Kecak Fire dance

Kecak and fire dance

The most compelling part of the temple complex, however, comes from its nightly kecak and fire dance performances.

"Kecak" is derived from an old Balinese ritual called the sanghyang - a trance dance driven by its participants' repetitive chanting. In its ancient form, the sanghyang communicated the wishes of the gods or of the ancestors.

In the 1930s, a German visitor reformatted the sanghyang into the more familiar kecak performance - doing away with the spiritualistic aspect of the dance and building it around the Hindu Ramayana epic.

No musical instruments are used in a kecak performance - instead, you find about thirty bare-chested men sitting in a circle, uttering "chak… chak… chak" rhythmically and repetitively. The total effect is trance-inducing - repetitive voices and outlandish costumes creating a trippy multimedia experience.

The performance plays out as the sun sets, and the culmination involves a giant fire display that is integral to the plot. (Visitors wearing flammable material may want to get a seat higher up in the stands.)

Rama and Sita

To help those unfamiliar with the Ramayana, synopsis sheets are handed out to audience members before the show.

The plot goes like this:

Rama, a wise prince and the legal heir of the throne of Ayodha, is exiled from the his father Dasarata's realm. He is accompanied by his beautiful wife Sita and his loyal younger brother Laksamana.

While crossing the enchanted forest of Dandaka, the demon king Rahwana spots Sita and lusts after her. Rahwana's deputy Marica transforms himself into a golden deer to distract Rama and Laksamana.

Rahwana then transforms into an old man to fool Sita into stepping away from a magic circle of protection set by Laksamana - thus fooled, Sita is spirited away to Rahwana's realm of Alengka.

Rama and Laksamana discover the deception too late; lost in the forest, they encounter the monkey king Hanoman, who swears his allegiance and goes off in search of Sita.

Hanoman finds Sita in Alengka. The monkey king takes Rama's ring to Sita as a token of his contact with her husband. Sita gives Hanoman her hairpin to give to Rama, along with a message that she is waiting for his rescue.

Hanoman marvels at the beauty of Alengka, but begins to destroy it. Rahwana's giant servants capture Hanoman, and bind him to be burned. Hanoman uses his magical powers to escape from certain death. Here, the performance ends.

Despite the historical and cultural implications of the performance, the Uluwatu kecak performance is strictly for the tourists. The fiery escape of Hanoman is played up for visual effect, and the actors who play Hanoman, Rahwana, and the giants ham it up mightily. The night I watched, Hanoman went up to a bald German tourist in the front row and rubbed the man's head, to everyone's amusement.

Telaga waja river Rafting

The name of Bukit Jambul was firstly given during the Dutch invasion in Indonesia by a tourist, who was inspired by a high hill standing on the south of the main road connecting Klungkung regency and Besakih of Karangasem regency. There is a Hindu Temple called Pura Pucak Sari on the top of the hill, which is surrounded by big trees. Below the temple complex there is a stunning panorama of rice fields. This makes the trees look like a tufting hair from a distance ( Bukit = hill, Jambul = Tuft of hair).


The thrilling Telaga Waja adventure begins in the foothills of the sacred Mount Agung, after an in-depth safety and equipment briefing by Sobek’s experienced guides. From the time you drop into the first set of rapids, your heart will be racing and your adrenalin pumping. In a continual spray of white clear water, you will rush past steep banks and ancient hanging trees, whilst rafting straight through cascading waterfalls of cold natural spring water.

Temple on The Lake

Ulun Danu Temple is a Balinese Hindu Temple located at Candi Kuning countryside, Baturiti sub district and Tabanan regency. Its distance from Denpasar town is about 50 km north side on the way from Denpasar to Singaraja. It is set beside Lake Beratan with beautiful lake view and hills surround it. It is situated in the plateau area where the temperature is cooler and the hills are a lovely backdrop. On the north side of this temple is Pucak Sangkur mount, in the eastside there is Beratan Mount which also referred as Pucak Mangu or Pucak Pangelengan, in the south side there is Terate Bang Mount and in the Westside there is Tapak Mount and Watukaru Mount.
Candi Kuning temple is famous for it's important and truly beautiful hindu and buddhist temple, founded in 17th century and built on small island which means it is completely surrounded by the lake, the temple's classical thatch-roofe meru ( multiroofe shrines)reflected in the water silhoutted against the often cloudy mountain backdrop,are 1 of the most common photographic image in bali.

The name of Ulun Danu Beratan Temple is taken from the lake where the temple is built at Beratan Lake. The name of Beratan Lake is inseparable with the Beratan Mount as Deity and Goddess as fertility source, prosperity to keep the prosperity in life and society life. In papyrus chronicle of the Mengwi, this temple is referred as the name of Parhyangan ri pinggiring danu Beratan (sanctum located in lakeside of Beratan Lake ). Ulun is come from Hulu word meaning head or power and in this case is intended by Ulun Danu Beratan means power of Beratan Lake that is Danu Goddess.

Goa Gajah Temple

Goa Gajah is named after sungai petanu (Elephant River) and dates back to the 11 century. Originally the temple was a dwelling for Hindu priests. The main highlights of this temple are the short cave with the massive carved face entrance and the holy pools. Visitors will go into the cave, spending several minutes in the darkness checking out the Shiva lingum at the end, before exiting to take holy water.

The large gaping mouth at the cave entrance is probably in honor of the Earth god boma. alternatively the witch rangda. up in symbolism, the scary cave entrance might mean one is being devoured or at least entering another reality. Many people view the temple entrance to be a a carved elephant’s head and apparently there are other animal shapes either side of the entrance.