Just before the school holiday last year, I came across articles which introduced the top 10 places in world people should visit for their holiday; one of them was Tanah lot – Bali/Indonesia.  Although I was born in Indonesia and had spent my early years there, but I had never been to Bali.  I had been there a couple of times when my plane transited in Bali but never stepped out of the airport. So we decided our next holiday would be Bali if we had a chance and so here we came.

Tanah lot is one of the most popular tourists icon in Bali we visited.  There is a small rock island with a pilgrimage temple which makes it so mystical. According to Wikipedia – Tanah Lot is claimed to be the work of the 16th-century Dang Hyang Nirartha. During his travels along the south coast he saw the rock-island’s beautiful setting and rested there. Some fishermen saw him, and bought him gifts. Nirartha then spent the night on the little island. Later he spoke to the fishermen and told them to build a shrine on the rock, for he felt it to be a holy place to worship the Balinese sea gods.

The Tanah Lot temple was built and has been a part of Balinese mythology for centuries. The temple is one of seven sea temples around the Balinese coast. Each of the sea temples was established within eyesight of the next to form a chain along the south-western coast. In addition to Balinese mythology, the temple was significantly influenced by Hinduism.

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tanah lot

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