In September 2021, we went to Lempuyang, one of the main temples in Bali. I went with new friends, the Umariawans, a Bali family kind enough to adopt me, an expat orphan. The benevolent family partiarch is Made (Mah-day) who often guides me around Bali.
Made and Company took me to Lempuyang Temple, the most publicized temple on the island. I have read this temple entrance gate is the most Instagramable spot in the world. Instagram is lousy with thousands of photos just like the one below. Before covid there was a two hour line that snaked down to the parking lot just to get your picture on the “lakefront” gate, as seen below. During the crush of high tourism, visitors at the gate were limited to three minutes in the gate and five photos — then you got the local equivalent to “move along folks – next in line!” Of course when I went, the temple was almost empty of people, except the priests and attendants
Lempuyang is a mountain temple complex of seven individual temples – a chain of Temples, each one at a clearing as you hike up a Balinese mountain. This mountain is a companion mountain to the fierce volcanic Mt. Agung, the nearby the tallest point in Bali at 9,944 feet elevation. The picture above is the famous scene from the first Temple, the easiest Temple to access. Temples two through seven become increasingly spare as you hike up to the summit to the minimal Temple seven. The hike to reach Temple Seven is 1,720 steps and is a two hour trek. Aside from the iconic Lempuyang Gate, Temple One is just a spiritual and Temple wonder to behold. Everyone takes pictures and shows off the first Témple, including me, as it is the most spectacular. Plus, my IPhone 6 batteries ran out as I hiked up. No big loss as the first Temple says it all.
Here are two more perspectives on the first Temple:
Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave…The Deception of the Perfect Photo
How many times have you seen this kind of patter on eye grabbing internet ads: “Throw out these three fruits! The one little, secret trick doctors don’t want you know will revolutionize your life. Watch this free video! I feel the same way about the fake romanticizing of the Lempuyang main gate as I feel about these garbage internet ads. The picture of tourists at this gate and the reflecting pool is one of the most popular instagram photos ever — many, many thousands of photos. Lempuyang tour guides tell me many tourists come just for this photo here at the entrance area of this huge Temple complex. After they get their one photo shoot at the gate and lake, the tourists are out of here. Before covid, there were two hour lines, hundreds of people long, just to get to this gate and lake. Visitors were limited to three minutes and five photos in the gate, then the next tourist stepped up. It was a point of pride to post your photo on Instagram. In fact, there were, pre-covid, instagram-focused packaged tours in Bali. Tourists travelled to the one perfect photo spot at some local visitor attraction. Tourists jumped off the bus, snap the one photo, and then hopped back on the bus — on to the next Temple or monument. Instagram rules!
Remember, the lake front Lempuyang Gate with its World-Wide Wow Photo of the gate and reflecting pond? FRAUD! There is no pond — just a concrete tile walkway. Here is the proof, Exhibit A is the actual photo; Exhibit B the fake
The reflecting pool effect is done with a mirror by a guy who looks like he is a high school yearbook photographer. He takes your cameras, sits in his beach chair and puts this little hand mirror under your camera lens. You go to the gate and jump for joy and voila! the guy takes a picture of you prancing in front of a fake lake. Here is the photo proof of this scam. This photo is of the far side temple alter on the other side of the Temple, away from the gate. The year book photographer, who works for tips, is in the middle taking a fake lake photo or the other tourist in the joint the day I went.
Here is a photo from the main altar at the top of first Temple. The altar is on the far side of this Temple looking at the famous gate. The photo on the left shows off this Temple’s sacred beauty. The photo on the right is marked as follows: Red 1 is the gate itself. Blue 2 is the tourist getting his photo of him with the non-existent lake. Yellow 3 is freelancing yearbook photographer holding a mirror under the visitors camera phone as he snaps the photo, with lake.
As we were huffing and puffing our way up the trail, some diaphanous fantasy was gliding down the steps, serene and unperturbed. Meanwhile my family friends went ape when they saw this vision of pulchritude. Everybody stopped for which I was grateful. Made and Company all chatted up this beauty in Indonesian and got selfies. Made glanced over to me and quickly threw me a bone in English: This lady, Ayu Sutena, is an emerging-rock-star-of-a-singer, who sings traditional and pop Indonesian music. I was not smart enough to get a selfie with Ayu Sutena and I don’t believe in selfies anyhow. Notice the excited Made in the selfie on the left, below. This selfie missed the crucial spark that made Ayu glitter. However, on the right is Ayu, the shimmering siren, that I saw descending the steps.
Bonus Photo — A picture of me enjoying a spiritual moments after I finished climbing over 3,500 steps in a new pair of sandals I just bought that morning. I have not worn sandals in a long time, but made up for it that day. Plus, the Temple trail had rare, primitive palm trees endemic only to this mountain. This odd palm is on the endangered species list. With the foggy, somewhat rainy afternoon settling in as we descended the trail; I had the sense I was on the movie set of Gorillas in the Midst. See if you catch the ambiance in these two photos. I did not alter the color or put on a filter in the palm photo.
