Bali temples

Although the Indonesian population is primarily Muslim, the Island of Bali is around 90% Hindu. Because of this there are temples absolutely everywhere, from small ones randomly fitted in between stores along the street (and even one in the mall we went to) to grand ones that date back centuries. We saw some of everything on our trip and here are some pictures...


Tanah Lot-- this temple behind us is only accessible at low tide. It was built in the 16th century, and is one of the oldest of what the Balinese call their "sea temples." We weren't there at the right time to get out on the island, but it was really beautiful.

We hiked quite a ways to get to this cliff-side temple of Pura Luhur Uluwatu. This temple is built of black coral rock and it sits at the top of a 250 foot cliff. Ryan slept through the entire hike, only waking up when we were almost back to our car. There are hundreds of monkeys that live in the woods surrounding the temple so we were warned to hold on to anything shiny (such as cameras and glasses) while we walked there. We didn't have any problems with the locals though!


Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave) temple was the last one we visited... figuring we got the idea by now. The entrance really says it all here... welcome to this sacred place, want to buy a shirt? how about a hat? The caves themselves were filled with interesting carvings, and the second picture of Conor, Ryan and I gives new meaning to the phrase "mouth" of a cave!