declared as a cultural landscape of Bali and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012. 

Some 34 kilometers from this part of heaven is Pura Ulun Danu, a water temple along the shores of Lake Beratan that is 1,500 meters above sea level in the Bedugul Highlands where we were entertained with a traditional Balinese dance after passing through its candi bentar. 

In Balinese Hindu temples, the height of the meru towers is determined by the importance of the gods who are believed to temporarily reside in them. 

Meru towers are representations of Mt. Meru that is replicated as Mt. Agung in Bali and are therefore symbolical heavens.

At more than 600 hectares, the Jatiluwih Rice Terraces is the biggest of Bali's declared cultural landscape --- the traditional subak irrigation system that is directly linked to two water temples one of which is Pura Ulun Danu. 

It's not as huge and aestheticaly alluring as our Ifugao rice terraces but again, the amazing story here is the irrigation and not the terraces. 

Finally, Pura Tanah Lot or the "Temple of the Land in the Sea", so called because it was built in an off-shore rock in the 16th century and the most famous of Bali's seven sea temples. 

We are supposed to watch its beautiful sunset but we were early, we were bathing in sweat and we were tired so opted instead for a blessing of its sacred spring water that came with rice kernels pressed in our foreheads, and flowers tucked behind our ears.

There are too many curious people and the market overshadowed the two candi bentar that leads out to the subdued meru of the sacred islet that is said to be protected by venomous sea snakes who talked with us in parseltongue.

We should take off now to beat the Bali rush hour traffic they said, which we did and got caught up with. 

Pura Lempuyang's Gate of Heaven is the climax of these mini-heavens that was initially planned to be punctuated with a piligrimage to Pura Besakih, the "mother temple" of Balinese Hinduism perched 1,000 meters above sea level in the slopes of Mt. Agung.

But first, a short visit to Tirta Gangga, a former royal palace that was built in 1946 and named after the Ganges River that turned out to be a dud and that is where temple fatigue set in. 

Bli Newa informed us that it will take 1.5 hours to reach Pura Besaki and another 1.5 hours to Ubod.

That and the reported extortion of tourists by local gangs made us decide to skip Pura Besakih --- the most important, largest and holiest Hindu temple in Bali --- and go for a famous swing in Ubud instead.

CHRISTMAS IN ULUWATU

Empu Kutruran is a ghost and it was Danghyang Nirarthas who transformed a fossilized ship into what is now the Uluwatu Temple so a crab-eating macaque can steal Kuya Bulan's eyewear on Christmas Day 15 minutes after this photo was taken by Bli Subena who piloted our Christmas car and bought our entrance tickets.

We have been alerted of the monkey thieves by amateur surfers before they were devoured by the waves of Legian Beach, their warnings echoing in the open kitchen of Depot Chandra while Balong happily cried over a Christmas brunch of Denpasar's best but spicy babi guling. 

That same day, Bulan and Balong walked into a crevice that led into a forest of bikini Christmas trees in Padang-Padang Beach where iced coffee is brewed in green Bintang bottles and sold as kopi luwak and 12 shots of hot beverages for Elizabeth Gilbert and the patrons of Lumbung Sari. 

Back at the Uluwatu Temple, Bulan's monocle was recovered through a bounty of crumpled Indonesian rupias, washed at a toilet where the pieces were reassembled, the thieving monkey tried and roasted in a Fire Dance of chanting men and masks as the Timor Sea burned from an invisible sunset. 

There were four plates and four wine glasses at the Christmas seafood dinner in Jimbaran Beach, two contented sons, and Beach Bali Cafe's house wine that somehow blunted the emptiness of the fourth chair and the solitary nights at the master's bedroom of The Legian Sunset Residence in Seminyak...  

7 DAYS TO BALI

72 consecutive hours.

It was the longest Thursday feast ever --- leftover chop suey and kinilaw na tuna, Italian olives and salami, sliced fruits and ham --- that actually started on a Tuesday after the announcement of an impending departure from O as the confused Luang Prabang bookings morphed into rationale credit card payments. 

6 biking days before Bali.

It could have been 7 but only two speakers has confirmed so far, the water source padlocked with electrical wirings from the ceiling project as the updated AWG 2024 group email sent out clarifications on budget charging and a TOIL claim that has not been confirmed.

MENA has confirmed on Kathmandu that is now a bucketful of monologue about stakeholder engagement which got the Bali documents printed for the Fellows of the Craft in Baloc and what can be the year's last Christmas party in Bantug where 7,500 of a 10,400 cash gift was blown on light brandy, somebody else's kids, absent goddaughters, and the unexpected costs of dying young in Laur...