A Bali scene popular with Instagrammers has been busted and exposed as a fake.
The Lempuyang Temple, one of the holiest sites in Bali, appears on many Instagram feeds of travellers as sacred gates seemingly floating on a mirror-like lake in the foreground. Lempuyang has been tagged more than 90,000 times on Instagram.
Instagrammers flock in their thousands to have their photo taken between the ‘Gates of Heaven’ with the dramatic clouds and their pose reflected in the still waters.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz7wSBEBWqn/
The mirror-like lake is in fact, however, just that – an illusion created by holding a mirror underneath the camera lens.
Tourists have to climb almost 2,000 steps and wait in queues for hours to have their photo taken between the gates.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz71X7LlZYK/
A tweet by Fortune magazine’s editor, Polina Marinova, confirmed that this scene was a fake one and spurred an online debate.
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 😭 pic.twitter.com/oiahI5VCIo
— Polina M. Pompliano (@polina_marinova) July 4, 2019
Feature image: Darren Lim.
