Bali’s City & Sites Info – S thru Z

Sangeh Rahwana, the villainous giant of the Ramayana epic, could die neither on earth nor air. To kill him, the monkey general Hanuman devised a plan to suffocate the giant by pressing him between two halves of the holy mountain Mahameru, a destruction between the earth and air. When Hanuman took Mahameru, part of the mountain fell to the earth in Sangeh along with a group of his monkey armies, so they stayed to this very day. Such is the legendary origin of Bukit Sari or The Monkey Forest, a cluster of towering trees and home of hundreds of monkeys. The forest is sacred and for many years no one has been permitted to chop wood there. A moss-covered temple lies in the heart of the woods and is familiar hideout for the nimble inhabitants.

Sanur – The Sanur area, with traditional Intaran at his heart has evidently been settled since ancient times. An inscribed pillar here dated back to A.D. 913 is Bali’s earliest dated artifact, now kept in a temple in Belanjong village in the south of Sanur. It tells of King Sri Kesari Warmadewa of the Syailendra Dynasty in Java who came to Bali to teach Mahayana Buddhism and then founded a monastery here. Ten centuries later, Sanur began to attract significant numbers of foreigners to its shores, many of whom chose to build homes here. The house of the Belgian artist, Le Mayeur (now a museum) is the only one that still stands. Sanur is also famous across the island as the source of some of Bali’s most powerful black magic and home of the most feared sorcerers and most respected healers or Balian.

Sebatu Pura Gunung Kawi – not to be mixed up with Candi Gunung Kawi near to Tampaksiring – is a small holy spring.

Selat
see… Rendang

Semarapura (Klungkung) is a capital city of Klungkung regency, a landscape area containing the only surviving part of the Semarapura, the palace of the Klungkung rulers built around 1710 and largely destroyed by fighting in 1908. The only remains of the palace are the KERTA GOSA-consultation pavilion for peace and prosperity, the BALE KAMBANG-floating pavilion, a kulkul tower and a massive redbrick gateway decorated with stone carvings, which marked the entrance from the outer to the inner courtyards of the palace. Legend tells how two craftsmen who, while sleeping in separate temples on the nearby coast, each dreamt about a half of a massive and wonderful doorway created the gateway. When they met and compared their dreams they were realized that their vision fitted together perfectly, and they built the doorway. Legend also claims that at the time of the Puputan in Klungkung in 1908, the wooden doors sealed themselves shut and nobody has been able to open them since.

KERTA GOSA: it is a square open bale on a raised platform. It is sometimes described as a criminal court, which adds poignancy to the pictures of gruesome punishments on the ceiling. The painted ceiling is a unique example of the Kamasan style of classical painting, often referred as the Wayang style because the figures are essentially the same as the characters in the Wayang puppet theatre. There are nine levels of paintings; each has a specific theme and story.

BALE KAMBANG: it is almost beside the KERTA GOSA and surrounded by a moat, was the venue for royal teeth-filing ceremonies. Its ceiling got six levels of paintings cover Balinese astrology, the tales of Pan Brayut and the adventures of Sutasoma who was a legendary Buddhist saint adopted into a Hindu context and it consist of a series of battles and selfless acts through which he defeats evil and bring peace to the world.

PURA BEJI: It is located at Sangsit village about 8 km east of Singaraja, built in around 15th century on the site of a well. It is a Subak temple dedicated to Dewi Sri as the goddess of rice in the Balinese Hindu religion. The temple is belonging to and cared for by the rice irrigation association. The split gate that lies between the outer and middle courtyard of the temple as well as the covered gate between middle and inner courtyard are carved with animals, plants, and monsters motives and interspersed with demon heads. The front wall of the temple shows rewards that await the godly in heaven and the punishments awaiting the evil in hell. This temple is completely a work of art.

* BESAKIH – “THE MOTHER TEMPLE” TOUR

Seminyak
see… Kuta

Sibetan is a important area of plantation: Rabutan, Mango, Durian-trees and Salak.

Singaraja the Old Dutch capital, is the world on the other side of the mountains. It was also once Bali’s main harbor but in recent years the harbor has become silted up as it has been shifted west to the more sheltered Labuan Celukbawang for the major export and import business. The north coast of Bali has been inhabited for centuries with local villages mentioned in the 10th century inscriptions, the ascendancy of the area only really began at the end of the 16th century, when Ki Gusti Ngurah Panji Sakti founded Buleleng, and in 1604 built a new palace called Singaraja. Buleleng has a rugged and, in places, dramatic landscape, as the northern flanks of the mountains drop steeply towards long, sweeping black-sand beaches. The land is dry and parched towards the east, where villages are widely spread out and the lava flows from the last eruption of mount Agung are still visible. Most tourists however come to the north for the burgeoning beach resort of LOVINA, west of Singaraja, a great place to relax or to use as a base for exploring the temples, hot springs and inland scenery of the region.

PURA DALEM JAGARAGA: it is a Temple of the Dead, which is located at Jagaraga village approximately 4 km uphill from Sangsit village. The name Jagaraga derives from a slogan of the resistance means, “watch out for yourself”. Jagaraga was the site of an immense battle between the Balinese led by their commander Gusti Jelantik and the Dutch during the second military expedition in 1849. The temple was rebuilt after the Jagaraga war and renovated to commemorate the martyrs. The temple is dedicated to the God Siwa the destroyer and renowned for its front walls which is a mass of pictorial carvings showing the traces of the Dutch occupation, but shriekingly vivid sculptors of Rangda (the queen of the witches) form the dominant imagery of the temple.

PURA BEJI: It is located at Sangsit village about 8 km east of Singaraja, built in around 15th century on the site of a well. It is a Subak temple dedicated to Dewi Sri as the goddess of rice in the Balinese Hindu religion. The temple is belonging to and cared for by the rice irrigation association. The split gate that lies between the outer and middle courtyard of the temple as well as the covered gate between middle and inner courtyard are carved with animals, plants, and monsters motives and interspersed with demon heads. The front wall of the temple shows rewards that await the godly in heaven and the punishments awaiting the evil in hell. This temple is completely a work of art.

* BEDUGUL – SINGARAJA TOUR

Tampaksiring is a small town with probably the most impressive ancient monument on Bali and important temples such as Gunung Kawi, Pura Tirta Empul etc. Gunung Kawi / the “mountain of poet”: It is located at Tampaksiring village north east of Ubud is a famous complex of rock-cut monuments dating from the late 11th century. The monuments are connected with the youngest son of the powerful Javanese king Airlangga who lived in the first half of the 11th century, and was a Balinese descent via his father Udayana. It’s set in a broad ravine, lush green valley with its spectacular rice terrace view and gentle waterfall around. The funerals shrines are shaped like temples and nestled in groups are carved into the rock face. Gunung Kawi consists of 10 rock-cut Candi (shrines), which stand in 7m-high. Legend relate that the whole group of these memorials was carved out of the rock face in one hard working night by the mighty fingernails of Kebo Iwa.

Tanah Lot
see… Pura Tanah Lot

Tegal Lalang is famous for its picturesque rice terraces. Located a few kilometres to the north of Ubud in Gianyar regency, this village also boasts their wood carvers that produce brightly painted wooden handicrafts for export. There are dozen of shops displaying creative hand-made products mostly made of Abessia (Balsa) wood, bamboo and coconut ready for sale or for order.

* KINTAMANI (Volcano) – BARONG DANCE TOUR

Tembuku
see… Rendang

Tenganan – The village of Tenganan Pegringsingan is very unique among the Bali Aga communities of the island in its strong adherence to traditional ways. Tenganan is a microcosmic reflection of the macrocosm. According to this divine plan, it is arranged systematically both in its delimitation from the outside world, as well as in its separation into distinct private and public areas within the village precincts itself. Unlike other Balinese villages, Tenganan traces its origin and its social institutions back to a written source, a holy book known as the Usana Bali (a chronicle of Bali). According to this text, the Tenganese have been chosen by their creator, God Indra to honor his royal descendants through communal offerings and sacrifices. It states, furthermore that descendants of the original villagers have been chosen to administer the surrounding lands, a consecrated place of devotion and ritual, and to use all available means to keep them pure. Anyway, Tenganan today is a wealthy village, where they make beautiful baskets and boxes from ata plants, as well as hand written story or drawings over palm leaves (prasi) and it’s the only place in Indonesia that produces the celebrated geringsing double ikat weaving.

Tirta Gangga – The tiny village of Tirta Gangga (Water of the Ganges) is an increasingly popular place to stop off and relax for a day (or more) while touring around east Bali. This is a quiet and lovely place with superb views of the surrounding rice terraces, the hills, Mount Agung and the distant sea. There’s a good selection of cheap restaurants and hotels, excellent trekking in the region and a pretty palace to admire. Almost everything is within a few hundred metres along the main road from this water palace. Taman Tirtagangga was built 1948 by Karangasem last Rajah, Anak Agung Ngurah Ketut Karangasem, as a summer palace with unique architecture as an example of combination between western, traditional Balinese and Chinese styles of architecture. Taman Tirtagangga consist of three parts; i.e. at south lowest part there are two pools which has tower with fountains, at the middle part there is a swimming pool and at the north high part is a resting place for King family. Tirtagangga’s elegant palace was damaged on several occasions, including the 1963 eruption of Mount Agung. Step by step it has been renovated. Now it is fully restored awaiting your visit. It isn’t grand, but it’s still a place of beauty and reminder of the former power of the Balinese rajahs. It has an impressive terraced area featuring numerous pools, water channels and fountains set in a well-maintained garden. You can swim in the biggest spring fed pool.

Tohpati is located on the main by pass road near Gianyar-Denpasar borders. This tiny banjar is home to the state textile company PATAL TOHPATI and since a few years ago it becomes the main producer and sales for Ikat, Songket and Batik hand made paintings and clothes.

* BESAKIH – “THE MOTHER TEMPLE” TOUR

Ubud and Monkey Forest – Ubud is a village heaven for the arts. Ubud has been a place for many foreign artists to live since 1920s like Walter Spies who established himself in the hamlet of Campuhan on the western border of Ubud in 1928, transforming the village into a flourishing center for the arts. Unfortunately, the tourist boom has transformed Ubud into a bustling business center on the island that makes Ubud is an excellent place shopping. Galleries display contemporary styles by old masters of thirty years experience and young boys who have developed a manner of their own, the young artist style. Besides as the home of the arts, Ubud is also very well known for its natural beauty with stunning emerald green rice paddies, deep river gorges and many old sacred sites around. The people of Ubud and adjacent villages really do still paint, carve, dance and make music, and religious practices here are so rigorously observed that hardly a day goes by without there being some kind of festival celebrated in the area. Shortly, Ubud is close to many of central Bali’s major sights.

UBUD MONKEY FOREST: it is a sacred monkey Forest Sanctuary that lies on the southern part of Ubud’s center. The little forest are inhabited by about 125 of Balinese macaques or also known as long-tailed macaques, and the scientific name is Macaca fascicularies. There are three holy temples in the forest that was built during the mid-14th century. Pura Dalem Agung, the temple of the dead is located in the southwestern part of the main forest area. Holy Bathing Temple is located in the northwest, down a long flight of steps above the stream. The third temple is Pura Prajapati in the eastern edge of the main forest alongside of the graveyard.

* UBUD ART VILLAGE TOUR

Ulawatu
see… Pura Ulawatu

Yehpulu (Yeh Pulu)
see… Bedulu