Something different a personal experience...
Wayan arrived to collect us from the Safari Lodge at about 10.30..we had just got back from doing the Safari tour and were showering when he arrived. No problems though as we are used to him arriving early and he is used to us running late! He had bought with him a sarong, sash and hat for hubby and his wife's ceremony sarong and sash for me. A few months ago I had been researching places in Bali/Lombok that would aid in restoring my health and which were deemed to be holy special places. I had not told Wayan of our intention as I didn't want to trouble him and so only told him when we arrived in Bali of what I wanted to do. He immediately named this place and I pulled out the piece of paper that I had printed off the internet and we found it to be a match - it was the same place. Wayan then decided that not only would we go there but we would also go to his holy man. Wayan had been trying to get me to his holy man for many years but it was only this trip that I was actually open to it and ready for it. I am a practicing Catholic so for me the idea of visiting someone of another religion and faith was very conflicting for me to accept. When I was researching the spring places to bathe in, I had told my mum (also a Catholic) and she said do whatever it takes. I couldn't tell my dad because he would totally veto the suggestion and more than likely it would end up with him being disappointed in me, which is not something I wanted. Anyway it was with my mums blessing that I finally felt open enough to do this and also allowed myself to be open enough to deal with it.
I was to wear a white top and Wayan set about dressing me in the sarong. I had to wear boardshorts underneath the sarong as I was going to bathe in the whole gear he was dressing me in. I am not very tall and so the sarong literally was wrapped from just under my bustline. It was so tight! The sash was next and was tied around hips - again so tight! There was no way that either the sarong or the sash were going to fall down, I felt like a mummy. I had also forgone any chance to go to the toilet! He then dressed Robert in his gear and after asking one of the staff to take a photo of us, we were off. We had a minor problem of trying to get me in Wayan's Kijang because I couldn't lift my leg high enough to get up, but hubby came to the rescue and swept me off my feet and placed me in the car, just like a bride!
I had already given Wayan some money for the blessings which his mum made andx some money to put on the blessings. We were off to Tirta Empul Temple or Tampak Siring Temple which is a holy spring water temple located in Tampak Siring Village, in the area of Gianyar. Wayan had already spoken to his holy man to check it would be okay for us to go. We arrived at the temple and exited the car. Hubby basically had to roll me out of the car this time because I could not step down! Oh well it was an experience.
We have always seen the joking, happy and relaxed side of Wayan and only occasionally (once during our jungle trek) seen the serious quiet and reflective side of him when he is praying and offering his offerings up to the God. This was to be one of the times where we would see him in his reflective state. Wayan had discussed with us prior to arriving at the temple complex what we would be required to do. He also advised that we could pray to our God in our own language which, I must admit, gave me a feeling of relief. We followed Wayan around the temple to the different spots where he would stop, pray, bless and place an offering. Finally it was time to enter into the temple where the spring water was. Wayan finished his round of offerings and went to find the person of authority to ask if it was okay for hubby and I to take part in the ritual of bathing. As we were decked out in the correct gear, it was fine for us to partake. I was pleased to observe that everyone walking around had donned sarongs. In fact in appeared if you didn't have a sarong you were not allowed into the temple.
Wayan advised hubby he could take off his t-shirt. I however was to go in fully clothed. The bottom is covered with stones/pebbles and the water has fish in it. From memory I think the first part has about 14 water spouts (but I can't be sure). We were to do 11 of them and the last three we were not to do as they were for the dead. I entered the water and oh my it was so cold, so cold that I immediately sucked up any breath I had and forced myself not to squeal! Hubby followed me and even he gasped at the iciness of the water. Wayan had advised that under each water spout we were to pour water over our face with our hands and stand under the water spout to make sure we were totally drenched, whilst saying our prayers. So this is what we did. We bathed our faces with our hands from the running water spout and then ducked under each spout to feel the force of the water running over us whilst we said our prayers. It was possibly on the 7th spout that I felt an enormous peace overcome me. I forgot all about the cold water, the fact that every westerner in the place was keenly watching our progress and forgot all about the ritual I had running in my head. I became part of the ritual in total. I felt a change that I cannot describe and to which when thinking about it, I get goosebumps. It wasn't until after that I found out hubby experienced the exact same feeling. A feeling so personal and so unique that you would never know if you would experience it again. A feeling that it was all going to be okay, a feeling of peace. We finished our process and prayers and made our way across to Wayan who helped us out and advised us we had to go into the next section and do 2 more, which we did. That done, he asked how we were feeling and hubby and I could barely describe what we were feeling. He nodded knowingly. He had also videoed the whole process for us, so we could watch it later at our leisure. We were dripping wet and all our dry clothes were in the suitcases in the car. I noticed that a lot of other asian nationalities were coming into these waters with containers to fill up, and also they would bend down and pat the water over their face, not get into the water but just fill their containers and wash their face. I asked Wayan as to what they were doing and why we couldn't have done that, and he advised they were not doing what they should be and that if anything it was offensive to the Gods that they did this.
We headed off back to the direction of where the car was and copped a lot of keen glances at the fact we were soaked. I got some fresh dry clothes out and asked Wayan where I could change and he pointed me in the direction of the squat toilet. My heart sunk! I don't have a very good history with squat toilets! Anyway it was with much difficulty that I managed to strip off my wet clothes, whilst clenching my clean clothes with my teeth to avoid soiling them. I had nothing to dry myself with so I then had the task of trying to put dry clothes on a wet body - no mean feat! Finally it was done and I exited the toilet to find a queue of about 8 people waiting....whoops, maybe I took a bit too long in there! Thankfully also I exited the toilet accident free!
JBR to be continued...