Unique Places in Bali

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No Balinese passes by without stopping to offer a few flower petals or a bit of food for a safe journey: Teluk Terima (Terima Bay) at the entrance of a footpath to Jayaprana's grave. It was so in 1969 when a you could count a day's traffic on the fingers of one hand. Nowadays a priest is on duty to bless all passing cars, buses and motorcyles with a prayer and holy water.

The story of Jayaprana goes back four centuries, yet he may well be a historic figure. It is a Balinese version of the biblical story of David and Batsheba. The king of Kalianget (which was not far from Lovina) had taken the orphan I Jayaprana into his household. When Jayaprana had reached the age of 25 years, he married a village girl, Ni Layonsari. However the king fell in love with the bride and wanted her for himself. The couple had not yet been together 42 days when the king ordered Jayaprana on an errand to the uninhabited west. When they had arrived at Teluk Terima, one of the men accompanying Jayaprana revealed that the king had ordered him to kill Jayaprana. "If that is the king's wish, so be it, " said Jayaprana, "may he be good to Layonsari." But when the young widow understood Jayaprana's fate, she refused the advances of the king and killed herself. The king, who could not deal with his loss, went mad and killed himself too; the kingdom dissolved through internal strife.

The Balinese poem of Jayaprana and Layonsari has been translated into Indonesian by the late I Ketut Putra, who was living as a recluse on the border of Teluk Terima in 1969. His little booklet has gone through at least four printings.

Directions: Teluk Terima is on the border of West Bali National Park, facing Menjangan Island. You pass the spot when you take the north route from Singaraja to Gilimanuk. Once you are there and have had your vehicle blessed, go the short walk uphill and pay your respects to Jayaprana's memory.

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Not many tourists “doing Bali” pay a visit to Gedung Kertya, but for those really interested in Balinese culture, this modest museum - or rather library - is a must. It is here that the written record of Bali's cultural heritage is preserved.

The library was established in 1928 by the colonial government official supervising the Buleleng area, and was then named after two Dutch scholars Liefrink and Van der Tuuk. Now it counts over 3000 manuscripts on lontar leaves, covering government, agriculture, religion, healing crafts, spells and magic, as well as ancient Balinese poetry.

An employee of the neighbouring museum showed us around and explained how the lontar leaves are prepared, the texts and pictures engraved in them and then coloured by rubbing in the ink. He also told that the original lontar books are kept safe. They are constantly being copied and visitors only get to see copies.

When going here, make it a three-in-one destination. In the same compound - the former royal palace grounds - you can also visit the Buleleng Museum and the living quarters of the late king Anak Agung Putu Djelantik, still inhabited by one of his granddaughters, Anak Agung Serayawati.

Address: 20 Jalan Veteran, Singaraja.
Open: 8am to 3pm Monday – Thursday, 8 am to noon on Friday, closed on weekends.
Entrance fee: Rp.5000.

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Few tourists enjoying a Lovina vacation pay the homage due to the man whose vision put Lovina on the tourist map. His name is Anak Agung Pandji Tisna, he was buried on a hill overlooking his favourite coast. It was he who coined the name Lovina, short for 'Love Indonesia'.

When I, Theo, together with a couple of students in 1970 first spent some days on the Lovina coast, we slept under an awning in A. A. Pandji Tisna's yard and bathed at his well. A few years later he had built the first accommodation, Tasik Madu Hotel (= Honey Coast Hotel). After his death on June 2, 1978, the hotel was sold and eventually went broke - the plot lies fallow now.

A. A. Pandji Tisna was the eldest son of the hereditary ruler of Buleleng, Putu Jelantik, and himself was chairman of the Council of Balinese Kings from 1945 to 1947. He resigned from that post when he had converted to Christianity. Perhaps he will be best remembered as author of several novels on Balinese life. One of these, Sukreni, Gadis Bali, has been translated in English and published under the title 'The Rape of Sukreni'.

Honor Pandji Tisna's memory by paying a visit to the 'A. A. Nyoman Pandji Tisna Memorial Park', established by his daughter Anak Agung Serayawati Pandji Tisna. Read the short biography posted near the entrance gate. His tomb is located adjacent to a little chapel he had built on the hill in 1963. The park is a family burial ground, several of his children have been laid to rest here too.

Directions: At Kaliasem, 1 km west of Lovina centre, find the road leading south named Jalan A.A. P. Tisna. Exactly 2 km uphill along this road, a small green signboard indicates the parking at the Memorial Park.

Website: http://www.lontar.org/index.php?page=author&id=3&lang=en

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Gilimanuk is the ferry harbour on Bali's side for traffic between Java and Bali. Most travellers just hurry past, and indeed Gilimanuk has little to offer of the things that have made Bali famous. The western tip of Bali was almost uninhabited until increasing inter-island traffic caused people both from Bali and from Java to settle in Gilimanuk.

Having passed through many times already, we finally decided to make time for a visit to the museum. Here we saw proof that Gilimanuk, more specifically the Cekik quarter was already inhabited in pre-historic times. Excavations in 1962 have revealed a necropolis or burial site of 15 ha, one of the largest in Indonesia. Numerous sarcophagi have been found here, smaller than those we saw in Sumbawa, and at least 100 complete human skeletons. Some of these are on display in the museum together with pottery and other artefacts. They are said to date back to 600 B.C.

The museum is located on 7 ha of the excavation site itself, while the remaining area has not been cleared yet from modern occupation.

Directions: Just follow the route east from the ferry terminal, after 500 m go straight ahead instead of right direction Denpasar. There you find the museum on your left.
Open: Monday through Friday 8 am to 4 pm
Entrance: Rp 6000

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A satay variant from Bali and typical Balinese satay wrap. with a distinctive taste and so inviting a sense. This satay is made from minced beef, chicken, fish, pork, or even turtle meat, which is then mixed with grated coconut, thick coconut milk, lemon juice, shallots, and pepper. Wound around bamboo, sugar cane or lemon grass sticks, it is then grilled on charcoal

hi amy :-)) we were in bali a few years ago and onee of the most exciting trips we did from there was a ferry ride to lobmbok the a two hour ride to a fishing village where we were taken by a very small boat to and island called GILLITRAWAGAN it is just paradise a very small tropical island with no cars amazing diving just a dream palce to spend a couple of days (google it )
your hotel will arrange it for you:-)) hope this helps mikkie

Enjoy the fantastic view from the top of Mount Agung, the holy mountain of Bali. It's a tough hike, but absolutely worth the sweat.
For some good pictures or a video take Michael (www.michaelvideoadventures.com) with you, this will be a nice memory.

Time in Bali is flying. Suddenly, it was my last day. It was Saturday night, where Kuta and Legian areas are really live. We passed by the area, and Nick asked me whether I prefer to have nightlife scene or still stick with my plan to join meditation. I decided to stick with meditation.

I learned from Nick that things that I usually call meditation in religious custom of Balinese is known as Yoga. Nick told me, there are three types of practicing; yoga, meditation and tuntunan. Tuntunan is the highest among these three and it takes time to practice it.
Luckily, that night there were Nick meditation group gathered in one of friend’s house. I went there . I met these wonderful people. Very calming, warm and I instantly feel lifted. Since I am very new, they told me about basic breathing techniques. To restore energy, to calm down and to clear mind. Time was too short to learn everything, but I’ll be back to learn one day.

The meditation class (this time is meditation that we usually call), can be found easily in Ubud area. There is also area where meditation class is given for free. But for the schedule, you need to check local newsletter or newspaper that usually full of free advertisement.

I enclose here clinic that I found from advertisement in Ubud (but, this is not community I went for meditation)

Mantra Aura Clinic
JR Lungsiakan Kedewatan, Ubud