KARANGASEM REGENCY
With mighty Gunung Agung dominating the landscape, this regency's scenery
is some of the most spectacular on the island. Karangasem is Bali's most
traditional region, with rustic villages, hospitable people, and unique
festivals. The 861-square-km regency is one of the most untouristed on
Bali, removed from the frenzy of development. This is the only area of
Bali where a number of archaic dance and musical forms are still regularly
practiced and where the High Balinese language is still in common use.
In the "closed" village of Tenganan near Candidasa,
unusual customs have been jealously guarded for centuries. Its pre-Hindu
architecture is simple yet gracious; one of the most handsome buildings
in all Bali is Tenganan's 12-poster bale gede. The mountain villages
of Karangasem often incorporate a very distinctive, sturdy, volcanic-stone
architecture found nowhere else on Bali. The villages of Selat, Iseh, and
Rendang offer fine architecture as well as magnificent views.
On the southern slope of Gunung Agung is Besakih,
the Mother Temple of Bali. From the village of Putung, perched on a steep
cliff above the sea, one can clearly view Gunung Rinjani on the island
of Lombok to the east. The ferry to Lombok leaves daily from the small
port of Padangbai on the southeast coast, where accommodations are cheap
and plentiful and local restaurants serve freshly caught seafood. In Manggis
village is perhaps Bali's most dynamic hotel, the Amankila, an opulent
palace built on the side of a mountain overlooking the ocean.
For marinelife enthusiasts, snorkeling and
scuba diving off the coast in and around the beach resorts of Balina and
Candidasa, as well as near Amed northeast of Tirtagangga, is a profound
experience. One of the premier dive spots on the whole island is Tulamben
in the northeast corner of the regency.
If you want to spend some time in Karangasem,
the best place to base yourself is Padangbai—where the ferries for Lombok
depart—of the tourist enclave of Candidasa. Starting in Klungkung, drive
along a scenic road past Kusamba, Goa Lawah, Padangbai, then Candidasa.
As soon as you get past Klungkung, the traffic thins, the pace slows, and
the countryside opens up into dry stretches. The monsoons don't start until
November, and toward the end of the dry season Karangasem's inhabitants
are desperate for rain.
For a complete loop of the district, travel
from Klungkung to Candidasa and Amlapura, then head west across the foothills
of Gunung Agung to Rendang via Sibetan and Selat. From Rendang, visit Besakih
to the northeast, then continue west on a little-used road to Bangli or
south to Klungkung. Fares from Denpasar's Terminal Kereneng: Klungkung,
Rp600; Padangbai, Rp1500; Candidasa, Rp1500; Besakih, Rp1800; Amlapura,
Rp2500.
The Land
The undulating irrigated rice fields of Karangasem are dotted with
fruit trees, corn, papaya, durian, and banana. In the arid northeast grow
groundnuts, grapes, and cacao; coffee and cloves are the cash crops in
the mountain regions. Rising from the sculptured rice fields in some areas
are large, rocky, knoblike outcroppings, remnants of a previous volcanic
age. Now covered with tropical vegetation, each knob is usually home to
a small temple. Banana and coconut plantations along the coast are broken
by small villages where people make their living from fishing, sea salt
processing, and coral gathering.
The hard work of reclaiming the land after
Gunung Agung's great eruption of 1963 is complete, though remnants of the
devastation are still visible in cracked buildings and fields strewn with
volcanic debris.
History
After the 16th-century collapse of the Majapahit Empire, the royal
kraton in Gelgel dominated Bali. In the 17th century the court of
Karangasem rose to challenge Gelgel, becoming not only a powerful political
force but a thriving center of the arts. In 1678 Karangasem conquered the
island of Lombok, colonizing the western rice-growing portion of the isle.
Tables turned in 1849 when the Dutch landed 4,000 Lombok troops in Karangasem;
Lombok ruled the region until 1894, when Karangasem came under full Dutch
control. To govern the regency the Dutch appointed one of the most cryptic
figures in Balinese history, Gusti Gede Jelantik. His son, Raja Anak Agung
Gede Jelantik, served as governor of east Bali from 1902 until Indonesian
independence in 1945, when all of Indonesia's aristocracy lost their authority.
See faded photos of the old raja and his family on the facade of the Maskerdam
reception hall in Puri Kangin, Amlapura.