Travellers flock to Bali's Gates of Heaven for the perfect Instagram shot. Flickr / Tim Snell
Travellers flock to Bali's Gates of Heaven for the perfect Instagram shot. Flickr / Tim Snell
Travellers flock to Bali's Gates of Heaven for the perfect Instagram shot. Flickr / Tim Snell
Travellers flock to Bali's Gates of Heaven for the perfect Instagram shot. Flickr / Tim Snell

Instagrammers are complaining about this beauty spot in Bali


Hayley Skirka
  • English
  • Arabic

Travellers headed to one of Bali’s most popular locations have been complaining that the Bali beauty spot is a fake.

Visitors to the Gates of Heaven at Lempuyang Temple in Bali have taken to social media to express their disappointment over not finding any water when visiting one of the country's oldest religious sites.

As one of Bali's most-visited temples, Lempuyang attracts thousands of visitors every year. Many head here with the intention of getting the perfect travel picture to post on Instagram. A quick search for Lempuyang Temple on the photo-sharing app throws up over 40,000 pictures, many of which feature travellers standing between the temple's iconic gates with their reflection captured in the pools of water below.

Unfortunately for the hundreds of instagrammers queuing for hours each day to reach the tourist attraction, those pools are actually camera trickery and come courtesy of a man sitting below the gates holding a mirror.

Forbes editor Polina Marinova tweeted about her disappointment after travelling to Bali and visiting the temple.

She said that the illusion can be purchased for a donation of $1 to $2 dollars (up to Dh3 to Dh7).

Other travellers responded to Marinova’s tweet with Aldi Van Dort posting a picture of himself at the temple showing the lack of water and calling himself a ‘victim’.

But others have been quick to criticise these travellers pointing out that the temple was built long before Instagram – and that what's actually of importance is the history. The temple and its surrounding structures are believed to predate the majority of Hindu temples on the island of Bali.

Some people on Instagram are now trying to show travellers the reality of a visit to the temple with posts showing the long queues that travellers must stand in to be able to take pictures, fake or otherwise, at the historic temple gates.

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From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara