Elephant Cave: Goa Gajah

Whilst in Ubud, we took an afternoon trip out of town to check out Goa Gajah, the Elephant Cave.  

In front of the cave is one of Bali's many fountains/pools/bathing areas, complete with clothed statues pouring out water:

You enter the cave through a massive demon's mouth, carved directly into the hill in the 11th century:

Maggie contemplates entering the mouth of the demon:

 

Eileen captured these cute kids hanging out outside the temple... one happy to ham it up, one who was not impressed:

 

We got a chance to watch this woman preparing and delivering an offering into the belly of the beast, which is full of banten (offerings) and incense smoke:

Is this the elephant after which the temple is named?  Not sure...

Next to the Elephant Cave itself is set of steep stairs leading down into a small, lush gorge that has several waterfalls and the ruins of an old temple:

There were also some pretty impressive trees down in the gorge:

We liked this dude's shirt... authentic diggitty.

 

We climbed out of the gorge, along some windy paths, ultimately leading to a bright green rice paddy and some trinket stands selling masks depicting the mildly threatening but a good god, Barong, but of course: