Places to shop in Bali

Shopping is a very famous activity for travellers to Bali. In fact, tourist shops are sprinkled all over bali in the hope of getting lots of tourist visitors as customers! I've come up with 8 destinations for tourists to visit for your must-do shopping activity during your Bali Vacation! However, before you embark on your shopping adventure, do read up my "Shopping In Bali" guide to ensure that you get the best buys and good prices ;)

Denpasar

Denpasar being the capital of Bali, is the main "market" for the Balinese. Kumbasari market, which is nearby Badung River, is the biggest traditional market. It is the perfect place to get an insight into the traditional Indonesia market where local people do their daily shopping. Fruit, vegetables and meat can be found in the basement; on the second level is the place for spices and dried goods; while household wares, clothing, art and craft is on the third level. Here you can get a very good price if you're smart in bargaining. To find handicrafts, shoe shops and restaurants, you can head towards the northern part of Gajah Mada Street. To the east is Sulawesi Street, where you can get textiles and fabrics. On both sides of Sulawesi Street, you can find shops providing household wares. The area here is very colorful with all types of material from the traditional "songket" (cloth woven with strands of gold or silver) to modern day stretchy and shiny material. Why not buy your cloth by the meter and have a suit or dress made up by a local tailor. On the west Side of the market is the place for locals to buy coconut leaf and ceremonial supplies. In the southern part is Hasanudin Street where you can see gold and jewellery shops, tourists are always welcome but Ubud

Ubud is well-known for fine arts with international standard. This is where you can get the best Balinese culture arts and crafts. Highly-regarded art galleries such as Sumertha, Neka, Agung Rai, Rudana and Sika are highly recommended. Big names like Hans Snel and Antonio Blanco is recommended too however they may be really expensive.






The Kuta Area
As an international village almost all of the shops and restaurants here are for tourist market. You can find handicrafts, clothing, jewelry, CDs, furniture and leather crafts on each side of the road. But you can also see many street hawkers with their various offerings along the road. If you do not want to buy anything from them, do not make eye contact and do not ever look at their products, for if you do, they will follow you along the street and pester you to buy something.

Batubulan

On the border of Denpasar and Gianyar, lies Batubulan, the home to sculptures made of stone. You can find various kind of sculptures here ranging from traditional to minimalist, small to large, cheap to expensive :) The craftsmen can sculp random and custom orders and even ship them to your home address back in your country.




Sukawati

This area is popular to shop for Balinese arts. If you ask the locals where to get the cheapest Balinese arts and crafts, Sukawati will be their answer. Besides arts and crafts, you can also find statues, paintings, cloth, Balinese jewelry and also Balinese ceremonial needs,






Tegalalang

Very colourful wooden carvings of flowers, objects and more are displayed gracefully along the road. Various woodcarvings can be found in this village and its nearby neighbourhood at cheap prices! Here's the place to really master the art of bargaining.






Bono

The village to shop for anything made of Bamboo! Yes practically everything from furnitures to mats to window blinds! The villagers are really good at making use of Bamboo for their crafts. You'll be amazed at their talent and creativity!











Tenganan

This is where the native Balinese are located. The "Bali Aga" village in Karangasem, is the only village in Bali that produces the sought-after Balinese Geringsing textile. The materials for Geringsing are all acquired from the surrounding nature. To process Geringsing fabric, traditional methods rooting back to the old Balinese times, are used. The fabric is very delicate, durable and long-lasting thus the expensive price tags! No chemicals are used in the process and great care is taken to ensure the "natural" process.

Batur Temple

Batur temple or commonly called Ulun Danu Temple is situated at 900 meters above sea level of Kalanganyar, Batur village, Kintamani District on the eastern side of the main road leading to Denpasar or Singaraja Via Bangli.
The temple faced west ward where mount Batur and remains of its solidified black laves serve as backdrop and lake Batur stretches far down the slope, enchased the beauty to nature around the temple.
Formerly, before it is in its present location Batur temple is located on the south western slope of mount Batur.
Since the devastating eruption in 1917 which destroyed everything, including the temple its self, then initiated by the head of the village along with other prominent figures, they brought the surviving shrines with them and rebuilt Batur temple to the higher place at Kalanganyar on its present location.
The ceremony in this temple is held annually commonly called Ngusaba ke Dasa
In 1927,the people of Batur began rebuilding Pura Ulun Danu, the temple which once lay at the foot of the volcano. It was an ambitious project. The majority of the 285 planned shrines are yet to be completed. At present, the temple is finely and simply designed. Two august gateways, severe in contrast to the elaborate split gates of South Bali, open onto spacious courtyards laid with black gravel.
Rows of meru towers silhouette against the sky in full view of the smoking volcano. The bale gedong, a storehouse of precious relics, contains a bell of solid gold. As the story goes, the bell was presented to the treasury of the temple by a king of Singaraja in atonement for his having insulted the deities. The ritual in this temple is closely linked with the veneration of Lake Batur and supplication for the blessing of irrigation water. The mountain, lakes help regulate the flow of water to he fields find villages through the many natural springs lower down the slopes.

Kehen Temple

KEHEN TEMPLE
is one of ancients temples in Bali where were housed there old bronze-made manuscripts. This temple is worshipped by the people around the village. The ceremony takes place on Rabu Kliwon Shinta where Ngusaba ceremony is held one in a there years period, which is fall on Purnama kelima around November.
This temple is located on the southern slope of Bangli hill about two kilometers from the town. It is really an historical temple worth visiting with a long plight of steps pointing down to the south. It can be reached by any mode of transports through asphalted road, or a short walk from Bangli cultural Hall.


































Kehen Temple, The Story Review

The existence of the inscription at Kehen Temple can be explained as follows:

Kehen Temple Inscription ‘A’ is mentioning the existence of 3 sanctums those are Hyang Api, Hyang Tanda, and Hyang Karimama
Kehen Temple Inscription ‘B’ from 11 century is mentioning the empire functionary that is the Senapati Kuturan pu Kandara and it elaborate with the anathema words in oath
The Inscription from 13 century (year 1204 M) is mentioning Hyang Kehen and Hyang Wukir. At the moment Hyang Kehen is equal to Kehen Temple and Hyang Wukir is Puncak Bukit Bangli Temple .

Function of Kehen Temple as follows:

It is one of Monarchic Temple , The temple under the aegis of king while ceremony execution and construction is delivered to local countryside custom
As a sanctum which is used as a altar (oath) for empire functionary who disloyal to his obligation will incur the Sapata or very horrible anathema. The function of Kehen Temple as sanctum in execution of oath ceremony is supported by the existence of a circumlocutory canister by 4 dragon tails which is called canister Sarpantaka. Nowadays, the canister is placed in a building in form of Gedong
Worshiping supremacy Siwa God in the form of Eka Dasa Rudra utilizes to request the godsend to the good human life and universe for blessing of fertile life, secure, prosperous and peaceful.

The structure of Kehen Temple yard is arranged to have a terrace and it shows the existence of tradition megalithic which is continued as a symbol from the existence of mount that is one of the fertility sources. The temple festival can be divided into 2 types those are Piodalan Ceremony which is executed every 6 month, that is on Wednesday Keliwon Sinta (Balinese Calendar) and Ngusaba Ceremony which is executed every 5 years.

Don’t miss it during your holiday in Bali, please join our gorgeous Special Temples and Traditional Village Tour to visit this place, have a nice trip…

Places You Must See in Bali Indonesia

Bali is possibly one of the most enchanting island on earth. One of more than 13.000 islands in Indonesia, and Bali is revered as one of the world’s most popular and interesting tourist destination.

Some quick facts: Bali covers an area of 5620 km2, about 140 km from West to East and 80 km from the South to North. The South part consists of lime stone with beautiful soft white sand along the beach, while the East, West and North are mostly volcanic layers with black soft sand beach.


Bali has a tropical climate with the average temperature of about 30 degrees C (80 degrees F) all year. It has only 2 seasons, dry season started from April to October and wet season from October to April. It is always nice and cool in the hillside while though hot around the coastal area but there are still nice breeze all the time. The dry season is always sunny with great view of sunset and sunrise, while the wet season is not too wet because there is still much sun to enjoy during the day time.

Here are eleven things one must see if you are in Bali.

Barong Dance – This is approx. 1 hour long religious dance representing the eternal fight between the good - Barong and the evil symbolized by a horrible looking witch called Rangda. The costumes and set are elaborate and nice. The trick is to get there early, so that you get front seats and be close enough to see the facial expressions of the dancers

















Celuk (Gold & silver smith), Mas (wood carving) and Stone carving villages - You would drive past these 3 villages and see the array of shops selling the gold, wood and stone. As you get into Celuk, all the gold and silver smith shops flank the roads, you can also drop by their factory to take a look at the production process. The same goes for the wood carving and stone carving


















Mount Batur (Kintamani) – This is the second largest active volcano in Bali. It is 1,717 meters from sea level, and bears the remains of the black lava from it's eruption in 1917 and 1927. There is a nice scenic crater lake there. You can do buffet lunch at one of the restaurant and admire the breath-taking view as you eat. The buffet lunch cost about S$10 and has reasonable spread

















Tirta Empul - Tirta Empul means " bubbling water " and is a holy water temple built in 960 AD. The temple is beautiful temple and has holy water fountains for different purposes of purification and blessing. There were people in the fountains doing their purification when I was there. Further inside the temple area, you can see the source of the water – a spring where water is bubbling up through the black sand. A total make of nature. Legend has it that one of the gods shot an arrow from heaven to look for water, and the spot where the water is bubbling up now is the exact spot where the arrow hit















Goa Gajah – Means "elephant cave". Found in 11th century, this cave was dug in the peaceful riverside valley in a hard sand stone. Entering the inside T-Shape cave, there are some niches used by Buddhist Monks for meditation. Among the many historical remains found around this cave is the holy Ganesh Statue (a human body with elephant head) which is believed as the God of Purification and Evil Controller. The cave can be quite claustrophobic for some people but is well worth a quick look inside


















Sebatu Holy Spring Temple - Is named " Gunung Kawi " in Balinese. It is a very beautiful village temple located in a peaceful valley with its holy spring. Somewhat similar to Trita Empul, there are large fountains outside the temple area, where villagers use to take a bath. However, my driver told me that this place is not as ‘holy’ as Trita Empul




















Taman Ayun - Is the largest Royal Family Temple Complex built in 1934 in the village of Mengwi, Badung Regency. The area of this temple is surrounded by moat with some water lilies and lotuses. The place is still used during prayer sessions and important ceremonial events

















Tanah Lot – One of the most famed temple in Bali. Tanah Lot means " the land of ocean" is a fascinating Hindu Temple built on a piece of cliff in Indian Ocean shore. This temple is dedicated to the God of Ocean "Baruna" built by a high Hindu Priest name Dang Hyang Dwijendra in the 16th century. During high tide, the cliff is surrounded by water and the temple looks like it is floating. In the bottom part of the cliff there is a fresh water holy spring while on the beach cave there are some holy snakes that guard the temple. In the South and North part of the temple is absolutely beautiful view and best for watching sunset




















Uluwatu Temple - Also built by the same Hindu Priest who built Tanah Lot, Uluwatu temple is also another magnificent temple built perched on a cliff. The whole temple stretches across a large area and it is flanked by the fabulous India Ocean. Here, you also see large numbers of monkeys, mostly mischievous ones, who snatches food from visitors



















Lake Beratan & Pura Ulun Danu - Beratan is a name of the Lake and Village. There is a spectacular floating temple called "Ulun Danu Temple" and is an absolutely interesting sight. The weather at the lake is cool, which is a nice break from the mostly hot sun during my trip. There were people who hired a traditional paddle boat or speed boat to go around the lake, although my driver said there really is nothing much to see around the lake


















Jatiluweh – A place where you see lots of terraced rice paddy fields. The sights are breathtaking as you see the green terrace, meandering around you. This place is supposed to one of the few in the world that has such nice terraced paddies. Those terraces are probably cut decades ago, and now resulting in the fascinating view today

Beautiful Janger Dance, Bali

It is difficult to trace the origin of Janger. No place in Bali admits to having been responsible for the first janger. The north Bali says it came from south, the south attributed to north. If Bali makes Lombok responsible, Lombok says it learnt from Bali. Some professional said that the janger is derived from Sanghyang dance. The female and male choirs were taken away from Sanghyang Dedari and formed new composition. Some said that janger originated from the song of girls, who picked coffee beans from the trees in North Bali.

When they were sitting together in the work of their break in the work, they began to sing together, joined by a few boys and it developed in to janger. Other said it was the Balinese answer for Sumatran Rampak Sembilan dance. The flute begins an eerie tune, and faraway voices chant a unusual song that flows from a loud melody to an inaudible high pitch. Seven girl singers appear wearing splendid, floral crowns with multi-coiored spikes.
They advance, allowing another pair to enter, until twelve girls have filed on stage. Slowly, they kneel opposite each other, cocking their heads and darting their eyes to accent the rhythm of the orchestra. As the chanting continues, txkeive young men silently repeat the girls' entrance. In contrast to feminine delicacy, their movements are deliberate and strong. All wear painted moustaches and bear the self assured look of a glitk courtier.


Suddenly, the male formation breaks in to frenzied activity of twists, jerks and lunges -all in the tight syncopation of a military drill, with brisk shouts of "O beh 1 0 beh 1 Dinga dinga ding janger-ger!" Instantly, the,,shock wave ceases, the men freeze in their positions, and the lonely flute carries the dance Gack to the soft sways and chanting of the girls

Legong Keraton Dance, Bali

In legends, Legong is the heavenly dance of divine nymphs. Of all classical Balinese dances, it remains the quintessence of femininity and grace. Girls from the age of five aspire to be selected to represent the community as Legong dancers.

Connoisseurs hold the dance in highest esteem and spend hours discussing the merits of various Legong groups. The most popular of Legongs is the Legong Kraton, Legong of the palace. Formerly, the dance was patronized by local rajas and held in e puri, residence of the royal family of the village. Dancers were recruited from the aptest and prettiest children. Today, the trained dancers arestill- very young; a girl of fourteen approaches the age of retirement as a Legong performer.

The highly stylized Legong Kraton enacts a drama of a most purified and abstract kind. The story is performed ' by three dancers: the condong, a female attendant of the court, and two identically dressed legongs (dancers),who adopt the roles of royal persons. Originally, a storyteller sat with the orchestra and chanted the narrative, but even this has been refined away in many Legongs. Only the suggestive themes of the magnificent gamelan gong (the full Balinese orchestra) and the minds of the audience conjure up imaginary changes of scene in the underlying play of Legong Kraton.

The story derives from the history of East Java in the 1 2th and 1 3th centuries: when on a journey the King of Lasem finds the maiden Rangkesari lost in the forest. He takes her home and locks her in a house of stone. Rangkesari's brother, the Prince of Daha, learns of her captivity and threatens war unless she is set free.

Rangkesari begs her captor to avoid war by giving her liberty, but the king prefers to fight. On his way to battle, he is met by a bird of ill omen that predicts his death. In the fight that ensues he is killed. The dance dramatizes the farewells of the King of Laserm as he departs for the battlefield and his ominous encounter with the bird. It opens with an introductory solo by the condong. She moves with infinite suppleness, dipping to the ground and rising in one unbroken motion, hertorso poised in an arch with elbows and head held high, while fingers dance circles around her wrists. Slowly, her eyes focus on two fans laid before her and, taking them, she turns to meet the arrival of the legongs.

The tiny dancers glitter and dazzle. Bound from head to foot in gold brocade, it is a wonder the legongs can move with such fervent agitation. Yet, the tight composure of the body, balanced by dynamic directive gestures-the flash of an eye, the tremble of two fingers blend in unerring precision.After as hort dance, the condong retires, leaving the legongs to pantomime the story within the dance. Like a controlled line of an exquisite drawl ing, the dancers flowfrom one identity intothel next without disrupting the harmony of t dance. They may enter as the double image one' character, their movements marked tight synchronization and rhythmical verve Then they may split, each enacting a separate role, and come together in complementary halves to form a unified pattern, as in the plan ful love scene in which they "rub noses The King of Lasem bids farewell to his queen, and takes leave of Rangkesari. She repels his advances by beating him with he fananddepartsin anger. lt is then the condong reappears as a bird with wild eyes fixed upon the king. Beating its golden wings to a strange flutter of cymbals, it attacks the king in a vain attempt to dissuade him from war. The ancient narrative relates: ". .. a black bird came flying out of the northeast and swooped down upor the king, who saw it and said, 'Raven, hoi come you to swoop down on me? In spiteo; all, 1 shall go out and fight. This 1 shall do, oh raven!... With the king's decision understood the dance may end; or the other legong may return on stage as his prime minister, and shimmering unison, they whirl thefinal stepsi: war.

Kecak Dance, Bali

The Kecak is an unusual Balinese dance for a couple of reasons.

First, there is no musical accompaniment. The gamelan is not there. Rhythm is provided by a chanting 'monkey' chorus. The polyrhythmic sound of the chanting provides the name,
'Ke-chak'.


The story line for the Kecak is taken from the Ramayana.

Prince Rama goes hunting for a golden deer and his beautiful wife is kidnapped by the evil Rawana.

Story is secondary in this performance, though. If you want to see the story of the Ramayana, you should see a Ramayana performance.

The Kecak is a triumph of style and mood, rather than story. Watch the faces of audience members. More than any other Balinese dance, the Kecak turns every viewer into a child, wide-eyed and transfixed.

The story line for the Kecak is taken from the Ramayana.

Prince Rama goes hunting for a golden deer and his beautiful wife is kidnapped by the evil Rawana.

Story is secondary in this performance, though. If you want to see the story of the Ramayana, you should see a Ramayana performance.

The Kecak is a triumph of style and mood, rather than story. Watch the faces of audience members. More than any other Balinese dance, the Kecak turns every viewer into a child, wide-eyed and transfixed.

Beautiful Balinese Women

Balinese Women does not gaze at women as the weak creature that has to be protected. They are considered to have the strength to create the beauty, however they also can make the dangers life in the world. They who want to release from the worldly as include in 'Sarasamucchaya', should be avoid or even if its possible to release the women from our mind. This as one reason how worried a man to the women magical strength that may be crush the powder to the Gods and make their struggle for imprisoned and united with the God become down.

In their daily life, the community respectful to the women, as seen when peneration to the Goddesses who have believed to help the human life in the world. The penetration for the dedication and the grateful for God's generosity of 'Dewi Sri', the Goddesses of paddy that the sources of human life. The penetration as the grateful also for Dewi Saraswati, the knowledge Goddesses that is symbolized as a woman with four hands, that stand up the lotus flower. She is the symbol of woman who has to be provided with a formula extolling God's perfection at the first hand, She tribute 'Hyang Widi Wasa', with palmyra palm leaves at Her second hand She penetrate the knowledge, with the musical instruments at the third hand She enjoy and announce about The beauty and arts, and with a flower at the fourth hand She spread the fragrance and softness.




















Even in puppet story, 'arja', 'mask', and folklore are mainly expressed the character of strong, independent, wide experiences, and has a charismatic woman as the princes.

Barong Dance, Bali

Barong is probably the most widely known dance. It is also another story telling dance, narrating the fight between lovely and wicked. This dance is the classic example of Balinese way of acting out mythology, leading to myth and history being blended in to one reality.






































Somebody can die or get seriously injured in a Barong dance. It is said that if Rangda's spell is too strong, a weak soldier may not be able to resist it, even with the help of Barong. He may finish up hurting himself together with his own keris.
































The masks of Barong and Rangda are thought about sacred items, and before they are brought out, a priest must be present to offer blessings by sprinkling them with holy water taken from Mount Agung, and offerrings must be introduced.