Het Land der Duizend Tempels (The Land of the Thousand Temples) A Guidebook and Souvenir of BALI. The visitors would typically disembark at Buleleng. In the booklet the town is described as not very attractive and because of the hectic bustle imposed by the tight shipping schedules, the graceful Balinese and their elegant temples are not found there.
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| Bali tourist map, 1930 |
After visiting the Tourism Association in Singaraja and finalising the logistics, the first destination of the 6-day trip was Gitgit some 13 km south of Buleleng. At 600 m above sea level it provided a magnificent view of the Buleleng plain. Returning to Singaraja a stop would be made at Bratan to visit the weaving and silver crafts of the area.
Then west along the north coast to Bubunan and southward to Munduk for lunch at its guesthouse. In 1930 this trip took less than two hours by car. The sights along the road: a monument to honour the lieutenants Stegman and Nijs who with 20 men died there fighting the Balinese in 1865; the split gate of the temple of Bubunan; and the view from the guesthouse.
After lunch the journey would be continued to Denpasar via Tabanan (sights: carvings on the gate of the market building), Kapal (sights: a holy spring with a holy eel that comes out of its hole only when called by the priest of the nearby Prasada temple), and Lukluk (sights: beautiful temple with an enormous Waringin tree (ficus benjamina), aka Weeping Fig, or Ficus Tree.
After lunch the journey would be continued to Denpasar via Tabanan (sights: carvings on the gate of the market building), Kapal (sights: a holy spring with a holy eel that comes out of its hole only when called by the priest of the nearby Prasada temple), and Lukluk (sights: beautiful temple with an enormous Waringin tree (ficus benjamina), aka Weeping Fig, or Ficus Tree.
The night would be spent in one of the two (!) hotels in Denpasar. One of these is the old KPM hotel, built in 1928. I believe it still exists. it is located on both sides of one of Denpasar's main streets. The name escapes me.
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| Legong dance |
The next day (Saturday) to Kedaton for a performance, 8 to 10 am, of the lègong and jangèr dances. After the dances to Kuta and Jimbaran, and back to Denpasar.
On Sunday a daytrip to the Elephant Cave near Bedulu, and on to Gunung Kawi—meaning Carving in the Mountain, a 10th century Hindu temple complex where ten seven-metre-high memorials are carved into the rock face. According to legend, these ruined temples are the memorial shrines of the king's concubines and his family.
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| Gunung Kawi |
Lunch would be taken at the guesthouse in Tirta Empul, and in the afternoon visits to the temple and holy springs of Tirta Empoel.
On the return journey a stop would be made in Ubud. In those days not known for its artists and the variety of its culinary outlets, but for an intricately carved gamelan and the Panajaran—the place where the Anak Agung prays and makes offerings.
To be continued…
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