Goa Lawah

Pura Goa Lawah stands on the coast road east of Klungkung, one of the sad kahyangan, the six pillar temples of Bali, founded by tradition in the eleventh century - and it is built directly against the mouth of a cave in which a very large colony of fruit bats hangs, visible and audible from the temple courtyard, so the shrines and the roosting animals occupy the same space. Balinese tradition holds that the cave runs many kilometres inland to Besakih on Agung, and that a serpent, Basuki, lives in it; whether the passage exists in any real form is not established and it is not open. The temple has a specific role in Balinese funerary practice: rites for the dead are performed here after cremation, so the courtyard often has ceremonies in progress.

What you actually see

• Bats above the shrines - the colony roosting in the cave mouth behind the temple.
• A pillar temple - one of the six regarded as holding the island's spiritual order.
• Funerary ceremonies - the post-cremation rites performed in the courtyard.
• The Besakih tunnel tradition - the claimed passage to the mother temple inland.

When to go

April to October; ceremony days are frequent. An hour.

Honest expectations

The bat smell in the courtyard is strong. Ceremonies take precedence and visitors should stand back. It is small and quickly seen. Sarongs are required and hired at the entrance.

Nearby

Klungkung and Kertha Gosa are west; Candidasa and Padangbai are east.