Tampak Siring Bali

Tegalalang is village located on the north-south road from Kintamani and Ubud. Driving along this stretch you will have no doubt you are in Tegalalang because of the abundance in wooden carvings that are displayed along the road.

Continuing through the actual town of Tampaksiring the road branches, the left fork running up to the grand palace once used by Soekarno while the right fork goes to the temple at Tirta Empul and continue up to penelokan. You can look back along the valley and see Kawi Mountain from this road, just before you turn into Tirta Empul. Are believed to have magical powers so the temple here is an important one.

Each year an inscribed stone is brought from a nearby village to be ceremonially washed in the spring. The inscription on the stone has been deciphered and indicates that the springs bubble up into a large, crystal-clear tank within the temple and gush out through waterspouts into a bathing pool. According to legend the god Indra who pierced the earth to tap the ' elixir of immortality' Amerta. Despite its antiquity the temple is glossy and gleamingly new-it was totally restored in the late' 60s.

The Springs of Tirta Empul are a source of the Pakrisan River, which rushes by Gunung Kawi only a Km or so away. Between Tirta Empul and Gunung Kawi is the temple of Pura Mengening where you can see a Candi similar in design, but free-standing, to the Candis of Gunung Kawi. There is a spring at this temple which alsofeeds into the Pakrisan. Overlooking Tirta Empul is the Sukarno palace,a grandiose structur builtin 1954 on the site of a Dutch rest-house.

The car park outside Tirta Empul is surrounde by the usual unholy confusion of souvenir and craft shops. Chess sets and bone carving are popular crafts here. There is an admission charge to Tirta Empul and you have to wear a temple scarf.

To enter you will be put on a charge of IRD 20,000 / person