THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Bali and Lombok - page 229

there are longer variations (3-5hr), which continue either to the village of Segana or to the
Durga Kutri temple, Pura Bukit Dharma Durga Kutri , in the village of Kutri or a trek of
similar length to the village of Tengkulak via the Campuhan River. All of these cost about
Rp400,000.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: YEH PULU AND AROUND
By bemo If you're using the Ubud-Gianyar bemo, get off at the Yeh Pulu signs just east of
Goa Gajah or west of the Bedulu crossroads, then walk the 1km south through the hamlet of
Batulumbang to Yeh Pulu.
By car When driving, follow the same signs through Batulumbang until the road peters out,
a few hundred metres above the stonecarvings.
On foot The prettiest approach to Yeh Pulu is on foot through the rice terraces behind Goa
Gajah, but you'll need a guide - they wait for customers at both sites and charge around
Rp200,000.
Pejeng
Inhabited since the Bronze Age, and considered a holy site ever since, the village of
PEJENG and its immediate environs harbour a wealth of religious antiquities, from carvings
and rock-cut candi to bronze artefacts and massive stone statues. Some of these have been
left in their original location, alongside riverbeds or buried in the paddy fields, while others
have been housed in local temples. Several have also been carted off to museums, here and in
Denpasar, Jakarta and Amsterdam. The remains have rather an esoteric appeal, and the area
gets relatively few visitors. Pejeng's three main temples all lie within a few hundred metres
of each other on the Bedulu-Tampaksiring road and are clearly signposted.
Pura Penataran Sasih
Bedulu-Tampaksiring Rd • No fixed opening times • Free, but donation required; sarongs and sashes can be
borrowed
Balinese people believe Pura Penataran Sasih to be a particularly sacred temple, because
this is the home of the so-called Moon of Pejeng - hence the English epithet Moon Temple .
The moon in question is a large bronze gong , shaped almost like an hourglass, suspended
high in its tower at the back of the temple compound. It probably dates from the Balinese
Bronze Age, from sometime during the third century BC, and - at almost 2m long - is
thought to be the largest such kettledrum ever cast. Legend tells how the gong once served as
the wheel of a chariot that transported the moon through the skies, at which time the wheel
shone just as brightly as the moon itself. The Balinese treat the Moon of Pejeng as sacred and
make offerings to it whenever they need to move it.
The temple itself was once the most important in the area, and whatever the origins of the
gong, it would have been used for the same purposes as the modern kulkul (bell-like drum)