Our first temple is from the COMO Shambhala Estate located in the middle of the island in Ubud. The luxury health retreat is smack in the middle of terraced rice paddies, coffee plantations and raging rapids of the Ayung River. Ubud is the art and culture capital of Bali and travelers and locals alike can find stone statues, wood carvings and silver jewelery.
Our second temple comes from the seaside resort of Anantara. Located in the town of Seminyak just outside the capital town if Denpasar, this property is all about the beach and poolside cocktails. This particular temple recently celebrated it's birthday just weeks before our stay. Each temple, hotel or public, has a day with ceremonies to commemorate it's existence.
Every morning, hotel employees provide daily offerings to the gods just after dawn. The daily service consists of blessing a palm basket filled with flowers and food and leaving it at the temple for the day. We had the opportunity to wake up early and observe the offering just as the sun was coming up. Truly spiritual.
Each temple has at least one step from the ground since it is believed that evil spirits only move in straight lines and cannot get to the primary worship area. This is not limited to temples, but houses in Bali as well.
Anantara Seminyak
[Photo: Rayme Gorniak for HotelChatter]
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