Goa Gajah
A Cave Entered Through The Open Mouth Of A Carved Demonic Face, With Bathing Pools That Nobody Knew Were There Until They Were Dug Out Of The Ground In 1954 · Bedulu, Bali
YOU ENTER GOA GAJAH THROUGH A MOUTH. A vast face is carved into the rock around the cave opening - bulging eyes, hands pushing the stone apart at either side - and you walk in between its teeth, and NOBODY AGREES WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE. Inside is a narrow T-shaped chamber, roughly eleventh century, with niches cut for meditation and a Ganesha in the dark. It is small and it is genuinely strange. BUT THE BEST PART OF THE SITE WAS UNDER THE GROUND UNTIL 1954. EXCAVATION THAT YEAR UNCOVERED BATHING POOLS immediately in front of the cave, with SIX FEMALE FIGURES POURING WATER FROM JARS - buried for centuries, possibly by an earthquake, and simply not known about. BELOW THE COMPLEX, IN THE RAVINE, ARE BUDDHIST REMAINS, which makes this a Hindu and a Buddhist site at once. A sarong is required and the tour buses arrive mid-morning. The sarong comes free with the ticket, the cave itself is small enough that ten minutes inside is a full visit, and the steps down into the ravine - where the least-visited and most interesting part of the site is - are missed by almost everybody.
Goa Gajah, Bedulu, Gianyar Regency, Bali, Bedulu, Bali, Indonesia
OPEN DAILY THROUGH THE DAY with an entry fee; it is a FEW MINUTES FROM UBUD and is on every tour itinerary in the area. A SARONG IS REQUIRED and is provided at the entrance with the ticket - you do not need to buy one. THE CAVE ITSELF IS SMALL, DARK AND NARROW and holds only a handful of people at a time, so there is a queue at busy hours. THE BATHING POOLS ARE ACTIVE SPRING WATER and are not for entering. THE BUDDHIST REMAINS IN THE RAVINE below are reached by a flight of steps down through the trees and are missed by most visitors entirely. THIS IS AN ACTIVE TEMPLE as well as an archaeological site - MENSTRUATING WOMEN ARE ASKED NOT TO ENTER, as at every Balinese temple. GO AT OPENING; THE BUSES ARRIVE MID-MORNING and the site is small.