east bali
A fascinating mix of religion, royal culture and architectural splendour lie within easy reach of Amankila, in an area often referred to as ‘old Bali’. Here, you will find the royal palaces of Klungkung and Karangasem. The last Raja of Karangasem built his water palaces here: Tirtagangga, now a public bathing area, and Ujung, a grand ruin that, even today, manages to convey the extravagant sweep of kingly ambition.
Royalty aside, East Bali is packed with villages whose way of life has changed little over the centuries. None is more rooted in the past, however, than the closed, religious community of Tenganan. While most of Bali embraced and reinterpreted Hinduism over the centuries, Tenganan has tenaciously held on to its beliefs in its own divine origin. In this tiny society clothing has always been central to ritual. Today, families still painstakingly fashion geringsing or double ikat cloth, a fabric and weave found otherwise only in Gujarat, India.
Two of the island’s most important temples, Lempuyang and Besakih, the island’s mother temple, are also located in East Bali. Luhur Lempuyang is one of Bali’s sad kahyangan ‘six temples of the heavens’.