Revealed: reality of the fake photo ops of Bali’s popular tourist attraction

If you believe everything you see on social media, you must look again. Recently, a visitor to Bali showcased the real picture of a renowned tourist attraction in Indonesia, the Pura Lempuyang Luhur temple, also known as the Gates of Heaven. The place is quite popular among Instagrammers and travel bloggers, and you’ll find thousands of breathtaking pictures of the temple on social media.
In all these pictures, you’ll get to see more or less the same thing, which is two gigantic stone monoliths, a person standing between these two, and their reflection in crystal-clear lake.

But, the catch here is that the lake in all these photos is not real! In fact, there is no lake at all. What looks like a crystal-clear lake is basically a mirror image. The fact was brought to light by several tourists, who recently visited Bali. They said that the temple is nothing like what you see on Instagram.

went to Bali, did all of the investigative journalism:https://t.co/TQ4d9lLiaP

— Polina Marinova (@polina_marinova) July 9, 2019

As it has turned out, there is actually no lake, or any other waterbody for that matter, across these two monolith structures. All the pictures of the temple with the lake, widely spread on social media are no more than an illusion created by a photographer.

This photographer sits just outside the structure and knows pretty well how to make money. The man sits under a big umbrella, has an iPhone; he takes those ‘classic photos’ by placing a mirror underneath his phone to create the water-like reflection; hence, the stunning images of #gateofheaven!

A number of tourists expressed that while planning their Bali trip, they were more excited about visiting this temple, for it looked absolutely gorgeous on Instagram. But, of course, they were disappointed, for they went searching for a lake that was never there!


It was then that a tourist decided to unveil the truth behind this exotic Bali attraction, and tweeted a picture that shows how this man sitting under the huge umbrella takes these photos.

You’ll get to see a long queue of tourists flocking around the temple just to get that perfect click. What’s more disappointing is that these people are least interested in exploring the temple or knowing more about the place; instead, they spend hours standing in line to get a picture just like those thousands on social media.