Rainforests and waterfalls

I hired a car and driver to take us on a tour of Ubud and the surrounding region.  Todd arrived at our villa nice and early and we set off for the water temple which was close by.  The timing of our trip couldn't have been better.  A local festival was underway and so we got to see a procession of locals, dressed in their finest clothes parade through the temple whilst playing traditional musical instruments.

The Tirta Empul temple is a special place.  I have been to many temples and religious locations before, but none that was working in the way that this place was.  The waters flowed from fountains in the rock walls that people bathed in and there were bright splashes of colour everywhere in the form of the sarongs we were all required to wear.  We didn't immerse ourselves in the water, but we dipped our feet in.  The water was incredibly cool in contrast to the warm air around us.

The entire scene was lovely.  There was a peacefulness to it all, and even the foreigners who were visiting were all very respectful.  You could sense the importance of this place to the locals and everyone who did enter the water, did so slowly and with great care.  Even children who went into the water seemed to appreciate that this wasn't a swimming pool and that it was a privilege for them to be able to cool themselves.  Behind the fountain, we walked around and we saw a small man made pool which contained the spring from which the water originated.  Looking closely, you could see the sand moving gently as the water forced its way through.

After we finished walking around the grounds of the temple, we jumped back in the car to head to the Tukad Cepung waterfall.  The waterfall didn't look too far from the temple on the map, but I failed to appreciate that the geography of Bali is such that you can rarely travel in straight lines.  Most of the roads sit up on the top of the ridges and so any movement needs to be along these mountain ridges and then back up along the next ridge.  There seems to also be a lack of bridges which forces long detours to be made before a crossing between any of these ridges can be done.  Eventually we made it to the waterfall.  We descended down from the top of the ridge before walking besides a long irrigation canal.  At the very bottom, we found ourselves in a deep and cool canyon.  Walking along the creek bed, we reached the waterfall.  It turns out the waterfall wasn't natural, but was rather the result of the water flowing from the irrigation canal we had been walking next to above the canyon.

Even though it was artificial, it didn't mean that it wasn't a spectacularly beautiful sight to see.  With the opening in the surrounding rocks, the light of the sky poured in with the water into the shallow pool below.  Some of the pictures that we took captured an image of calm serenity.  Sadly, this was not the reality of this place.  It was crawling with people and a long line of people snaked away from the waterfall as people waited patiently to get their photos under the falling water.  I was really starting to notice the power of instagram on this trip and its ability to dramatically change the purpose and motivations of people traveling.

Renee stood near the back and watched what was happening.  Todd and I had no patience and so we wandered around to the side to get a better look.  We had no need or desire to have a photo standing under the falling water so we didn't line up.  As we stood there looking, Todd walked closed to try and get a better look at the wall behind the water.  A girl called out at him for getting in the way of her photo.  He shot her back a look, shocked at her presumptuousness and then questioned why he wasn't allowed to walk in the area.  Her friend immediately apologised, and the girl looked back down.  At the end of the day, this was a place to be enjoyed by all, it wasn't just a photo shoot location.