Archive for July, 2006
North of Tampaksaring on the road to Kintamani you will see the turnoff to Tirta Empul. It is to here that the Balinese come from all over the island on pilgrimages to bathe in the holy springs and thus cleanse themselves spiritually.
Legend tells how the springs were first tapped by the god Indra during his battle with the evil Mayadanawa who was an early ruler of Pejeng. Mayadanawa had poisoned the nearby river and made hundreds of Indra’s retainers ill, so Indra pierced the earth to release a spring of pure and sacred water, the elixir of mortality, thus reviving his ailing troops. This new spring was named Tirta Empul and ever since has been considered the holiest place in Bali since the 10th century.
Around the pools an elegantly ornate temple has been built and, whilst I was there, devotees were in prayer and others leaving after finishing their devotion and with even more entering to pray and bathe in the pools. Everywhere you looked in the complex Balinese in ceremonial attire carrying offerings and receiving blessings were prominent as were a multitude of Pedanda’s.
I walked through the Jaba, or outer courtyard, of the temple where the red-brick bathing pools are sunk. Here, men and women as well as priests were bathing in the holy water fed from the springs in the Jeroan, or inner sanctuary of the temple.
Interestingly, for pregnant women, bathing in the holy waters of Tirta Empul is significant. It is one of three places they must bathe for a special ritual called Melukat. This ritual involves the total immersion in the holy waters. The three places of the holiest springs are at Tirta Bungkah - the holy waters of the mountain, Tirta Empul - the holy springs of the plain, and, Tirta Selukat - the holy springs of the sea.
In the Jeroan, I was fascinated with the clarity and freshness of the spring water bubbling out into the enclosed and rectangular pool. It truly is mesmerising. I really felt like going for a swim, but at that time I had more temples to see.
sources : www.baliblog.com
July 19th, 2006
North of Tampaksaring on the road to Kintamani you will see the turnoff to Tirta Empul. It is to here that the Balinese come from all over the island on pilgrimages to bathe in the holy springs and thus cleanse themselves spiritually.
Legend tells how the springs were first tapped by the god Indra during his battle with the evil Mayadanawa who was an early ruler of Pejeng. Mayadanawa had poisoned the nearby river and made hundreds of Indra’s retainers ill, so Indra pierced the earth to release a spring of pure and sacred water, the elixir of mortality, thus reviving his ailing troops. This new spring was named Tirta Empul and ever since has been considered the holiest place in Bali since the 10th century.
Around the pools an elegantly ornate temple has been built and, whilst I was there, devotees were in prayer and others leaving after finishing their devotion and with even more entering to pray and bathe in the pools. Everywhere you looked in the complex Balinese in ceremonial attire carrying offerings and receiving blessings were prominent as were a multitude of Pedanda’s.
I walked through the Jaba, or outer courtyard, of the temple where the red-brick bathing pools are sunk. Here, men and women as well as priests were bathing in the holy water fed from the springs in the Jeroan, or inner sanctuary of the temple.
Interestingly, for pregnant women, bathing in the holy waters of Tirta Empul is significant. It is one of three places they must bathe for a special ritual called Melukat. This ritual involves the total immersion in the holy waters. The three places of the holiest springs are at Tirta Bungkah - the holy waters of the mountain, Tirta Empul - the holy springs of the plain, and, Tirta Selukat - the holy springs of the sea.
In the Jeroan, I was fascinated with the clarity and freshness of the spring water bubbling out into the enclosed and rectangular pool. It truly is mesmerising. I really felt like going for a swim, but at that time I had more temples to see.
sources : www.baliblog.com
July 19th, 2006
Yesterday, Bali ended the month-long Bali Arts Festival which was on from June 17 to July 15 and involved over a thousand artists from Bali and other Indonesian regions as well as those from foreign countries.
For those of you those of you who are yet to experience this festival then I strongly suggest you pencil the dates in for next year because apparently it will be twice as brilliant as this year was. Unfortunately I couldn’t attend this year but will definitely be there next year.
Head of Bali Tourist Agency I Made Santa said yesterday that the festival had managed attracted thousands of visitors - both foreign and local tourists.
The main activities of the festival included a carnival, cultural performances, art gatherings, and an exhibition for small and medium enterprises.
According to Made, there were 15 foreign and 13 local cultural troupes that took part in the event. There were 160 small and medium businesspeople took part in the exhibition with total transaction reached Rp 4.01 billion as compared to Rp 3.6 billion of last year’s transaction.
The magic thing about the Bali Arts Festival is that you get to experience and see the various dances not only from Bali, but from the rest of the archipelago. A lot of these you would not see on your normal trips to the island.
source : www.baliblog.com
July 18th, 2006
Probably one of the most visually stunning garden temples in Bali, Pura Luhur Batukaru is a sacred and holy site, and surprisingly, one where you don’t have to pay an entrance fee but only a donation.
When you first arrive what strikes you is the serene atmosphere, the silence, the beauty of the grassed courtyards and flowering shrubs, and the mountain forests on the slopes of Gunung Batukaru seemingly wrapping around the temple complex on all sides.
There are several theories about the temple but it is thought Pura Luhur Batukaru became a holy site in the 11th century. Consecrated and adopted by the Rajas of Tabanan they made it into their own state temple and dedicated shrines here to their ancestral gods.
In the Jeroan or inner sanctuary of the temple a ceremony was in progress and so my movements within this area were restricted to some degree. However, taking photographs discreetly, I was able to capture the beauty of the most important shrine - a seven-tiered pagoda dedicated to the god Mahadewa, the god of Gunung Batukaru.
As I walked along moss covered pathways to the east of the temple I came to a large square pond. This had been dug and filled to represent and honour the gods of Danau Tamblingan.
There is a tiny island shrine in the centre and it is only the priests of Pura Luhur Batukaru that are allowed access there.
There are numerous moss covered pathways fanning out into a web deep into the forest and here I found plenty of solitary shrines.
Pura Luhur Batukaru plays an important role in the lives of the Balinese Hindus. Local Subak groups come to this place to draw holy water for use in agricultural ceremonies. During the Galungan festivities, devotees flock to Pura Luhur Batukaru to pay their respects and lay offerings.
Pura Luhur Batukaru is just one of those places that is mesmerising and draws you back, again and again.
sources : www.baliblog.com
July 18th, 2006
In a rare spell of drop-in heaven rather than surf break hell, surfers in Bali have set a world record for the most people to ride a single wave.
Fifty-three surfers from Bali and as far afield as Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, France and Hawaii rode a wave at the popular “Halfway” break on Kuta Beach breaking the old world mark of 46 people set at Sydney’s Manly Beach in May.
“It was a case of bodies and boards everywhere but everyone’s pretty stoked” Quiksilver surfwear spokesman and attempt coordinator Simon MacGregor told AAP.
The new record was set in near-perfect conditions although less than half of the 128 people who registered for the attempt made it onto the wave at the same time.
“With everyone strung out right along the beach it was pretty hard to keep it all together” MacGregor said,
“There were a few close-out waves and then it was just a case of ‘okay, everybody go’.”
He said the new mark would be registered with the Guinness Book of Records. The attempt was organised to remind international audiences of Bali’s legendary beaches and surf rather than recent terrorist bombings which have seen tourist numbers plummet.
Coordinated by the Quiksilver Boardriding School the record coincided with an international junior surfing contest known as the “King of the Groms” and was organised by Balinese surfers.
Tourist numbers to Bali have dropped dramatically since triple suicide bombings in Kuta and Jimbaran Bay last October which killed 20 innocent bystanders, among them four Australians.
Bali’s second terror attack in three years also caused the collapse of budget airline Air Paradise which specialised in cut-price travel between Australia and the Island of the Gods.
The number of Australians visiting Indonesia has fallen by half this year as holidaymakers opt for breaks in Thailand and Malaysia instead. Indonesian government numbers show foreign tourist arrivals fell to 332,445 in May, down 3.33 per cent on the number a year earlier.
In Bali alone, arrivals fell to 107,678, down 12.26 per cent.
sources : www.baliblog.com
July 18th, 2006
I asked the locals where it was, I even asked taxi drivers and hawkers in the streets but to no success.
My search for Gang Tuan Langga, the small laneway leading to the grave site of Mads Lange, seemed elusive. Until one day I asked a Bhuddist monk. He told me it was at the rear of the night market.
For such an important person in the history of Bali to be forgotten about so quickly over the generations was in my opinion just disgraceful. After receiving a blessing from the monk, I hailed a taxi and directed the driver to where I thought the lane might be located. There was no street sign, just a smaller sign Pasar Malam - night market.
The narrow laneway weaved down towards the river. All I could see was a garbage truck depot. I paid the taxi driver and walked around to investigate. I first saw the Chinese-marked headstones perched in the soft soil, and upon further investigation, there it was, the small monument to Mads Lange.
Mads Lange was a Danish merchant and adventurer who in 1839 established a large and eventually prosperous trading post to the south of the fishing village of Kuta on the Bukit Peninsula. He traded in all manner of goods and at one point had the produce monopoly on the island of Bali and was primary in inter-Asian trade. He was without a doubt indispensable as a mediator between the Dutch and the rulers of the numerous Bali kingdoms.
In 1846-49, the Dutch made several invasions on the island of Bali from Java, and such was the impact, Mads Lange’s world was soon to be destroyed. It was in 1850 when rival traders who set up business in Kuta with support from the Dutch that marked the end for Lange. He was bankrupt and decided to return to Denmark but mysteriously died. Reports say he was poisoned. He was buried in a single-stone marked grave and this became his resting place until the Danish government along with successful businessmen erected the monument in his honour.
I opened the gate to the small yard which housed the monument. An ageing Balinese woman laid offerings at the base of the monument, smiled and walked away.
As I looked around where I stood, it was a reflective and yet lonely place for such an adventurer. He might have died bankrupt but he rested in the rich soil of the Bali he loved so much.
sources : www.baliblog.com
July 18th, 2006
When I first started going to Bali over a couple of decades ago, I immersed myself in the culture as much as possible. I can still recall looking at a Balinese Calendar for the first time and was completely perplexed.
To explain the Balinese Calendar is very hard and I did search the net to find the best way to explain it to you. However, I remembered Bill Dalton’s explanation in his travel guide Bali Handbook was the best I have read. Here is how Bill explains it:
The Balinese year has 210 days, 30 weeks (Wuku) of seven days each, or six months of 35 days each. Every week of the year has its own name, printed in red in the upper row to the left of Wuku. The dates run vertically downwards instead of horizontal as in the Gregorian calendar. Red ink always designates special holidays.
The weeks conform to our counting of the weeks, and Sunday begins the week. Truly an international calendar, the outer left-hand column shows the days of the week in Indonesian, Balinese, English, Japanese, and Chinese. Not only Bali,Hindu religious events but details of events of Indonesia’s other major religions are also indicated.
Inside the boxes are names for days which are based on a different counting system. For example, the top line of each square lists the Muslim month and number. Below the ingkel row are lists of Balinese festival days, coincidental dates, odalan, and special days connected with Galungan and Pagerwesi, with advice on as what to do and what not to do on certain days.
In the right-hand vertical column is a list of auspicious days for certain activities. By glancing at this list, a Balinese can determine the best days for a harvest, toothfiling, cremation, weddings, building a house, opening a restaurant etc.
A 35 year old photograph of the 78 year old creator of the calendar, Ketut Banbang Gede Rawi is pictured in the lower right-hand corner. Bangbang has published this official Balinese calendar since 1950.
There is another calendar system the Balinese use called Pawukon.
www.baliblog.com
July 17th, 2006
The area between the Pakrisan and Petanu Rivers is sometimes referred to as the ‘Holy Land’.
In this area can be found some of Bali’s archaeological treasures dating as far back as the 9th century - Goa Gadjah, Gunung Kawi and Pura Pusering Jagat to name just a few.
Just south of the village of Pejeng you will find Pura Kebo Edan, sometimes called the ‘Crazy Buffalo’ temple. Although not as well-kept as most temples are, its centrepiece is the four metre high statue, the Pejeng Giant. The huge stone body of a man with a massive phallus stands in the right-hand corner of the temple. Said to possess six penises, his main and rather prominent penis is said to be pierced from front to back.
The statue, with hands on hips, is actually astride a prone female figure said to represent the earth. Most of the figure’s face has been worn away over the years and is mostly hidden.
There are a couple of theories as to the identity of the Pejeng Giant. One is that he is the manifestation of the Hindu deity Siwa, whilst another, he is Bhima the principal character in the Mahabharata.
This temple is very easy to miss as you drive along the road and mainly because it is actually located down a laneway. If you visit the Pura Panataran Sasih where the Moon of Pejeng is, it is only a stone’s throw from there.
www.baliblog.com
July 17th, 2006
One of the most spectacular national parks to visit in the Archipelago is the Bali Barat National Park located on the western most tip of the island.
The original Bali Barat Reserve covering some 70,000 hectares in land area, was created in 1941 and its main aim was to protect the Bali Starling and the last of the wild banteng, from which most of the Balinese cattle descend.
Bali is a well-populated island, intensively cultivated and without much natural forest left. Such forests are to found along the watershed at the western end of the island on the slopes of Gunung Sangiang, Gunung Merbuk, Gunung Musi and Gunung Patas, all areas watered by clear streams and traversed by footpaths, often steep but relatively easy walking.
The last of the Starlings live in small groups of two or three in the Acacia shrubs on the north coast of Prapat Agung cape, Bali’s most north-western promontory. The cape is cut off from the rest of the reserve by the main Singaraja-Gilamanuk road as well as by the forestry plantations inland of Teluk Terima.
The Marine reserve includes the cape shores and several sanctuary islands, a haunt for seabirds, in the bay near Gilamanuk but centres mainly on Pulau Menjangan and the excellent coral reefs surrounding it. The good drop-offs on Menjangan’s south side are only surpassed by the particularly superb reefs on its northern shores. The island is a popular spot for locals and tourists wishing to dive for a variety of fish and coral reef exploration. Interestingly, there are no dangerous currents to contend with.
The wildlife consist mostly of sea and shore birds, the most conspicuous being the Brown Boobies and Lesser Frigate birds. There are two colonies of Terns that nest on a sandy cay at the entrance to Teluk Lumpur (also known as Mud Bay) whilst the Frigates and Boobies roost on Pulau Burung. The number of White Starlings left in the wild is unknown and, Hawkesbill Turtles are sighted frequently along the reserve’s north coast.
Despite the starling’s rarity, the Bali Barat is rich in over 160 other species. Yellow-vented Bulbul’s are everywhere as well as White-bellied Swiftlets, Sacred and Javan Kingfishers, and Drongos. On the north coast is a colony of Silvered Leaf Monkeys, Dolphin watching is also a highlight of Bali as large, playful schools thrive off the north coast.
There are a number of good guided treks through Bali Barat’s jungles, though because of the starling’s fragile existence no trekking is permitted on the Prapat peninsula and Menjangan island.
Permits are needed to enter the park and are obtained from the National Park Headquarters located at Cecik. The fee is Rp2,500, but you must be accompanied by a guide and here is where the cost comes in. Some guides can charge as much as Rp250,000 for a two day hike.
July 17th, 2006
Land is at a premium in the tourist areas and the further hotels and other facilities for tourists are built then the cost of land will rise. Bali is slowly but surely being ‘eaten up’ by developers.
But it is not only the island of Bali. The outer islands are under threat of a land grab also. The Central Government has called on Klungkung’s Regent to stop the land grab on Bali’s neighboring Islands at Nusa Penida according to an article in the Bali Discovery.
An official from the Directorate General of Fisheries and Oceans has called on Klungkung Regent Wayan Candra to retain local control over the three islands that compose the Nusa Penida group - Nusa Penida Besar, Lembongan and Ceningan.
Dr. I Alex S.W. Retrauban, the Director for Utilization of Small Island from the Directorate General has warned Bali that local people will be physically and economically displaced if the Regional Government fails to protect property rights on the three islands. Retrauban said that the potential of the three islands demands that government take control of the land providing access to investors on a lease-only basis.
Responding to the suggestions made by Retrauban, Klungkung’s Regent insisted that anticipative steps are in place with his government exercising selective discretion in deciding which investors are granted development permits on the three islands.
The three islands of Nusa Penida located close to the eastern shore of Bali comprise two-thirds of the total land area in the Klungkung Regency.
sources : www.baliblog.com
July 12th, 2006
Next Posts
Previous Posts