Travel World

The Pura Tirta Empul (S8.41586 E115.31516) at Tampaksiring is situated about 18KM from the BAS Coffee Farm. It was our next destination after the Luwak Coffee session. The place was calm and peaceful during our visit, and not crowded at all...

The Legend of the Temple :-
"The sacred spring was created by the god Indra. His forces had been poisoned by Mayadanawa, so he pierced the earth to create a fountain of immortality to revive them.

An inscription dates the founding of a temple at the site to 926 AD. Ever since - for more than a thousand years - the Balinese have come to bathe in the sacred waters for healing and spiritual merit." Source from here.

There are many statues around the garden and temple area from the entrance.



Beside the statues, there are also many signages...and we have to read carefully and follow the procedures...



The signage above is located before the Purifying pool...in Indonesian Language.


It is the rectangular pool carved of stone. The water in the pool was Crystal clear! Where we can easily see the rocks at the bottom of the pool...


Just for that clean and crystal clear water, we (me, my friend & his elder son) decided to do the purifying like others...:) So we asked Mr Agus to help us on the ceremony and tell us the procedures...

All of us must wear with the 'Sarong' from the temple before get into the pool. There are many lockers around the area for you to keep your valueble items...each locker cost IDR 3,000.00 (about MYR1 / USD 0.33).

Once everything ready, we slowly soaked into the first pool (There are 2 pools at the temple). BEWARE! It was slippery! I slipped from the step and falled directly into the Ice Cold pool! Haha! We had to finished from the first fountain until the last fountain in the purifying pool, total of 22 fountains (if I'm not mistaken). I was shivering after the fifth fountains...it was extremely cold! WOW!
It tooks about 30 minutes to finished the purifying and we quickly changed and warm up our body! Yes, too cold for me! :)

Then we started our tour at the other side of the temple...


There were some Balinese Hinduism praying ceremony during our visit...


We passed through the pool of the sacred spring water, the spring water is continue from the pool non-stop more than thousand years ago...


Peaceful while walking in the temple...
Before we reach the exit of the temple, we came to another pool which full of koi...and there were some souvenirs shops beside the pool...

It was a life experience for us in the purifying process of the temple, the skin was smooth and clean after bathing from the spring water! I will do it again if I re-visit the temple.

If you don't mind, you might want to try the purifying in the Ice Cold spring water pool! :)


Related post :-
*  My Bali trip on June 2011
*  My Bali trip on June 2010

Visited the Wenwu Temple (文武廟) (N23.86960 E120.92685) after the Lake Cruise. There were many stalls in front of the temple selling souvenirs and local foods...


Before we step into the temple, I was attracted by this staircase...it was Full of little lantern bell on the both sides...

The staircase was locked with grill door and it's not accessible for public...and there was a write up about it beside the door...

"Getting to Wenwu Temple in earlier days was not so convenient as it is now; there was no round-the-lake road, and visitors had to take a boat to the pier below the temple and then climb up a lot of steps. Because the slope was so steep, the steps were called the "Stairway to Heaven". Now the steps are not needed to get to the temple, and they have been renovated into a 150-meter path with 366 steps the symbolize the 366 days in a leap year. The name of a historical personage is carved on each step, and the steps also incorporate the 24 bells on the two sides of the steps; the bells chime in the wind adding much to the romantic atmosphere. If you want to hang your own bell, ask the temple official how to do it."


"The Wenwu Temple was established in BC1812, which was meant to be a place for youth people advocating the loyalty and learning martial arts. The Wen Shrine worships the Wenchang Dijun while the Wu Temple worships the Guansheng Dijun. Two temples lines each other in a wall. In that, the two are together called Wenwu Temple." You can read more about the history of the temple here.


I was really attracted by the stone and wood carved within the temple! Amazing! You can see the nice wood carved at the roof before you step in...it's all over everywhere in the temple.





There are total 3 main halls in the temple...we visited one by one slowly...

And we continue to the second hall...it was full of the little lantern bells again!




The decoration was very nice! And we slowly proceed to the third hall...

Behind the third hall, there was still some construction work carried on, I believe the restoration of the temple has not complete yet. But the stone carved was Awesome! It's all about Confucius.


We climbed up to the highest point of the temple just to snapped some nice photos about the temple...


I can't post all the photos of the temple, because there are about 100 photos taken...
If you like to take nice photo of the temple, try to visit it on sunny day.

We hanged around the temple about 45 minutes and everyone were hungry...and we started the food hunt again! :)


Related post :-
*  My Taiwan Trip on May, 2011

Syuanguang Temple (N23.85179 E120.91359) was the First destination of the Sun Moon Lake cruise. It's located at about 800 meter above sea level.



Once we stepped into the entrance, there were many peoples queuing for the Famous 'Herbal Egg' (茶叶蛋)! I told myself, I'll try it later when we back to the Pier....
Clear signage in front of us, and you will Never lost within the area...


"The Syuanguang Temple Pier is the starting point for the 850 meter Cinglong Mountain Hiking Trail. Follow the steps upward, you will reach the Syuanguang Temple; continue onward, and you will get to Syuanzang Temple. This trail is also called "Pilgrim's Trail" because of the large numbers of religious devotees who take boats to the pier to worship at the two temples."



I didn't step into the temple, because it was small and many devotees around...there were many peoples queue up in front of the temple too, it was because of everyone want to take photo with the Landmark - Sun Moon Lake Stone Craft.



I found this part was somehow interesting!



Beside the temple, the place also is a Nice spot to view the Sun Moon Lake...sharing some photos around the area...


After the temple, we saw the trail behind...it is the Cinlong Mountain Trail. We explored the trail and try to see any surprises...



Along the way, this were what we saw...


We stopped halfway and didn't continue the trail because of the Hot weather, and we decided to save our time to Ita-Thao Village in our next destination.

If you visit Sun Moon Lake in the tight schedule, you can actually skip this temple. For us, it was nothing much over here...

While we running down to the jetty to catch the ferry and...I forgot to buy the Famous Herbal Egg! Damn! What a miss!


Related post :-
*  My Taiwan Trip on May, 2011