Carry On Only: Pura Agung Besakih

It wasn't enough to hike up a volcano,we filled in our day till we arrived in Ubud exhausted.
Stop one:
a local spice garden and tried yummy teas and the infamous "poop coffee" made by feeding coffee beans to civets and when they poop out the beans again, they roast them and brew Kopi Luwak. We were looking for a good coffee to bring home.....
This wasn't it.

Sampling of teas and coffees.

Mangosteen tea being my favorite as it was also our new favorite fruit on our travels.

Stop two:
Pura Agung Besakih

Also known as 'The Mother Temple' of Besakiha and is considered the most important and holiest temple fort he Hindhu religion in Bali.

It sits 1000 meters up the side of Gunung Agung and is a complex of 23 separate but related temples.

Six levels all terraced.
Yay, more climbing.

Dates back to prehistoric times with stone bases dating back 2000 years ago.

Definitely used as a place of worship from 1284 when the first Javanese conquerors settled in Bali.

We were all required to wear below knee length sarongs.

Shopping for something unwanted.... Oh well.

Sash and Brad's stunning head scarf on loan.

Each color represents a manifestation of their god. Black is wisdom, red is fire,

white is wind.... Can't quite remember the meanings or all the different manifestations that their one god has.

Once prayers were finished you were sprinkled with holy water and rice gets placed on your forehead for good luck and prosperity.

The people move from their family temple to the central place of prayer.

What was great, was that there was a holy festival going on during our visit so we got to see it full of families and priests worshiping.

Though allowed in the complex, we were not allowed in to separate family temples where they were performing ceremonies.

The grounds had a party atmosphere as families gathered for picnics or visits with friends before or after their prayers which goes on all day and for 21 days in a row.

A come and go atmosphere with prayers etc every hour.