Gunung Kawi

When I told my daughter, Paris, and her friend, Kaya, that the monolithic rock carvings at Gunung Kawi were memorials to kings and queens, their eyes lit up. They're at that age when anything remotely related to princesses gets them excited.

"What about princesses? Is this place about them too?"

Gunung Kawi is an extraordinary temple complex outside Ubud, where rows of ancient royal tombs (called candi) are cut into stone lining the banks of the Pakerisan River. It dates back to the 11th century but the Balinese aren't entirely certain of its significance. Some claim that each candi is a memorial to a member of ancient Balinese royalty (along with a few of their concubines); others believe all 10 of the tombs were carved out of the rock face in one hard-working moonlit night by the fingernails of the mighty Kebo Iwa, a Balinese giant possessing supernatural powers. And people such as my daughter thinks it's where Princess Jasmine (of the Dinsey film Aladdin) "comes on vacation."