Pura Melanting

This temple is located in the village of Banyupoh (Gerogak) and is located more inland while Pulaki is long along the coast close to Pemuteran.

There is a kind of information desk where you can borrow a sarong, and to get to the temple you have to climb quite a few stairs, the stairs looks new and look very nice with all the little stones in a kind of mosaic.

It is a beautiful temple and it is striking that all statues and temples have bright colours. The Melanting temple is one of the temples built to commemorate the visit of the Javanese Hindu priest, Danghyang Nirartha, who is also responsible for Pulaki, Rambut Siwi, Tanah Lot and Uluwatu temple according to the stories. The Melanting temple is considered the place where his eldest daughter, Ida Swabawa, changed into a ghost.

Like most temples in Bali, we enter the middle court after the main entrance where people prepare for sacrifice. Then there is the main court with a huge and beautiful temple. The tranquillity of the temple creates a perfect atmosphere and ambiance for people to pray and to meditate. Some people come to meditate at night.

The priests, who take care of the temple, are very hospitable to visitors. The Hindus who come to pray in this temple come not only from this area, but from all over Bali and also from outside the island. Like mentioned earlier one of the special things about this temple are the colours. The statues and temples all have bright colours, it looks a bit Chinese, also look like the temples in Thailand. And what also stood out were the monkeys present in the temple and not only monkeys but also cats and dogs and here you don’t have to worry about the monkeys coming to sit on your head like in Ubud, because they are very shy.