Temple stop at Lake Beratan

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This was our second Bali "temple run" stop. It was a gorgeous temple set against one of the most beautiful landscapes I've seen. The mountains surrounding the crater lake Lake Beratan reminded me of the towering mountains of Kualoa Ranch in Oahu. On the lake's shores is Pura Ulan Danu Beratan, a water temple that is also one of Bali's UNESCO Heritage Sites. 

And, just like in Pura Taman Ayun, we weren't the only tourists there. The difference was that in Beratan, we saw tourists who weren't covered up enough. Many women were clad in beach attire and some men were actually walking about shirtless! Val and I found this attitude disrespectful because this is an active temple... worshippers were actually just inside the inner sanctum. Tourists could easily cover themselves up in sarongs while they were here. But that's hardly "Instagrammable".


Anyway, this temple felt more extensive than Taman Ayun. There were a lot of split gates that I wasn't sure if there was only one inner sanctum in this temple compound. 


By the waterside, I noticed a tall pelinggih meru. I learned later on that this tower is dedicated to the worship of Shiva, one of the supreme deities in Hinduism, and Parvati, his consort. 


The shorter tower, on the other hand, is dedicated to the worship of the water goddess Dewi Danu. The Balinese worship her because they recognise Lake Beratan, her home (I think), as a major source of irrigation for the farmlands of central Bali.



On the day we visited, the stones propping the merus on the water were visible. But on days when the lake water level was high, I could just imagine that the temples must look like they're floating.


We found this temple to be more touristy than Taman Ayun, not just because we didn't see a parade of worshippers but also because we found an extensive souvenir shopping area just by the temple's parking lot. It was tempting to go shopping, definitely; but we opted to do our souvenir shopping where the locals go so that we wouldn't see overpriced items. Even our driver, Jek, recommended against shopping at this stop. We had allotted a full day for shopping anyway, so we weren't in a hurry to buy stuff.

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