Combined with the visit to Jatiluwih it may be an option to visit the Batukaru temple, it is located about 25 minutes drive west of Jatiluwih in a small village called Wongaya Gede. The area is determined by Mount Batukaru, an extinct volcano, and the second highest mountain in Bali. The temple is located on the southern slope of Mount Batukaru at an altitude of 1300 meters, which makes the climate cool.
Batukaru temple is a very sacred place for the Balinese, and one of the reasons for this, along with its age, is the 7-tiered meru. This meru, multi-roofed shrine was built in honour of the God of Mount Batukaru, known as Mehadewa.
The temple dates from the 11th century, and that it is in a cool and wet climate you can clearly see from the moss forming that you see everywhere.
The complex has many smaller temples and they all have a function. If you walk through you will come to the back of the complex near a pond where a temple stands in the middle of the pond as a kind of island. Often when it is clouded in the afternoon rain will also fall, there is a mysterious atmosphere and a serene calmness.
As mentioned before this temple is a very sacred place, people here don’t care if the tourist will visit their temple (maybe they rather that you wouldn’t) they are not used to tourist but if you adjust to the silence and walk around with the respect the people deserve, there is no problem.
As always you need to wear a sarong, and here you also get, only for the men, an Udeng, a traditional headgear, and a selendang which is a kind of belt around your waist, these are available at the entrance. Again this is not a temple where many tourists come, so people are not really used to it, show respect when you enter the temple.
The entrance price is a donation and should not be more than IDR 20.000 but sometimes they will ask you for a entrance fee.
Rundung #Megae 