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Day 5: Temples, subaks, UNESCO

We went to a couple of temples and the famous UNESCO world heritage site in Jatiluwih. 
Beautiful terraces at Jatiluwih, part of UNESCO World Heritage Site

Wiwik, who was part of getting the rice terraces of Bali to become a world heritage site, and her students, took us through some of the concepts of water temples:
  • The first temple we went to was a disease temple. It was a supporting temple for the main temple. Its purpose is to cleanse people of illnesses.
    • Legend has it that a king who was sick was healed after getting some water from the area. It was then built to help the surrounding communities get healing
    • A priest will take people through the healing process
  • We went to the main water temple built on the base of the mountain to help farmers not have to go up the mountain to perform rituals
    • We washed our hands, spat out water three times, washed face three times, and the head. This is a sign of giving thanks for the life-giving water
    • One of Wiwik's students explained the concept of Tri Hita Karana: man needs to leave well with his God, environment, and fellow man
  • Afterwards we visited the head of a subak's home:
    • The food was amazing: variety and very tasty
    • We saw the dragonfruit tree, and got some dragon fruit, fresh of the tree
    • Wiwik explained to us the issue with the designation of the WHS
      • Brought in more revenues for farmers, encouraging them to leave their farming and pursue tourism
      • The next generation of young people are not interested in picking up farming
      • Farmers are in a cycle of poverty because of low incomes from rice farming
      • Government policy is usually ineffective: national govt. says one thing, but the district does not implement it
      • More of the rice terraces were being bought up and used for hotels and villas
We had dinner at one place close to Permana, and we discussed what we had enjoyed most, and what we looked forward to the most: I enjoyed the statues, and I look forward to the beach.
It turns out that the animal that has been keeping me awake with screeching sounds is a gecko. It sounded like a giant bird. Well, Sunday says it's just a tiny gecko with a big mouth.


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Location: Jatiluwih, Penebel, Tabanan Regency, Bali, Indonesia

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