Badung

Bali is divided into nine kabupaten (administrative districts, or regencies), based on the old post-Majapahit kingdoms; of these, Badung contains the neon-lit tourist swath of Legian, Kuta, and Nusa Dua. Badung also extends inland to the overtouristed monkey forest of Sangeh and on to the slopes of Gunung Catur (2,096 meters), high in the central mountains.

Badung has the island’s highest prices and the poshest, most sophisticated hotels. Yet central and northern Badung are regions of fertile rice fields carved exquisitely out of hills and valleys, with small, densely settled villages surrounded by groves of coconut palms. Wealthy southern Bali’s temple festivals, ceremonies, and dance performances are lavish and unending.

The drier, sparsely populated clubfoot shaped peninsula known as Bukit (“The Hill”) is attached to the southernmost body of the island by a narrow isthmus. Here, high cliffs fall steeply into the Indian Ocean and surf pounds stretches of isolated coast; this is among the earth’s top surfing spots. Although the soil is thin, water scarce, and the climate arid, Bukit is fast becoming an overflow residential area for the mushrooming population of Nusa Dua, Jimbaran, and Tanjung. Between Bukit and southern Bali’s fertile plains is Ngurah Rai International Airport, which receives hordes of tourists from all over the world. The bulk of Bali’s tourists visit the concentrated international beach enclaves of the south, taking day trips to sites all over the island.

History
Since it’s the most accessible seaport in the southern part of the island, the Badung region has always been an important point of contact with the outside world. The Javanese Majapahit army came ashore at Kuta in 1343 to conquer Bali. The first Dutchmen landed on Bali at Kuta in 1597. In the 1830s an ambitious Danish trader, Mads Lange, established a thriving trading post at the same site.

Once ruled by the raja of Mengwi, Badung split from Tabanan in 1885. This historical event explains the regency’s odd vertical shape-like an exclamation point-and accounts for Mengwi being included within its territory. The Pemecutan clan of Denpasar defeated Mengwi in 1891, but held sway only briefly, until the incursion of a new and increasingly powerful player, the Dutch. Though the Dutch subdued the northern part of the island in 1849, the fertile lava-rich lowlands of the south came under colonial rule only after prolonged resistance.

Since the northern port of Singaraja was blocked by a central mountain range, all the trade of the south took place through the reef-sheltered port of Kuta; the only place ships could anchor and unload. This made it an irresistible target of Dutch expansion. One of the last areas of Indonesia to be occupied, Badung was pounded into submission in 1906, setting the stage for the conquest of all of southern Bali.

Since the establishment of the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Tuban in 1969, the provincial government of Bali has attempted to confine tourist development to the south. A whole generation of local residents have built ‘losmen’ and restaurants in the south’s tourist enclaves of Kuta and Sanur, and entrepreneurs from all over Indonesia flock here for money-making opportunities. Thousands of laborers from Java are also attracted to work on the new roads and hotels of the constantly expanding economic infrastructure. Thus Badung Regency is where Balinese culture has undergone the most radical and deepest changes.

Traditional arts
Right across the street from the Puputan Square is the Museum Bali, which houses a permanent exhibition of traditional artifacts and occasional exhibits of fine art. And just down the road from the museum, towards Sanur, is the Werdi Budaya Art Center, which houses permanent collection and hosts occasional performances. Every year, over June-July, the Art Center hosts the annual Bali Arts Festival, a festival of traditional Balinese performance art.

Temple-going
North, south, east and west of Denpasar, interesting temples abound which are well worth a visit. Sea temples dot the coast, such as the ancient Sakenan on Serangan Island, the breathtaking Ulu Watu temple on Bali’s southernmost tip, and Jimbaran’s Ulun Siwi temple, in front of which trance rituals often take place. In Denpasar itself, have a look at the Maospahit temple, and take a trip north of the city to Mengwi, which boasts the lovely Taman Ayun gardens and the nearby Sada temple.

Beach-going
Kuta beach is not the only place to get wet in Bali’s southern peninsula. There are many other sandy strips, which are often even more pleasant than Kuta, despite its fame. Sanur beach, for example, is free of the break that buffets bathers at Kuta and for that locals favor reason, especially on Sundays. The trader-free Jimbaran Bay provides quick depth and a view of the colorful Madureses fishing boats docked at the end of the beach. The drive to Nusa Dua beach is a scenic one, leading through the landscaped garden and past the luxury hotels of this resort.

Shopping
Shopping is getting bigger and better by the minute in southern Bali, with the opening of many new malls, squares and centers and the entry of a variety of international labels. It’s difficult to miss places like Gallery Nusa Dua, Kuta Center and Kuta Square, but for more eccentric shoppers, the Pasar Badung in Denpasar, just west of the Puputan Square, is a must. Night time between 12am and 5am is the best time to shop for fruit and vegetables fish and meat there, and down river from the bridge the bustling sea of traders and shoppers is indeed a sight at this hour. The abundant handicraft stalls, which sell anything from silver to carved wooden goods to cloth and bamboo, are only open during the daylight hours.

Bangli

Stretching north to south in central-eastern Bali, Bangli is the only landlocked regency on the island. Only tiny Klungkung has fewer people than Bangli’s population of 180,000, divided into 187 community groups in 73 villages.

With its rugged, overgrown hillocks, wooded ravines, and steeply tiered gardens leading up to immense volcanic craters, the regency encompasses some of the most superb natural scenery on the island. The roads north from Bangli or Tampaksiring climb gradually, the air becomes cooler, and upland crops such as peanuts begin to replace rice. North of Bangli, the road meanders through eerie forests of giant bamboo, finally emerging on one of Bali’s most dramatic vistas: the huge 10-km-wide basin of Lake Batur, with the smoldering black cone of Gunung Batur behind it.

The region offers mineral hot springs, volcano-climbing, boat tours of beautiful Lake Batur, unique archaeological sites, venerated temples, the mountain towns of Penelokan and Kintamani, and the Bali Aga village of Trunyan. Isolated corners of the mountainous Bangli region are home to a number of aboriginal, pre-Majapahit communities, ethnically and culturally distinct from the Balinese mainstream. These mountain folk don’t believe in priests, holy water, or cremation. They speak archaic dialects, expose their dead to the elements, uphold a fine stonecarving tradition, and practice an archaic, non-Javanized form of Hinduism.

Tourism is not well developed in Bangli, with the exception of the Penelokan/ Kintamani area, a favorite lunch stop for tour buses, which take in the sights and return to Sanur or Nusa Dua in a single day. Most independent travelers visit the regency on a fast roundtrip from the south, or climb the Batur volcano one morning on their way to Lovina, heading back down via Bedugul and Lake Bratan in the western range. This despite the fact the Batur area really deserves three or four days.

The region’s higher altitudes are quite cold at night, so bring warm clothes and shoes. Make certain your accommodations provide dry blankets and firewood. Visit the mountains in the morning because by the afternoon the volcano and lake are shrouded in clouds and fog. Thievery is just as much a problem here as in the madcap alleys of Kuta, so watch your gear.

History
This regency was born of cruelty, incest, betrayal, and murder. In Bali, where legend and history are so intertwined, the history of Bangli reads like a story from one of the Panji tales. In the 18th century, the ruthless king Dewa Rai of Taman married his cousin, Dewa Ayu from the Bangli Denbancingah family, and immediately began plotting to overthrow his uncle, the ruler of Nyalian. Dewa Rai adopted Dewa Gede Tangkeban, the son of the ruler of Nyalian, but the son fell in love and had an affair with his adoptive father’s wife, the queen. She persuaded her lover to turn Dewa Rai’s dissatisfied subjects against their despised king.

After Dewa Rai was murdered in the courtyard of the Puri Agung of Bangli, Dewa Gede Tangkeban married his stepmother and became king of Bangli. Since this marriage was not sanctioned by the religious ‘adat’ of the time, seven generations of rulers were cursed with bad luck.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, a time when maritime trade was paramount, only those kingdoms with ports were economically and politically powerful. To trade, Bangli was forced to transport its goods through other territories, paying heavy tribute to their sovereigns. Bangli’s luck changed in 1849 when its king Dewa Gede Tangkeban II was appointed by the Dutch to rule the northern regency of Buleleng. This vast area came under Dutch control after Buleleng’s King Gusti Ketut Jelantik committed ‘puputan’. This confederation was of great advantage to Bangli-it was then able to gain access to the sea. Buleleng could also benefit, as it was able to irrigate its rice fields with Bangli water. But the union was short lived. In 1854, Buleleng rebelled against Bangli. No matter, in 1882, all of northern Bali came under direct Dutch colonial administration.

Bangli first became known to the Western world when a German doctor, Gregor Krause (1883-1959), was appointed to the Dutch hospital here from 1912 to 1914. An avid photographer and amateur ethnologist, Krause took over 4,000 photos during his tenure. Four hundred of them, together with his reports on Balinese cultural life, were published in Germany in 1922 and distributed worldwide. The book’s effect on Europe, having just emerged from four years of war and still struggling with poverty, was electric. The majority of photos was shot in Bangli and constitutes an invaluable historic record of the time; the ‘puri’, aristocratic life, raja and princesses in ceremonial attire, royal Topeng dancers.

Another famous literary personality, Scottish-born Muriel Pearson, under the pen name Ketut Tantri, wrote Revolt in Paradise, a fascinating tale of her life in Bali and Java from 1932 to 1947. Inspired by the early Hollywood film The Last Paradise, she came to Bali, settling first in Denpasar, Soon growing restless, she drove inland in search of the real Bali. Her car ran out of gas in front of the Puri Denpasar in Bangli. The raja of the time invited her into the palace and eventually she became his quasi-adopted daughter. He gave her the name Ketut Tantri, ketut meaning fourth-born child. She wore traditional clothes and at the raja’s suggestion dyed her red hair black-only ‘leyak’ have red hair on Bali.

Economy
Traveling through Bangli regency even 10 years ago you could easily forget which century you were in. But by the mid-1990s the region seemed to be waking from a long sleep. Today, the streets are clean and the economy is growing, with many new shops and supermarkets rising to meet local demand. Agricultural products are still the most important source of revenue for this relatively remote regency.

The broad plain in the south, consisting mostly of rice fields, lies about 100 meters above sea level; the higher elevations above Bangli town mark the dividing line between the two agricultural zones of the regency. Here you begin to see plots of corn, sweet potatoes, cassava, cabbages, peanuts, coffee, tobacco, and vanilla, as well as ‘salak’, passion fruit, citrus, and clove plantations. This mountainous district is also known for its decorative plants, particularly orchids and unusual ferns.

Eco tourism
The major point of interest for visitors to Bangli is without doubt the highland area around Kintamani, which is perched on the lip of Mount Batur’s crater and looks out over the spectacular Crater Lake. The best view is from Penelokan, a little to the west around the crater from Kintamani, and from where one can see the cone of Mount Batur smoldering away and the black traces of its explosion on the landscape of the crater. A rather treacherous road leads from Penelokan down the crater to Toyah Bungkah, where soothing hot springs on the edge of the Crater Lake have recently been tapped off to create a magnificent spa complex. Toyah Bungkah is a pleasant place to stay the night and prepare for an early rise and the two-hour climb up Mount Batur, arriving in time to see the sunrise.

Events
Bangli’s temple festivals are known for their stunning offerings. Ceremonies often last all night, and the dances are more traditional than in the south. Here, the dancers fall into a real trance. This is usually the only district where you can see a genuine sanghyang dedari (exorcistic dance).

The highlight of your stay here may be stumbling upon a ‘gamelan’ competition. Only in the Bangli area can you still find the powerful, deep, and reverberating ‘gong gde’, a huge ensemble of ‘calung’, ‘jegogan’, ‘trompong’, ‘gong’, big drums, half a dozen saron-style ‘gangsa’ and large ‘cengceng’. In feudal times, the ‘gong gde’ was perhaps the most important symbol of a court’s opulence. Rare, streamlined versions of this archaic 50-musician orchestra can be found outside Bangli town in Demulih and Sulaban and in Kintamani’s Pura Batur.

The ‘balian’ of Bangli are renowned for their supernatural powers, for their practice of the science of black magic (pengiwa), and for their ability to heal psychically through the medium of trance. Those patients the ‘balian’ are unable to treat are sent to Bangli’s lunatic asylum.

Traditional arts
Across the lake from Toyah Bungkah is the Bali Age (indigenous Balinese) village of Trunyan. Most visitors come to see the cemetery where, in accordance with local tradition, the dead is left exposed to the elements. Those who time their visit right will be fortunate to witness on of Trunyan’s rarely held festivals featuring wooden Ferris wheels and masked dancers who whip bystanders. In the city of Bangli itself, the Sasana Budaya Art Center hosts occasional art exhibitions and performances, and Kintamani’s Balai Art Center has spacious gardens and a library.

Temple-going
One of Bangli’s most interesting temples is Pura Batur, in Kintamani. This huge complex, perched on the rim of the crater is devoted to the goddess of the lake below. And in Penulisan, just north of Kintamani is Tegeh Koripan, an ancient and mysterious temple often hidden by mists and reached by a long flight of stairs.

Buleleng

This sprawling, 1,370-square-km regency offers mountain hikes, rustic villages, waterfalls, hot springs, untouched marine and forest reserves, silversmiths, beach resorts of glistening black sand, a secluded coastline bordering a placid sea, and distinctive temples seething with baroque carved figures. The south end stretches across the foothills of Bali’s central volcanoes while the whole north’s coastal plain faces the Java Sea. This largest of Bali regencies touches all but one of the island’s other regencies. The capital, Singaraja, has a cosmopolitan air with many ethnic and religious minorities existing in harmony.

Because of Buleleng’s geographic isolation from the densely populated south, it has developed distinct cultural differences in architecture, dance, and art. The district was absent from early maps of Bali-Cornelis de Houtman’s 1597 map of the island showed only the land south of the central east-west mountain range. Today the fleets of tour buses seldom venture over the mountain passes, and consequently there are fewer beggars, touts, and professional hasslers plaguing the region.

In the mid-1800s the European maritime powers established their presence on Bali here. Buleleng women were ordered to adopt the kebaya (Malay blouse) by the Dutch commandant “to protect the morals of the Dutch soldiers”; previously, the kebaya had served as a badge of prostitution. From 1854, until the international airport opened at Tuban in 1962 Buleleng had much greater contact with the outside world than the south. Singaraja was the administrative center for the whole of Nusatenggara from Indonesian independence until 1958.

History
Most of the north coast falls under the regency of Buleleng, the capital city of which, Singaraja, was once Bali’s chief port. This long contact with outside influences in reflected in the ethnic diversity of its population and as a starting place for new artistic developments, which later spread south.

During the 14th century northern Bali came under the rule of the Javanese nobles of east Bali’s Gelgel dynasty. In 1584 the legendary Panji Sakti built a palace called Puri Sukasada where Singaraja is today, extending his rule all the way to east Java. Panji Sakti broke with the overlords of the south and established a powerful maritime kingdom, which survived through 12 generations and into the mid-19th century. In 1814, while Sir Stamford Raffles was busy founding Singapore, a British force spent several months here.

Alarmed at the increasing involvement of the English in the region, the Dutch were next on the scene. Determined to grab all the islands of the Indies for themselves, the Dutch in 1846 sent ashore a military expedition to capture Singaraja, then known as Buleleng. The Dutch made Singaraja the island’s first capital, as evident in the abundance of colonial architecture that remains standing there to this day. The attack ended in a stalemate and a shaky treaty was signed with the ruling princes.

Two years later, the troops of Prince Gusti Ketut Jelantik lured a Dutch force to the town of Jagaraga, killing 264. Hollanders and mercenaries while losing 2,000 of their own men. In 1849, a much larger and better-equipped Dutch engaged the Balinese; a Dutch general was killed and Jelantik committed suicide by poison. Although the Balinese were extraordinarily brave, they were no match for the repeating rifles and modern howitzers of the Dutch. Another truce led to the 1855 separation of Buleleng from Jembrana, and the regency became the first on the island to fall under the direct political control of the empire-building Dutch.

Singaraja became the district’s capital in 1882, and served as a major transshipment point for Nusatenggara throughout the colonial period. The descendants of the local regent became bureaucratic officials in the employ of the Dutch. Feudal rule came to an end here a full 60-years prior to colonization of the more bucolic south. Even today northern Bali retains an anachronistic European air, the caste system ignored and the social order centering more on the family than on the communalized, institutionalized agricultural ‘banjar’ of the south. Because of their strong egalitarian spirit, the cosmopolitan and well-mannered people of Buleleng are considered ‘kasar’ by other Balinese.

In 1945 Anak Agung Panji Tisna, an 11th generation descendant of the Gelgel dynasty, became the first Balinese king to convert to Christianity. Tisna was the son of Anak Agung Putu Jelantik, who wrote much of Buleleng’s history on ‘lontar’. His new faith, coupled with the perception that he was more artist and writer than ruler, drove Tisna to resign as raja in 1947; he was replaced by his brother. When Tisna died in 1978 he became the first Balinese king to be buried and not cremated.

Economy
The regency is an important cattle export center and a major coffee, vanilla, nutmeg, cocoa, and clove-growing district. Since Buleleng’s climate is drier than that of the south, Indian corn, copra, and fruits such as mangoes, mangosteen, bananas, passion fruit, and avocados can be grown here. The latest cash crop is red grapes, the sweetest in all Bali, cultivated on bamboo frames in the hills overlooking the coast. The island’s best and stinkiest ‘durian’ comes from Bestala near Munduk Village. Several shrimp cultivation farms lie west of Lovina.

Singaraja, Buleleng’s capital, has been an important educational and cultural center since the Dutch were here; the education faculty of Denpasar’s Udayana University is based here. Tourism is a nascent but burgeoning industry. Though not as culturally rich as the classical southern half of the island, tourists are attracted to Buleleng’s cheaper prices and stretch of relatively quiet beaches, dotted with inexpensive accommodations and restaurants. Shallow reefs offshore offer some of the island’s most accessible snorkeling and dolphin-watching opportunities.

Architecture
The temple architecture of northern Bali differs considerably from the stiff classical lines carved of gray sandstone in south Bali. The soft pink ‘paras’ quarried near Singaraja allow northern sculptors more exuberance. Because the stone ages so quickly, carving is an art form kept constantly alive. In the north, stones are chosen for their color, white or brown, and are often painted. Homeowners here paint their own ‘pura paibon’ to deified ancestors and saints. These temples are more prevalent in the northern mountain villages than in the south.

Though the interior layout is basically the same as in South Bali temples, small shrines are replaced by one or two large pedestals containing houses for the deities placed in the innermost courtyard and built of elaborately carved tiered stone and covered by a single roof. Frequently, this flamelike pedestal supports a throne of the sun god.

Steep flights of narrow steps lead to airy thrones and shrines, scale is exaggerated, and the tall, dynamic, flowing ‘candi bentar’ are covered with spiky, flame-like shapes, arabesques, and spirals studded with ‘leyak’, supernatural beings, and sea creatures. On the earthy, whimsical, cartoon-like bas relief of Buleleng, you’ll see baroque gone wild-images of plump Dutchmen cramped into a motorcar, men drinking beer and cranking cars, people copulating in the bushes, men riding bicycles composed of leaves and flowers.

Traditional arts
The colonial influence on Singaraja is also evident in the housing they’re of Bali’s largest collection of ‘lontar’ palm-leaf books, in the Gedong Kirtya library. It is to here that many a post-colonial researcher flocks, desperately seeking wisdom in their ongoing scrutiny of Bali.

Temple-going
The coastal road leading both east and west of Singaraja leads past dramatic ocean scenes and a number of interesting temples. The road west, which leads to the low-key, relaxed tourist resort of Lovina, passes the temples of Pulaki and Dalem Melanting. The road east passes the elaborately carved Pura Beji at Sangsit and Pura Maduwe Karang at Kubutambahan, with its famous flower- wheeled bicycle relief. The Pura Dalam temple at Jagaraga also has peculiarly modern relief, depicting planes and car robberies.

Eco-tourism
For visitors who are also nature-lovers, Buleleng provides joyful relief. Firstly, the district boasts the crisp, misty highland area, which harbors Gitgit Falls. Down by the coast, east of Singaraja, there are natural springs at both Air Panas (hot) and Air Saneh (cold). And at Lovina, sightings of dolphins leaping beyond the black sand beaches are frequent.

Getting There
Reach Buleleng by crossing Bali’s central mountain range on one of the island’s two main roads, both of which pass crater lakes and offer spectacular scenery. If you have your own transport, take the fastest route to Singaraja from Denpasar via Bedugul, then return to Denpasar via Kintamani, a roundtrip covering most of Bali’s mountainous backbone. Also approach Buleleng from Gilimanuk along the northwest coast and from Amlapura along the scantily populated northeast coast. A third northbound road from Denpasar crosses the mountains (Gunung Batukau and Gunung Catur) through the coffee-growing district of Pupuan, offering impressive, hair-raising views.

Denpasar

Once part of Badung Regency, in 1992 the Denpasar area split off and became Bali’s ninth ‘kabupaten’. In addition to the island’s capital, Denpasar Regency encompasses Sanur, Benoa Port, and Serangan Island, leaving Badung more pencil-shaped than ever.

Denpasar is the largest and busiest city on the island. An old trading center, its name means “east of the market.” It’s the headquarters for the government, the media, the island’s principal banks, airline offices, and hospitals. Bali’s two universities, Udayana and Warmadewa, are also based here. The city’s local name is Badung, its old name, and you’ll hear “Badung” sung out by ‘bemo’ drivers all over Bali. Though it’s been the capital of Bali since 1958, it’s no longer the administrative center of Badung Regency. In 1992, Greater Denpasar and Sanur split off from Badung and formed their own administrative entity-Denpasar.

A hot, dusty, cacophonous, former Brahman-class city, Denpasar has grown fifteen-fold over the past 10 years and is now home to 367,000 people. Its citizenry consists of Badung’s landed gentry, the priest class, and the new Balinese techno and bureaucratic elite, as well as Indonesians drawn from other islands to this economic magnet. Denpasar is one of Indonesia’s most fully integrated and tolerant cities, with separate ‘kampung’ of Bugis, Arabs, Indians, Chinese, Madurese, and Javanese. Without doubt it’s the richest, most important city in eastern Indonesia.

Unless you’ve got business here, the city has few charms, other than those quiet back alleyways where people are quite friendly. The most important government offices are located in a tree-shaded administrative complex of handsome reddish brick and gray stone. Industry is low-tech and non-polluting. Denpasar is actually best at night, when it’s not so hot and the individual ‘kampung’ resume their normal rhythms. It seems the whole population is either directly or indirectly involved in the tourist industry, and you can easily engage people in conversation.

Denpasar’s main one-way east-to-west shopping street, Jalan Gajah Mada, is crammed with chauffeured cars, noisome putt-putting ‘bemo’, roaring motorcycles, and smelly, spewing buses. The city’s limited attractions include a spacious ‘alun-alun’, tourist information offices, the island’s main bus stations and best-stocked markets, some good Chinese restaurants, a spirited night market, dance and drama academies, a major art center, first-class museum, and five big cinemas heralding the coming of the next kung fu epic.

Gianyar

Gianyar is the district to which many a sun-struck tourist flee the heat of the coast, for it is in this district that the cool highland village of Ubud is located. Increasingly popular Ubud is an ideal base from which to explore the many attractions of the surrounding countryside.

Culturally, Gianyar is the oldest and richest region on Bali. The town Gianyar (elev. 125 meters) is the regency’s administrative capital, but Ubud is the cultural capital, and most populous town. Consisting of 244 ‘desa’, 504 ‘banjar’, 2,732 temples, and a population of around 350,000, the regency of Gianyar stretches from the southern undeveloped coastline into the cool, fresh hills and mountains to a point over 800 meters above sea level. The northern border lies only three kilometers away from Gunung Batur’s active crater. Rivers run from the crater’s lake through the valleys, hills, and terraced fields. One, the Ayung, is the island’s longest river.

Economy
More than half the population of this primarily rural region is directly involved in the tourism industry, while roughly the other half grow rice, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. The plantation districts of Payangan and Tegallalang also grow coconuts, lychees, cloves, and vanilla. Sukawati District grows tobacco, while Bali’s best-quality coffee is harvested during August and September around the upland village of Taro. The villagers of Kramas and Ketewel on the south coast fish for a living, and the regency’s freshwater ponds produce about 130 tons of fish each year.

Gianyar is the heartland of Bali’s crafts production, where the weaving, plaiting, and wood- and stonecarving industries are major employers. The Technical High School in Guang gives instruction in sculpture and carving; Celuk is an important center for silversmiths and goldsmiths; Batubulan for stonecarving; Mas, Ubud, and Batuan for painting and woodcarving. Sukawati is known for its puppet sculptors, Pujung and Sebatu produce expressive wooden statues and wooden jewelry, Bona is the center for bamboo furniture and a thriving tourist-oriented performance venue, and the artisans of Tampaksiring carve tusk and bone.

History
Around Bedulu-Pejeng lies a 10-kilometer-long strip of earth known as The Land Between the Rivers. The Elephant Cave hermitage at Bedulu, the royal tombs at Gunung Kawi, rock carvings at Yeh Pulu, and the Moon of Pejeng bronze drum-some of Bali’s holiest sites-are found there. It’s through this region the legendary river Petanu and Pakrisan flow. The Pakrisan is particularly rich in historic remains, having “magically” cut through rock cliffs and giant boulders. Its ‘candi’, monasteries, meditation cells, sacred watering places, shrine compounds, and Bronze Age statuettes, rock inscriptions, and bronze plates, all point to the existence of a once-powerful kingdom where religion, architecture, technology, and art flourished 400-600 years ago. The irrigation tunnels north of Gianyar, the terracing of the slopes and the intricate rice field system are products of this kingdom. Many Balinese have no knowledge of the pre-Hindu kingdom, believing the masterpieces in rock were carved by the thumbnails of Kebo Iwo, a mythical giant.

Great mythological battles took place here between the gods and the evil King Mayadanawa of Bedulu. Details of these ancient conflicts have been passed down not only in spoken folk tales but also recorded in Bali’s epic poem, the Usana Bali, composed in the mid-16th century during the golden age of Middle Javanese literature. These stories depict the coming of Hinduism and the end of old customs. Historians surmise the evil king may have simply been a rebel leader who opposed the Hinduism on Bali.

The sacred bathing place Tirta Empul was created by the gods to revive the dead warriors of this mythic conflict. Blood running from the bodies of the dead changed into the Petanu (“The Cursed One”) and for over 1,000 years its waters weren’t used for drinking, bathing, or irrigation. At last, in 1928, the curse was lifted in a special ceremony. Because of the curse, no ancient monuments are found along the banks of the Petanu (the Goa Gajah complex is not an exception; it’s on one of Petanu’s tributaries). The victory of the gods over the forces of evil is celebrated annually in the Galungan festival.

Prior to the 18th century, the region now called Gianyar was divided among the kingdoms of Klungkung, Bangli, Mengwi and Badung. By the late 18th century, the raja of Klungkung had lost much of his prestige and power after suffering defeat at the hands of the armies of Karangasem. This left a power vacuum that was filled by the ambitious and ruthless ‘punggawa’ of the village of Gianyar, a distant relative of the Dewa Agung of Gelgel (Klungkung). By deceit, poisonings, and war, this first raja of Gianyar emerged as the ruler of a new rajadom. His control extended over a vast area, including neighboring states. He took the name Dewa Manggis (“Sweet God”) after the village in Klungkung where he was born.

A confused series of wars between the kingdoms of southern Bali in the latter 19th century accelerated Dutch involvement in the area. Because the sons of Dewa Manggis were pitted against the allied states of Badung, Bangli and Klungkung, they sought help from the Dutch in the 1880s. Since the Dutch were heavily engaged in the Aceh Wars during that time, they couldn’t lend assistance and the Dewa Manggis and his family was captured. A second appeal was made in 1899 by Dewa Gede Raka that proved successful. In 1900 the colonial army was sent to protect Gianyar, and this meant automatic annexation as a Regentschaap.

In the early part of this century, as the Dutch struggled to subdue the rest of southern Bali, Dewa Gede Raka’s successors flourished because of their special status. Agung Ngurah Agung (1892-1960) considered one of the most flamboyant and autocratic of Balinese rajas, ruled from 1912 until 1943, when the Japanese forced him into exile in Lombok. His son, Anak Agung, an accomplished linguist, became a prominent diplomat and statesman in the post-war republican government, serving as the Minister of the Interior and Ambassador to Belgium and France. He was imprisoned by Sukarno from 1962 to 1966, then under Suharto served as Ambassador to Austria.

Tourism began in the regency in the 1930s when Tjokorda Agung Sukawati, of the old Sukawati line, established his ‘puri’ in Ubud as the center of a renaissance in Balinese arts. In 1935 he sponsored the painter’s cooperative Pita Maha, inviting foreign artists, musicians, anthropologists, and writers to stay at his palace. Among his first guests were the artists Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet, who influenced Balinese painting, and the first “Baliologists,” Colin McPhee, Jane Belo, Miguel Covarrubias, Gregory Bateson, and Margaret Mead, who significantly influenced the way the West looked upon Bali.

The presence of foreigners in turn attracted more visitors, and a travelers’ hostel opened in Campuan in 1937 (site of present-day Hotel Tjampuan). In the 1950s international tourism increased when dances and music recitals were staged, art shops opened, hotels built, antiquities excavated, and museums established. Although taking up only seven percent of the island’s total land area, today Gianyar is Bali’s most important region for cultural tourism.

The Arts
The agricultural wealth of these densely populated plains, sometimes referred to as the Balinese “Valley of Culture,” has always provided the nobility with the means to develop the arts. The villages of Blahbatuh, Batuan, Sukawati, Bona, and Ubud are preeminent centers for music, dance, drama, woodcarving, and other artistic activity. With its flourishing culture, its impressive handicrafts, warm climate, and monumental antiquities built as far back as two hundred years before Christ, Gianyar Regency is the traditional heart of Bali, the main focus of tourist interest on the island.

Shopping
For visitors who love hunting for traditional handicrafts and art, Gianyar is heaven. It boasts everything from stone carving in Batubulan, silver in Celuk, a huge souvenir market in Sukawati, Batuan’s fine paintings and masks, the carved wooden handicrafts of Mas, Kemenuh, Tengkulak and Pujung, the woven cloth of capital city Gianyar, Bona’s palm-leaf crafts and bamboo furniture and Blahbatuh’s traditional musical instrument foundry.

Temple-going
The Bedulu-Pejeng area, southeast of Ubud, is where some of Bali’s oldest temples can be found. These include the Goa Gajah ‘elephant cave’ temple, the carved relief at Yeh Pulu, the huge Samuan Tiga complex, the fantastic statues at Kebo Edan and Pusering Jagat, and the famous bronze moon-gong at Penataran Sisih. The carved temples at Gunung Kawi and the sacred spring of Tirta Empul are in Tampaksiring, just below the expansive gardens of the palace designed by former President Sukarno.

Eco-tourism
In recent years, Gianyar has become increasingly renowned as a center for ecotourism. Numerous walking trails have been mapped out around Ubud, the most spectacular of which leads to Petulu where, if arriving at dusk, walkers can witness thousands of herons returning to their wetland. There are also several rafting companies based in the Kedewatan area. They offer exciting trips down the Ayung River by rubber dinghy. And a drive north of Ubud towards Kintamani leads through Tegallalang, and sights of dramatic valleys that are patch-worked with rice fields.

Jembrana

The Balinese call this rugged, thinly populated region Pulaki, site of a lost invisible city condemned to one-day sink beneath the sea. Except for a strip of coast, most of the district’s 841,800-square-kilometers are mountainous, with impenetrable highlands said to harbor strange wild animals. The wilderness area of Bali Barat National Park-with its jungle fowl, boar, wild deer, Javan buffalo, and monkeys-falls almost wholly within Jembrana Regency (40% of the district’s land area). So rugged are the lonely mountain forests of Jembrana that the villages are spread far apart. West of Pulukan no roads head north across the island.

Negara is the capital city of Jembrana, Bali’s western most district and where some of Bali’s oldest remains of prehistoric humans have been found. Jembrana also happens to be Bali’s most sparsely populated district. Jembrana is the most heavily Javanized regency of Bali. Settlements with typical Javanese names like Palarejo are common in the area; in some instances the people have adopted Balinese ‘subak’-style irrigation practices. In a subtle gray area around Negara you can see where Java really starts. You begin to notice more mosques, ‘peci’, ‘nasi padang’ restaurants, Javanese-style wooden ‘cikar’ carts pulled by plodding water buffalo. The Balinese culture recedes to the east, almost as if the Balinese had relinguished this swath of island to the Javanese. Jembrana is also home to Bali’s strongest and most populous Christian communities.

Jembrana is the least populated regency of Bali. The population today is around 215,000, scattered throughout 51 villages, mostly situated along the main Denpasar-Gilimanuk coastal artery. Four of five inhabitants earn their income from farming or fishing. Drier and not as agriculturally rich as the rest of the island, revenues derive for the most part from huge coconut plantations along the coastal strip, ubiquitous rice fields, coffee plantations in the highlands near the border of Tabanan, and vanilla, cocoa, and cloves. One of the main fishing ports of Bali is Pengambengan, eight-km southwest of Negara.

Jembrana is also the least visited part of Bali. Its isolation only came to an end with the Gilimanuk-Ketapang ferry in the 1930s. Today, most tourists speed through the region on buses, racing along the 134-km-long road from Denpasar to Gilimanuk. All Jembrana’s hotels are located in Negara, Medewi, or the ferry terminal of Gilimanuk. Not even rudimentary English is widely spoken. Ample ‘bemo’ and minibuses regularly service the district, ‘dokar’ and ‘ojek’ are available in the smaller towns and villages.

Other than exciting bull races held in the vicinity of Negara, in which buffalo thunder down racetracks at speeds of 80-kph, there’s a dearth of historic sights and cultural performances. The regency does offer utterly unique dance and ‘gamelan’ forms, isolated, stunning sea temples, challenging surf, and a heavily trafficked 71-km-long stretch of highway paralleling a coast lined with rocky, black-sand beaches pounded by high surf.

History
The present channel between eastern Java and Bali’s northwestern tip was exposed as dry land during the Pleistocene epoch about 20,000 years ago. This enabled settlement by early human beings; Jembrana, in fact, was the first place people lived on Bali. During WW II, pottery fragments, basalt pebble-tools, and neolithic adzes were found at Cekik, south of Gilimanuk. The remains of a burial site of 100 people were also discovered.

A Balinese chronicle records that the region came under the jurisdiction of the Gelgel dynasty in the 15th century. Two princes were sent by the king to civilize the wild western wilderness, establishing separate courts near present-day Gilimanuk and Negara. The princes vied with each other over who could develop the most prosperous kingdom, their rivalry eventually erupting into a full civil war, which destroyed both courts. Jembrana then slipped again into anonymity until 1803, when another court developed in present-day Negara. When the Dutch subjugated Buleleng Regency to the north in 1849, they assumed control of Jembrana.

Neither wealthy nor powerful, Jembrana never played an important role in Balinese politics. Because of its close proximity to Java, Jembrana was visited early by Chinese, Javanese, and Buginese traders who leased land from the local lords for planting cash crops. The Dutch and other Europeans established huge plantations of cotton, cacao, coconuts, and tobacco in the regency as early as 1860. Coffee land grants were still awarded to Chinese merchant princes in the late 19th century.

Sparsely populated Jembrana has also been settled by transmigrants from Java and other parts of Bali, particularly after the devastating eruption of Gunung Agung in 1963.

Flora
Besides the mangrove and ‘nipah’ palms of the region, the ‘buyuk’ grows in the saltwater marshes of the Perancak River. This plant prevents shore erosion and provides habitat for fish, birds, and monkeys. The people of Jembrana use the leaves of the ‘buyuk’ as roofing material. The leaves are resistant to sunlight; helping to keep the interior of homes comfortable when it is hot, and retaining heat when it is cold.

Scenic drives
As a counterpoint to the cultural wealth of southern Bali, Jembrana’s main point of interest is its West Bali National Park and reserve, which encompasses the forests, mountains, and coasts of much of the district. To enter the Park, visitors must obtain a permit at Cekik; A good road provides a pretty, scenic drive from the Gilimanuk end of the park, in the west, almost all the way to Lovina in Buleleng. It is in the forest that hems this road that the long-extinct Balinese tiger once roamed, and here also the rare white Balinese starling may be sighted.

Snorkeling, diving and surfing
Menjangan Island is also a part of the National Park, and is renowned as harboring the best reefs in all of Bali for snorkeling and diving. Boats leave regularly to Menjangan from the port adjacent to the island in the park, and diving trips to here can be arranged from Lovina and other major tourist centers. As for surfing, go no further than Medewi beach, on the southern coastal road leading from Kuta to Tabanan and through to Negara.

Temple-going
The Rambut Siwi temple complex, located on the north coast road that links Singaraja with Gilimanuk, is without doubt the most renowned temple complex in Jembrana. But in Negara itself, the riverside Gede Perancak temple is also well worth a visit.

Arts and Crafts
The most famous painter in the regency is I Gusti Putu Windya Anaya, who can be found in his home-studio in the village of Yeh Embang. Jembrana’s traditional handloom weaving centers are Sangkaragung and Dauh Waru near Negara, producing ‘songket’ and ‘endek’ for formal occasions. The best woodcarvers and sculptors work in Pendem village near Negara. Look for silverware and gold jewelry in Dauh Waru. Bamboo artifacts such as lamp covers, bags, and baskets are the specialty of Pulukan near Melaya in western Jembrana, while ‘lontar’ palm leaf handicrafts are produced in Gilimanuk. To see a traditional blacksmith at work, visit the village of Batu Agung near Negara.

Dance and Music
Bamboo has been the mainstay of music-making here since the beginning of recorded time. The intriguing and sonorous ‘gamelan jegog’ ensemble of Jembrana, created by Kiyang Gelinduh in 1912, consists of 14 instruments made of giant bamboo tubes that play a reverberating, low-pitched melody. Likened to the sound of deep, roaring thunder, these instruments formerly functioned as a means of calling people for cooperative village work. So large are these natural resonating tubes, the musicians must sit on top, striking the swaying bamboo beneath them with heavy mallets. The ‘gamelan jegog’ accompanies Jembrana’s traditional ‘leko’-style dances. In his book Balinese Music, Michael Tanzer describes the tubes “stretching to an incredible three meters in length, with circumferences of 60-65 centimeters.”

It’s best to hear the orchestra during a village celebration, or you can commission a performance by contacting Ida Bagus Raka Negara in Tegalcangkring, a village that traditionally produces the finest ‘jegog’ players and instrument makers. Also check at the Office of Education and Culture in Negara.

The largest version of ‘jegog’ is the ”jegog mebarung’, in which two ‘gamelan’ compete with one another, accompanied by ‘kendang’, ‘rebana’, ‘kecak’ and ‘tawa tawa’. Sets of ‘jegog’ instruments are displayed both at STSI, the Institute of Arts and Dance, tel. 62361-72.361, on Jalan Nusa Indah in Abiankapas (near Denpasar), and at Sangkar Agung, a private museum three km east of Negara near the village of Pangin Tukadaya.

For ‘jegog’ music visit the villages of Moding near Melaya and Yeh Kuning on the way to Perancak. The Grand Hyatt Hotel of Nusa Dua features a mighty ‘gamelan jegog’ during their ‘pasar malam’.

Other musical forms in Jembrana show distinct folk influences from Java and Madura. Examples include the daring ‘cabang’ (knife dance), the Jegog dance and ‘pencak silat’. Sewa gati is a “seated opera” found in the village of Berangbang five-km north of Negara. The ‘leko’ from Pendem village stars two female dancers dressed in classical ‘legong’ garments. ‘Kendang mebarung’ is a duel between two one-meter-wide drums (kendang) accompanied by a set of ‘angklung’. ‘Genggong’, from Penyaringin village (near Mendoyo), emulates the sound of frogs. The resonant ‘bumbung gebyog’ employs lengths of bamboo in varying pitches, playing harmonious interlocking rhythms. It accompanies such dance dramas as Goak Ngajang Sebun (“Crow Building its Nest”). Derived from the pounding of newly harvested paddy, it’s perhaps the only music on Bali created by women.

Bull Races
Negara is famous for its thrilling water buffalo races (mekepung), introduced by Madurese migrants to celebrate the end of the rice harvest. The competitive races take place on erratic tracks outside Negara, beginning about 0800 before the heat makes the big bulls sluggish. Mostly locals attend this festive event-there’s lots of rooting and cheering, and the betting is frantic. It’s possible to attend rehearsals, trials, and competitions, and even to commission a bull race.

There are also year-round races held for tourists every two weeks, usually every second Thursday at 1500 on a special track near Perancak, 10 km south of Negara. Though the course length and rules are identical to the real thing, the competition lasts only an hour. To see a race, contact Peanuts, tel. 62361-75.259, in Kuta or you can join a tour, which takes in the race, lunch at Lalang Linggah, Pura Rambut Siwi and a tour of the pathetic zoo next to the racetrack.

Only the island’s handsomest, sleekest water buffaloes are chosen to compete. Teams are divided into two clubs, the Eastern Division (east of the Ijo Gading River) and the Western Division (west of the river). Look for the red banners of the east, and the green flags of the west. Organized by the regional government, trials are usually held in the dry season on the second and third Sundays in September and October. The Bupati’s Cup occurs on the Sunday before Indonesian Independence Day in the town square in Negara. The even more prestigious Governor’s Cup takes place on a Sunday in October. The dates and places are different each year, so get current information from Negara’s Department of Tourism on Jalan Setia Budhi behind Kantor Bupati.

Before the race the bull’s horns are painted and around their necks are placed decorated harnesses and silk ribbons. After teams are paraded before the crowd of spectators, their ornaments are stripped off and the beasts teamed with their brightly clad jockeys. Each pair of bulls pulls a small two-wheeled cart (a modified ‘cikar’) manned by a precariously balanced jockey over a two-km-long stretch of back road converted to a racecourse. To gain speed, the jockeys twist the bulls’ tails and lash their backs with whips. Entrants are judged not only for speed, but are also awarded points for strength, color, and style. These heavy, awkward looking, normally docile animals can reach speeds of up to 60 kph. The winning bulls are used for stud and fetch up to twice the market value when sold.

A variation of the ‘mekepung’ is the ‘megembeng’, in which a pair of bulls is harnessed together and decorated with elaborate ornaments. Huge wooden bells (gembeng) are hung around their necks, making a distinctive sound as the bulls’ race across the field dragging the colorfully dressed jockeys behind them on skids. The only other places traditional bull races are held are on the home island of Madura off the northeast coast of Java and near Singaraja in Buleleng Regency on Bali’s north coast.

Karangasem

With mighty Gunung Agung dominating the landscape, this regency’s scenery is some of the most spectacular on the island.

Karangasem is Bali’s most traditional region, with rustic villages, hospitable people, and unique festivals. The 861-square-km regency is one of the most unvisited place on Bali, removed from the frenzy of development. This is the only area of Bali where a number of archaic dance and musical forms are still regularly practiced and where the High Balinese language is still in common use.

In the “closed” village of Tenganan near Candidasa, unusual customs have been jealously guarded for centuries. Its pre-Hindu architecture is simple yet gracious; one of the most handsome buildings in all Bali is Tenganan’s 12-poster ‘bale gede’. The mountain villages of Karangasem often incorporate a very distinctive, sturdy, volcanic-stone architecture found nowhere else on Bali. The villages of Selat, Iseh, and Rendang offer fine architecture as well as magnificent views.

On the southern slope of Gunung Agung is Besakih, the Mother Temple of Bali. From the village of Putung, perched on a steep cliff above the sea, one can clearly view Gunung Rinjani on the island of Lombok to the east. The ferry to Lombok leaves daily from the small port of Padangbai on the southeast coast, where accommodations are cheap and plentiful and local restaurants serve freshly caught seafood. In Manggis village is perhaps Bali’s most dynamic hotel, the Amankila, an opulent palace built on the side of a mountain overlooking the ocean.

For marine life enthusiasts, snorkeling and scuba diving off the coast in and around the beach resorts of Balina and Candidasa, as well as near Amed northeast of Tirtagangga, is a profound experience. One of the premier dive spots on the whole island is Tulamben in the northeast corner of the regency.

If you want to spend some time in Karangasem, the best place to base yourself is Padangbai where the ferries for Lombok depart-of the tourist enclave of Candidasa. Starting in Klungkung, drive along a scenic road past Kusamba, Goa Lawah, Padangbai, then Candidasa. As soon as you get past Klungkung, the traffic thins, the pace slows, and the countryside opens up into dry stretches. The monsoons don’t start until November, and toward the end of the dry season Karangasem’s inhabitants are desperate for rain.

For a complete loop of the district, travel from Klungkung to Candidasa and Amlapura, then head west across the foothills of Gunung Agung to Rendang via Sibetan and Selat. From Rendang, visit Besakih to the northeast, then continue west on a little-used road to Bangli or south to Klungkung.

The Land
The undulating irrigated rice fields of Karangasem are dotted with fruit trees, corn, papaya, durian, and banana. In the arid northeast grow groundnuts, grapes, and cacao; coffee and cloves are the cash crops in the mountain regions. Rising from the sculptured rice fields in some areas are large, rocky, knob-like outcroppings, remnants of a previous volcanic age. Now covered with tropical vegetation, each knob is usually home to a small temple. Banana and coconut plantations along the coast are broken by small villages where people make their living from fishing, sea salt processing, and coral gathering.

The hard work of reclaiming the land after Gunung Agung’s great eruption of 1963 is complete, though remnants of the devastation are still visible in cracked buildings and fields strewn with volcanic debris.

History
Karangasem has a rich variety of older customs found in villages that resisted Javanese influences after the 14th century. After the 16th-century collapse of the Majapahit Empire, the Royal Keraton in Gelgel dominated Bali. In the 17th century the court of Karangasem rose to challenge Gelgel, becoming not only a powerful political force but also a thriving center of the arts. In 1678 Karangasem conquered the island of Lombok, colonizing the western rice-growing portion of the isle.

Palaces
With its history of rivalry among factions of its royal family, its is hardly surprising that Karangasem harbors numerous old palaces. The Puri Agung Kanginan palace features a blend of Balinese, Dutch and Chinese architecture. In Karangasem’s south are the ruins of the Taman Ujung pleasure palace, and in the north the Tirta Gangga water palace, the most intact of all, boasts a series of spring-fed pools which are welcomingly clear and a treat to bathe in after a long drive.

Traditional arts
The main point of interest for traditional arts in Karangasem is Tenganan, a Bali Age (indigenous Balinese) village renowned for its double-’ikat gringsing’ cloth, and annual festivals featuring wooden Ferris wheels and ritual battles with thorny leaves.

Temple-going
On the coast just north of Tenganan is Candidasa, a temple after which the seaside resort is named. But the resort is better known for its marine and night life than it temple, and temple-goers are likely to pass it by on the way to Besakih, Bali’s most important temple complex, which is located on the slope of Mount Agung, its highest peak. Visitors are not allowed to enter the interior of the huge temple, but the view from the outside is gorgeous anyway, and the mountain air refreshing. There is also the Silayukti sea temple at Padangbai, from where the ferry leaves for Lombok.

Eco-tourism
In recent years, snorkel’s and divers have begun to tread a steady path past Candidasa, north-east of Tirta Gangga to Amed, a sleepy fishing village with a series of small beaches nuzzled into rocky coves and several outcrops of colorful coral reef. For divers, the shipwreck offshore Tulamben, nearby Amed, has become renowned as one of Bali’s best sites. Karangasem also welcomes keen mountain climbers to Mount Agung, Bali’s highest peak. The climb takes between 5 – 8 hours, and must be undertaken with a guide. The view from the summit makes the grand Besakih temple look like an anthill!

Klungkung

Klungkung is the smallest regency on Bali, roughly divided between the fertile terraced slopes of the uplands, the coconut and banana groves of the narrow coastal strip, and the poor, arid, and sparsely populated islands of Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. Only Lembongan, the Kerta Gosa courthouse, and Goa Lawah are regularly visited by tourists.

Economy
Once one of the most prosperous and fertile districts in all of Bali, 20% of Klungkung’s arable land was destroyed in the 1963 eruption of Gunung Agung, which took 1,600 lives and drove 87,000 from their homes. Bali was unable to absorb the homeless, and many were resettled in transmigration areas of the Outer Islands. Farmers still eke out a subsistence living growing chilies, scraggly corn, and onions on gravelly land long since denuded of heartier vegetation.

The People
The people of Klungkung still claim a cultural and social superiority over other Balinese. One of every three Ksatriya priests hails from Klungkung. The area is home to the island’s most strict and traditional caste rules. Klungkung nobles may use the formal Balinese language to speak down to everyone else. The regency’s rigid class structure is evident in such societal extremes as the Resi Bhujangga sect of Takmung, a priestly class of Vishnu worshippers, and the desa of Anjingan, inhabited by dog eaters, scavengers, beggars, and corpse-robbers.

History
From the 16th century until the beginning of this century, Klungkung was the royal capital of Bali, earned by a certain mystique rather than by its size and economic clout. From the 14th century to the 17th century, the Gelgel dynasty, governed from Gelgel, four km south of present-day Klungkung, played a major role in government and diplomacy, exerting a pervading influence over the whole island. This was the Golden Age of Bali, when dance, drama, music, and painting flourished.

The last Majapahit king, buckling under the onslaught of Islam on Java, fled Java to set up court in Gelgel around 1550. The Brahmans and Ksatriyas of the court commenced to divide Bali into a number of kingdoms, administered by relatives and generals. The Javanese-Hindu cultural influence emanating from here laid the foundation for Bali’s unique religion and society.

The greatest of the Gelgel dynasty kings was Batu Renggong, who called himself Dalem. After assuming the throne in 1550, he launched a military, political, and cultural renaissance, conquering Bali and sending roving bands of Balinese troops into large areas of East Java and the islands of Lombok and Sumbawa. Indonesia’s first contact with Europeans occurred under Dalem’s reign, when three Dutch ships put in near Kuta in 1597. Also dating from this critical era are the magnificent old courthouse, floating pavilion, and gardens of Klungkung. During Dalem’s reign the Brahman priest Nirantha arrived on the island, assuming the position of the court high priest and exerting a considerable influence on arts and literature. Besakih became Bali’s state temple and the abode of royal ancestors.

In the 17th century the brilliance of the Gelgel court began to flicker. Under the reign of Dalem di Made the dynasty steadily lost land, power, and status. Between 1650 and 1686 a power struggle broke out between two brothers over who was to succeed. Finally, an ambitious general, Gusti Agung Maruti, launched an attack on Gelgel in 1686 and proclaimed himself raja. Dating from this critical era are the magnificent old courthouse, the “floating pavilion,” and gardens which can still be seen in Klungkung.

The kings of Badung and Buleleng, refusing to accept Maruti’s sovereignty, helped the rightful Majapahit descendant regain his throne in 1705. Five years later, for superstitious reasons, a new capital was built in Klungkung a few kilometers to the north. Klungkung’s first king, Jambe, was the first to use the title Dewa Agung (“Great King”). The first major dynastic genealogy was compiled by this court in 1819. The Klungkung court also created new art forms, such as ‘arja’ and the ‘geguritan’ poetic form, and held elaborate state rituals to assert its status as Bali’s spiritual capital.

The Dutch military campaign against Klungkung began in 1849. Troops landed at Padangbai and marched as far as Kusamba. Hearing the enemy’s ranks were stricken by dysentery, the virgin queen Dewa Agung Istri Kanya launched a deadly night attack, inflicting heavy casualties on the Dutch and fatally wounding the Dutch commander. A peace settlement was negotiated by the wily Danish trader Mads Lange and the next day the Dutch troops were ordered back to their ships.

Thus the conquest of south Bali was postponed for another 60 years. As a result of increasing conflicts in political and trade matters between the Balinese raja and the Dutch, a full scale Dutch invasion of the south was mounted in 1906, obliterating the royal houses of Denpasar and Tabanan. In April 1908 Dutch warships arrived from Batavia and both Klungkung and Gelgel were bombarded into submission. Dewa Agung Jambe and 300 of his relatives and followers chose collective suicide (puputan) over the colonial yoke. Clad in white and armed only with ‘kris’, the royal retinue marched straight into Dutch rifles.

Dewa Agung was shot down and six of his wives stabbed themselves to death, falling over his body. When the smoke cleared, 108 Balinese had died without the loss of a single Dutch soldier. Today, across the road from the Kerta Gosa, a monument commemorates this ghastly event.

Traditional arts
These two pavilions are testimony to Klungkung’s artistic wealth. The Kertha Gosa pavilion is famous for its painted ceiling of punishments in hell, animal tales and an earthquake chart, and the Bale Kambang has paintings of Buddhist lore, folktales and traditional astrology. The village of Kamasan is home to a school of art, which perpetuates the traditional Balinese ‘puppet style’ of painting, and musical instruments are made in Tiingan. Also, in the city of Klungkung is an art market, which is a great place to buy textiles from the district’s highland villages.

Temple-going
Near the coast is the old capital of Gelgel with its Pura Dasar temple, and just north of Klungkung is the peaceful Taman Sari temple. Across the water from Klungkung is the island of Nusa Penida. This former island of exile for Klungkung’s criminals boasts a great fanged demon and the Dalem Peed temple; both associated with black magic.

Eco-tourism
Despite its association with black magic, Nusa Penida and the adjoining island of Lembongan are cheerful places for ecotouristsm to visit, as they abound with caves to explore and excellent snorkeling and diving spots. Another cave can be found on the mainland near the salt making village of Kusamba – Goa Lawah is not only home to thousands of bats but also a huge python. As on Gianyar’s Agung River, rafting companies have recently begun to take advantage of the white water of Klungkung’s Unda River by offering daily trips down river.

Tabanan

Tabanan is one of Indonesia’s richest rice-growing districts, with paddies stretching from the coast to as high as 700 meters on the lower slopes of the imposing Gunung Batukau volcano (elev. 2,276 meters), the second highest mountain on Bali. Every temple in Tabanan contains a shrine venerating this mountain’s spirit, Mahadewa. Tabanan’s other major summits are Sangiyang (2,093 meters) and Pohen (2,063 meters).

Three labor-intensive crops of the new high-yield rice are grown each year, with soybeans planted in between to rejuvenate the soil. The ‘subak’ of Tabanan average seven to eight tons of rice per hectare, making the inhabitants some of the most productive rice growers in all Indonesia. Besides rice, there are crops of coconuts, cacao, groundnuts, and tropical fruits. The area around Pupuan is Bali’s principal coffee growing district. The regency’s higher climes are alpine, with mountain streams, moss, prehistoric tree ferns, wildflowers, creepers, orchids, leeches, butterflies, birds, and screaming monkeys.

Lake Bratan in the middle of the regency’s cool central highlands was formed by the volcano Gunung Catur, now inactive. The area is green, opulent, and peaceful, the people generally friendly. As you leave Tabanan’s southern plains and drive north to Bedugul on Lake Bratan, the cooler landscape changes from tiers of gentle rice fields to gardens of onions, cabbages, and papaya. Thatched palm huts give way to sturdy cottages made of wood, tile, and stone to withstand the heavy rains. In the southern villages, the kitchen is separated from the other buildings of the family compound, but in these cold mountain villages people often cook in the same building where they sleep and live.

For the traveler, Tabanan Regency offers remote mountain villages with fresh, crisp air; picturesque hill resorts; overflowing fruit, vegetable, and flower markets; austere lakeside temples; premier mountain hiking; one of world’s finest golf courses; a 30-km-long strip of unspoiled black-sand beaches; and perhaps Bali’s most famous and photographed temple, the island sanctuary of Tanah Lot.

Tabanan is targeted as the next big tourist area. Why? The region is far from the bustle of city life, hawkers, and everyday hassles. Its attractions are accessible on day trips from Denpasar or Kuta, or tourists can stay within the regency-new accommodations are built as soon as electricity and water became available. There are ambitious plans for the regency’s isolated coastline, and a new road is under construction connecting Kuta and the mammoth Bali Nirwana Resort in Tanah Lot. Balinese fiercely resisted this US$200 million property sited next to one of the island’s most sacred temples-an angry anti-development march in Denpasar was quelled violently by police-but in the end the resort rose and opened in 1995.

History
The regency has a lively history. Records indicate it came under the suzerainty of King Airlangga in 1037. When Majapahit invaded Bali in AD 1343, the territory was allotted to one of Gajah Mada’s field generals, Arya Kenceng. As Javanese invaders expanded their territory, they came into conflict with the Mengwi house, founded during the mid-1600s with the fall of Gelgel and allied with Buleleng. Tabanan’s classical period was in the 17th century and included the founding of the main ‘puri’ by Raja Singasana. Tabanan, Mengwi, and Penebel were almost constantly at war until 1891 when Mengwi was defeated by the princes of Tabanan and Badung. Through a series of court intrigues, assassinations, truces, and marriages, the principal houses of the district-Kaleran and Kerambitan-were formed in the 19th century.

When the Dutch conquered Bali in the early 20th century, they captured the king and crown prince (who committed suicide while in captivity), sacked the Tabanan palace, and exiled most of the surviving royalty to Lombok. The Dutch controller’s office was established right in front of Puri Kaleran, but it was the outcaste marriage of a high-ranking princess that finished the kingdom for good. Since the rajadom had not entered into an agreement with the Dutch, the heirs lost their titles and lands, which were parceled out to the regency’s ‘banjar’.

Some historians believe this early redistribution of land to the peasants accounts for Tabanan’s prosperous rice economy today. In 1929, the Dutch reorganized Bali’s kingdoms into eight regencies, restoring the raja’s titles and authority, a status that lasted until 1950, when Sukarno abolished Indonesia’s royalty with the stroke of a pen.

The Arts
Although the rajas of Tabanan’s royal houses lost political power in the early 1900s, they continued to support the arts. Their palaces have long been famous for ‘gamelan’, dance, and drama groups. The regency’s most famous native son was I Ketut Mario, the consummate dancer and choreographer who dominated Bali’s performing arts in the 1920s and ’30s. The solo Kebyar dance, which he created, is still widely performed. In the seated version, the dancer not only exhibits his skill as a graceful contortionist but also his mastery of the music, parodying every nuance and mood of the ‘gamelan’ rhythm. Tabanan’s large concert hall, Gedung Mario, built in 1973, is named after this genius. Commemorative performances are held there each year in his honor.

The Chinese-Balinese painter and batik artist Kay It was one of Bali’s most promising and unique painters until his sudden death in 1977 at age 39. Born to a family of shopkeepers in Tabanan, It’s brilliant, modern, impressionist painting style was full of life and movement. He was also a master of clay and ceramics, which he learned from the villagers of Pejaten. Today you can see its ceramics and tall totem poles on the grounds of the Bali Hyatt Hotel in Sanur. Its continuing influence can also be seen in the designs of household ceramics for sale in the markets of Bali. View his paintings at the Art Center in Abiankapas in Denpasar and at the Neka Gallery in Ubud.

Traditional arts
Tabanan is home to a number of villages that have nurtured peculiar local art forms. Kerambitan village, for example, boasts the exciting ‘tektekan’ exorcist dance drama, which is accompanied by giant wooden cowbells and bamboo instruments. Tista has its Leko Andir dance, performed by young girls. Penarukan is known for its carvings, Pejaten for its ceramics and Blayu for its woven brocades.

Events
A genuine Balinese feast is put on for tourists about three times monthly in Kerambitan’s Puri Anyar. Every year a purification ceremony (melasti) occurs several days before Nyepi, and every five years a much grander exorcism is held in which thousands of youngsters’ march from Gunung Batukau to the sea. Don’t miss the splendid ‘odalan’ every 210 days at Tanah Lot, when dances are performed on the beach below Beraban village opposite the offshore temple.

Beaches
It seems that every side road in Tabanan ends in a deserted, steep, beautiful black-sand beach. Enjoy stunning views of the sea with the mountains and rice terraces behind-no dogs, no tourists, not even a fisherman. Drawbacks, if you’re not a surfer, are the three-meter-high waves and lethal undertows. French and Italian joint venture companies plan to develop the best of these beaches; hotels have already gone up at Yeh Gangga, Beraban, Kelating, and Soka. Big waves crash over black sand at Kedungu Beach, west of Tanah Lot. Nice views, beautiful rice terraces, and a Japanese golf course nearby. Thirteen km from Tabanan is long, wide Kelating Beach, with big rolling waves and beautiful panoramas.

Pasut Beach, near Sungai Ho and Pura Segara, is a quiet beach lying 14 km southwest of Tabanan. The Ho River is navigable by small sampan. Northwest of Pasut (24 km from Tabanan) is Beraban Beach, which offers excellent budget accommodations. Even more isolated, with great views and rice terraces, is Kelecung Beach west of Beraban. The most westerly of Tabanan’s beaches is Soka, between Antosari and Lalang Linggah. The rocks said to be the pot and old kitchen of Kebo Iwa, the legendary figure who carved Gunung Kawi.

Eco-tourism
As Kintamani is to Bangli, so is Bedugul one of Tabanan’s main points of interest. This crisp mountain town boasts three crater lakes, which are hemmed by untamed jungle and patchworks of market gardens, and the tepid water of which sends a mist into the icy air above the surface. This is nether place to retreat from the heat of the coast, to fish, or to wander through the lovely botanical gardens. Recently a number of companies have established walking trails most of which take visitors through the spectacular rice paddies of Jatiluwih.

Temple-going
The district of Tabanan boasts Bali’s most famous temple, which is set on a rocky protrusion that becomes an island at high tide, offering spectacular sunset views in the dry season. There is also the Ulun Danu temple on the edge of Bedugul’s Bratan Lake. The temple is devoted to the goddess of the lake, which irrigates the rice fields of Tabanan. The beautiful Alas Kedaton located in Petanahan is also worth a visit.