pura means temple in indonesian. in bali the main religion is agama hindu dharma, which although originally from india, is comprised of a unique blend of hindu, buddist, javanese and ancient indigenous beliefs. there are temples everywhere, more than 1000 in the island. most of them belong to families and are located inside private homes.
the temple of tanah lot is just one of them but very unique. it can only be accessed in low tide when the locals can walk up the rock. during high tide it is an island rock with crashing waves. we visited this one as well as many others throughout the entire island.
all of the temples have beautiful decorations and offerings made to their gods every day at every hour. we saw these offerings in front of the temples, at the entrance of establishments, literally everywhere, even on the streets, in dangerous crossroads making the activity of placing this little tray in the road a very risky one. the offerings were small trays made of palm leave with symbolic food, candy, flowers even cigarettes and money and they are supposed to appease the spirits and bring prosperity and good health.
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