BALI - CLOSING THE CIRCLE

CANDIDASA, KLUNGKUNG, RICE FIELDS AND UBUD - SEPTEMBER 2005



"CANDI BEACH COTTAGE is a nice, quiet and relaxing hotel located amidst palm trees directly on the beach of Candi Dasa at Mendira Bay on the East Coast of Bali with great views of neighbouring islands"



"KUSAMBA - The coastal village of Kusamba, whose inhabitants live mainly by fishing and salt production, is one of the embarkation points to the islands of Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. The beach is amazingly covered with the rests of the funerary ceremonies. Don't mention the smell in the nearby fish market..."



"KLUNGKUNG - The Klungkung Palace was built by the Dewa Agung dynasty in 1710. Most of Bali’s royal families came from the old Klungkung dynasty, which ruled Bali from the 17th century through 1908, when a royal mass suicide (puputan) occurred against Dutch invaders. Most of the original palace and grounds were destroyed by those Dutch attacks. The existing palace, called Semara Pura, contains a large square with courtyards, gardens, pavilions and moats. Stone walls with water lilies in the moat surround the beautiful complex"



"KLUNGKUNG KERTHA GOSA - This was the Supreme Court of the Klungkung kingdom. The Hall of Justice, located within the grounds of Semara Pura, is an open sided pavilion with the ceiling completely covered with paintings telling the story of Bhima Swarga. They were originally done on cloth, but had to be replaced in the 1920s as the cloth deteriorated; they were repainted again in the 1960s"



"BACK TO SCHOOL - On our way to the rice fields, we visited a primary school. It was amazing to observe the excitement of the young boys and girls seeing foreign tourists visiting their class"



"RICE FIELDS - Bali has probably some of the most beautiful rice fields in the the world. It's an orgy of green!"


"MAS is a village specializing in woodcarvings of any kind. Most of the prominent wood-carvers of Bali dwell in Mas, producing fine woodcarvings and this is where they teach the young generation to carve"


"BATIK - Having my shorts painted"


"GAMELAN ORCHESTRA - According to Wikipedia «a gamelan is a kind of musical ensemble of Indonesian origin typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings, and vocalists may also be included. The term refers more to the set of instruments than the players of those instruments. A gamelan as a set of instruments is a distinct entity, built and tuned to stay together — instruments from different gamelan are not interchangeable»"





"UBUD ROYAL PALACE - Ubud, «the global and multicultural» village, is a tranquil town that has been able to preserve its unique and rich natural and cultural legacies, and is considered as Bali's finest example of a culture-based tourist destination. The beginnings of cultural tourism have been linked to the Ubud royal families of Puri Ubud. From the late 19th century to the mid-1940s, the Royal Palace was the seat for the local ruler. It's a series of well-preserved pavilions, many of them decorated with colonial-era European furniture"




"CAFE LOTUS is a landmark in Ubud, the centre of Balinese culture. Located on the main road, is Ubud's most spectacular restaurant, where you may dine the Asian way seated on bamboo mats, overlooking lotus flowers in bloom. The setting is magnificent even by Balinese standards: a large lotus pond framed by ancient flowering trees with one of Ubud's main temple complex, Pura Taman Kemuda Saraswati, serving as a backdrop"


"DRAGON at Cafe Lotus. Twice a week you may dine while watching performances of traditional Balinese dances and gamelan orchestras"