The chain of steps, cutting a narrow band through the damp green forest, rose above me. Sweat dripped from the tip of my nose; rustling and chattering in the undergrowth hinted at unseen monkeys and a cool, cloying mist rose from the rice terraces below. It was not long after dawn, and I was picking my way up the pilgrimage route to the highest station of the complex of temples known as Pura Lempuyang that stud the green flanks of the fractured volcano standing sentinel on Bali’s eastern promontory. Somewhere ahead of me, on the very pinnacle of the peak, was Pura Lempuyang Luhur, 1,060 meters above sea level and the eastern directional anchor of the Balinese compass. Some 1,700 steps lead to the temple, but I had long since lost count of how many I had still to climb. Pura Lempuyang Bali My first view of the mountain had come in the lavender light of the previous evening. Traveling north by motorbike from Amlapura, the administrative capital of Karangasem , Bali’s most easterly...