Burning up the highway to the 'Mother Temple'

Adorned ourselves in traditional sarong to visit the Besakih Temple (mother temple of Bali). It's positioned high on the slopes of Mt Agung an active volcano about 3142m high (Its last major eruption was in 1963 when many villages and people were killed, it didn't grumble today so we were happy).

This was a holy week so we visited at a good time, once a year the Balinese have to make pilgrimage to Besakih and make offerings to the gods and their ancestors. Its believed that they descend the heavens through the meru towers (black thatched tall structures) at the base of which the offerings are made. The Pilgrims carry on their heads baskets of food - fruit, bread, cakes up the mountain to the temple. It was a spectacle to see the continuous stream of people, all dressed in their finery to be pleasing to the gods. We participated in the offerings and were blessed with holy water and had wet rice stuck to our foreheads.

Got to say we had fun getting up there, it's about 1.5hr drive from Ubud and when you get there you have to walk up a steep hill to get to the temples, however there are some enterprising locals who offer rides on the back of their motor bikes to make the trip easier. So after some quick haggling we were all separated, Hollander on the back of one, me on another and Oren & Alex together we zoomed up the hill side, side saddle dodging the devotees - it was a blast! Oren loves motor bikes.