‘Totally Faked’: How Popular Instagram Spot In Bali Is Not What It Seems
Image: Instagram
How exactly have your online shopping experiences been? We’re sure there might have been more than one instance where the product you ordered has been a total disappointment when it was delivered to you. The product looked so fine and exquisite on the shopping site, but in reality, it seemed very ordinary and nothing like how it was portrayed to be on the shopping site. While this kind of disappointment with respect to shopping seems to have found peace with every online shopper out there, there’s another kind of a disappointment that has sprung up these days — the disappointment of travel!
Wait, how is that even possible, right? Travel is supposed to be the most rewarding experience for each soul — you get to learn new things, the traveling experience brings one closer to self, it’s the time when we bond with ourselves, our families, and mere strangers too. So, how on earth can it be a disappointment? Well, read on to know more!
The Most Popular Instagram Spot Of Bali
In recent years, it’s the South East Asian countries that have become a favorite among travelers all over the world. And it’s the Bali Province, an Indonesian island that has been trending on every traveler’s wanderlust list currently. Bali offers every traveler a wide array of natural experience to indulge in. Its forested volcanic mountains, lush green paddy fields, pristine clear beaches, and coral reefs naturally make it the most desirable location to travel to when in Asia.
To add to that, Instagram has been a great influence on how we travel, and where we travel to. It has become a travel guide for both avid travelers as well as travel seekers. There are a gazillion Instagram accounts that are dedicated to just travel. Right from travel couples to solo travelers, there are Insta feeds that quite literally leave us gasping in amazement with its content. Type #Bali on the search bar on Instagram and you’ll find the Lempuyang temple entrance in the top post category. This Hindu temple has been featured in thousands of Instagram posts. If you want to ask us what makes this temple so special? Here’s the answer:
In the west, this temple has been referred to as “The Gates to Heaven.” The entrance to this temple has high monolithic concrete pillars that make for a perfect frame for a travel picture that is Insta-worthy! One can pose between these pillars, and to your luck, if the weather is clear, you will also be able to capture a soaring mountain mass right behind you. But, the cherry on the cake here is the lake right in front of the pillars which throws a mirror-perfect reflection to make your picture perfect! Get this picture right and it will seem like as though it’s a doorway to another world.
The Reality Behind The Insta-worthy “The Gates To Heaven”
Most holidaymakers are left shattered and feel like they are cheated upon trekking to this entrance of Lempuyang temple. While in most of the Instagram pictures a lake is seen at the bottom, in reality, there is no lake! It’s just a trick used by a local photographer to create a reflection effect by placing a piece of glass just below the lens. His creativity is, however, making most people all over the world believe that there is indeed a lake at the entrance and a picture there is something that can be cherished in their lifetime.
This information made it to the headlines when Polina Marinova, editor of Fortune Magazine took to Twitter to express her dismay. Her tweet read, “Proof that Instagram influencers have ruined everything. My hopes & dreams were shattered when I found out the “water” at the Gates of Heaven is actually just a piece of glass under an iPhone.”
In response to her tweet, many left comments where they expressed how they too were disappointed and catfished to see that there was no water there at all! In fact, a man joked saying, “I need to remember this trick when I’m selling my house!”
Cyla, a Sydney-based woman traveled for two hours all the way from Ubud to this temple to witness the mystical sight that social media has been raving about. She was quoted saying this to Daily Mail Australia about her experience, “I felt cheated. It was a ruse just to get people out there. I understand it’s the oldest temple and it’s quite nice… but I found that all the people who drove out there were waiting in line for just this one photo… it all felt really fake. It was really just for the “gram”. Not only that, the pressure to take a good photo was intense.”(1)
All this just goes on to show, how there are a set of influencers on Instagram that are influencing fellow Instagrammers the wrong way by putting up unrealistic images like that of the Gates to Heaven. It also goes on to teach a lesson for the rest of us that travel is all about exploring on your own. And it just isn’t all about visiting hyped locations when you travel and getting snapped there with your camera. All we can do is promote true travel experiences on our social media platforms and influence others in the right way. Let’s pledge to stay true if we are true travelers, shall we? Did you already know about this temple? Let us know in the comments below.
