An early center of Hinduism on Bali, Tampaksiring, just 14 kilometers northeast of Ubud, lies one kilometer south of the sacred bathing place Tirta Empul, near the source of the Pakrisan River, and two kilometers upstream from monumental Gunung Kawi. Get there by 'bemo' via Gianyar. The weather is cool and it often rains lightly in the evenings.

Regular ceremonies are held at this sanctuary (tirta empul), particularly during Galungan, when dance clubs from the surrounding area bring their sacred Barong masks to be purified by the spring's water.

An inscription in Old Balinese found in the village of Manukaya, north of Tirta Empul, states that two ponds were formed here in AD 962. When the badly worn inscription was finally deciphered by Sutterheim in 1969, it described in detail the ritual cleansing of a holy stone during the full moon of the fourth month in the Balinese calendar.

For more than 1,000 years villagers from Manukaya carried a stone to the spring for purification rites on the precise day each year of Tirta Empul's founding, never knowing the origin or the reason, only that it was 'adat'. Since none of the villagers then knew what the old inscription read, the date of the temple's founding must have been handed down orally through 33 generations of invasions, dynastic changes and natural disasters.

In the parking lot are 400 meters of stalls selling everything from bone and ivory carvings to coconut shell ornaments and chess sets. The best deals are the painted wooden jewelry and carved cow bone ornaments. The bone- and ivory-carving industry is centered around Manukaya.

The shop of I Gusti Aji Meranggi in Banjar Masangambu, 500 meters north of Tirta Empul, specializes in carvings of deer horn and ivory imported from Flores. On the road up to Tampaksiring are numerous shops selling carvings from the workshops of Sebatu to the north, a busy woodcarving area.

This is also the area for Bali quilts, hand-painted fabrics quilted by machine, as well as colorful and cleverly designed bedcovers. Two or three km beyond Tampaksiring you'll see quilts flapping in the wind, draped on lines outside at least 12 shops specializing in color-rich-bordering on garish-quilts in a variety of sizes.

Surrounded by large mossy trees, Pura Gumang, a 30-minute walk northeast of Munukaya, is an early Shivaite temple with a large gateway, huge 'linga' and trident, carvings of mythical Hindu-Javanese sea monsters, and worn statue of Shiva's bull Nandi.

Pura Mengening, a little west of Tirta Empul, is a sacred and picturesque spring under a large tree. The freestanding 'candi' here, containing some ancient statues, is similar to those at Gunung Kawi. Atop a nearby hill is a venerable old 'pura', which may have been dedicated to King Udayana. The connection between the three holy sites of Tirta Mancingan, Tirta Empul and Gunung Kawi is obvious.