Buleleng Regency
Buleleng is the other side of Bali, physically and culturally. Long isolated from the South by the North-Central volcanic ridge and vast expanses of primary forest, it has developed its own social and cultural features.
The regency of Buleleng stretches along almost the whole length of the island. Its territory consists of steep mountain slopes plunging into a narrow coastal plain. Singaraja, Bali’s second largest city, is located in the middle, almost to the top of the northern bulge on the island’s map.
Buleleng is where Bali made its entrance into history. In Pacung, 40km to the East of Singaraja, were recently discovered ancient beads that are the first signs of Indian trade in the Indonesian archipelago, 2000 years ago. Stupika effigies -small stupas- signs of a Buddhist presence have also been unearthed in Lovina. As soon as the 6th century settled on the northern shore, eventually reaching the South where their culture bloomed 200 years later.
This early history bears witness to the role of the sea. While the South of the island focused on its small agrarian microcosm, Buleleng, located on the sea route to the Eastern islands, was constantly involved in archipelagic affairs. It is the first place which the Dutch colonized. At the end of the 17th century, Panji Sakti, following the disintegration of Balinese unity, founded the kingdom of Buleleng and became so powerful as to control the Eastern Javanese kingdom of Blambangan.
Buleleng has many communities of Bali Aga - Balinese who have escaped subjection by the Javanized courts. It is home to old Islamic communities and has more traces of the Dutch presence than anywhere else in Bali, both in its architecture and in the mind-frame of its people, less feudal-minded.
The city of Singaraja 100,000 inhabitants, was the capital of Bali in the Dutch times. Today it is a blend of Muslim kampungs, Chinese shops, shady avenues lined with colonial houses and neo-Balinese government offices. There is a Chinese temple (”klenteng”) near the harbor, with is not far away from the Kajanan mosque, whose mirhab pulpit has an interesting mix of Moslem and Balinese decorative motifs. The Balinese elements of the city almost appear to be pushed to the periphery of the city as the traditional traders of the Archipelago, the Bugis and the Chinese, occupy its center.
Then visit the Gedong Kirtya a library, where are kept thousands of “lontar” manuscripts in Old-Javanese and Balinese script. It is also possible to buy there “prasi” paintings, made on lontar palm leaf in the ancient fashion. The Gedong Kirtya museum occupies part of the ground of the ancient royal palace.
To the South of Singaraja, visit the Gitgit Waterfall, Bali’s highest. Nearby is located the Moslem village of Pegayaman. Descendants of mercenaries from the 18th century, they use Balinese names, speak Balinese and have a local culture mixing old-Javano-lslamic and Balinese elements. On the road down to Singaraja the smithies of Bratan make jewels and religious implements.
Westward, tourists looking for a quiet beach resort head for Lovina, a long stretch of beach hotels and bungalows 10 km to the West of Singaraja. The black sand beach is safe and a perfect place for swimming and snorkeling. Lovina also offers dolphin viewing. It is the perfect basis for the discovery of Northern Bali. Further to the West of Lovina the coastal road takes us to the small towns of Banjar and Seririt. Banjar is host to the only Buddhist monastery of the island, built by a Brahmin who converted to Theravada Buddhism in the 50s, while retaining his traditional Balinese following. The monastery, a blend of Balinese and mainland Southeast Asian architecture, offers a stunning panorama down to the sea. Banjar has also hot springs popular with the local people and tourists from Lovina. Up the road, driving from the dry coastal area to increasingly lush landscapes, one reaches the small Bali Aga village of Pedawa, with its unique shrines from bamboo.
From Seririt, a highway branches inland to the South and the Tabanan area across the most beautiful rice terraces in the island, in Busung Biu and Pupuan. In Mayong, a mountain road takes you back to the Bedugul Hill area through Munduk and the Tamblingan and Buyan lakes in the midst of the rain forest.
Munduk, a Dutch-time plantation center, is an eco-tourism hill resort. It has no less than 6 waterfalls and many treks to the still pristine Tamblingan lake and the nearby mountain, rain forest and plantation areas. The area is also reputated for its bamboo musical instruments.
Back to the coastal area and Seririt, the coastal strip narrows as the western uplands come closer to the shore. The road bends through Celukan Bawang harbour, Gondol beach, a good place for swimming and snorkeling, and eventually reaches the western tip of Bali. After passing along a huge rock-face reaching almost to the sea and the nearby Pulaki temple, one reaches the newly developped beach resort of Pemuteran, with good accomodation, white sand and fishermen’s boats, although rather far from the centers of Balinese culture. Pemuteran is an ideal place to organize excursions to the Taman Nasional Bali Barat.
West Bali National park, which comprises the natural reserve of Menjangan island and the uplands of the West. Menjangan has the most beautiful coral reefs of Bali, and together with nearby Labuan Lalang, is a wonderful place for diving and snorkel ling. Spartan lodging is available at Labuan Lalang, but it is forbidden to spend the night on the island proper. To organize treks to the inland section of the park. one should drive Southeast to Cekik, near Gilimanuk, in the regency of Negara, where the offices of the West Bali National Park are located. Altogether different is Eastern Buleleng.
East of the city is the scenic Sawan rice-plain, which produces Bali’s best rice. The area has a unique, baroque temple architecture best known for its reliefs of the colonial period. In Sang sit, where boats still shuttle to the Kangean islands to the North, don’t miss the Beji temple. Its gates and shrines, carved with serpents, Garuda, demons heads and floral ornementation, illustrate at its highest skills of the Northern artists.
On the nearby the road to Sawan lies the village of Jagaraga, where a Balinese redoubt stopped the Dutch advance in the 1846-1849 war. Nothing remains of the fight, but Pura Dalem (the temple of the dead), built at the turn of the century, provides an ironic look on the Dutch presence, with Dutchmen in boats, cars etc.
Sawan itself is a traditional center of dance and music. It has simple accommodations and river views rivaling that of Southern Bali. One of the remaining gamelan makers of the island has also its workshop there. From Sawan, there is a small road heading up to Bedugul through coffee and clove plantations and mountain landscapes.
Returning on the coastal road, stop at the Pura Meduwe Karang temple in Kubutambahan. Its carvers, beside making sculptures of classical heroes, have also integrated the Dutch presence in their reliefs. The most famous shows the Dutchman riding a. bicycle, its wheels made of flowers. It is said to represent Nieuwenkampf, the Dutch artist who first “discovered” Bali at the beginning of the century and who used to travel by bike while accumulating sketches of temples and religious events.
In Kubutambahan there is a highway forking northward to Kintamani and the Bangli and Gianyar regencies through plantation landscapes. On the coast, the plain narrows in a succession of coconut plantations and black sand beaches. The small resort of Air Sanih, favorite with the locals, offers a resting place with swimming pool.
Further east, the coastal villages of Julah and Pujung, and the nearby mountain village of Sembiran, are three other Bali Aga villages, with megalithic remains and their own brand of Balinese language. The road climbing to Sembiran offers a fantastic view over the coconut coastal plain. In Pujung and Julah some house are still made in the fashion of Javanese joglo pavilion, a left-over from Moslem traders who have long haunted the area. After Tejakula, the village of Tejakula has preserved an original dance tradition, with a variety of baris gede (warrior dance) and a famous wayang wong which can be seen at the time of the Galungan festival. The road then heads East to Karangasern across a landscape savaged by the 1963 eruption of Mount Agung.