A hidden wonderful place has been found, in the heart of Denpasar; it stands firmly on the center of a very wide green yard. No one will expect amazing spectacles inside of this monument. Balinese Struggle Monument is located at Jl. Raya Puputan, Renon Denpasar. You will find a green field and a monument in the centre of the field. Its shape looks like a bell with spacious lawn surrounding the monument.

(more…)

Standing on Tukad Badung Street, Renon Denpasar is one of two franchises of Nasi Ayam Kedewatan’s Mrs. Mangku (the central of course in Kedewatan, Ubud and another franchise is in Kuta. This restaurants attracts many people to come especially the fans of Nasi Ayam Kedewatan’s Mrs. Mangku from Denpasar who do not have enough time to go to Ubud or Kuta.. On the first glance, it is like others restaurants; woody tables and chairs dominate the room then the cashier is in the left corner. Don’t sit on there if you are not in a hurry. Pass on the second door and you will see the best part of this restaurant.

There are, on the back of the first building, some gazebos covered with sago-palm roof stand. Those were built on the long pond and encircled by the high grass and also assorted flowers. While you are eating you will be comforted by spattering water falling from the bamboo tube so the noisy sound of the street in front of the restaurant will barely audible. It is allowed you to chat with your family and friends or laugh together freely. Nasi Ayam Kedewatan gives you the chance to choose-the sitting on the floor-gazebo or -sitting on the chairs-gazebo. A comfortable place for having a lunch.

(more…)

Here is an interesting writing on Buddhism in Bali by venerable S. Dhammika. It is interesting to see the point of view of a Buddhist Monk form outside Bali on Buddhism in Bali.

Much attention has been given to how far west Buddhism extended in ancient times. The most westerly Buddhist monument that can be is the foundations of a large stupa in the south east corner of the ancient citadel of Khiva in Turkmenistan. Small communities of Buddhists may have existed beyond this but if they did they would have been insignificant, isolated and exceptional. We can say therefor that the outer edge of Buddhism in the west was what is now eastern Iran. But how far to the east did Buddhism spread its gentle and civilizing influence? To the outer islands of Indonesia, to Australia or perhaps beyond? In the 1920’s a superb bronze bust of the Buddha was found on Sulawesi, one of the larger islands that make up Indonesia. This is the eastern most point that any Buddhist antiquity has ever been found. There is, though, no evidence of an enduring Buddhist presence either on Sulawesi or beyond it; no ruined temples or monasteries, no inscriptions or references to it in the historical records. However, only a few hundred miles south west of Sulawesi is the small island of Bali where MajapahitG and literary evidence shows that Buddhism existed along side Hinduism for about seven hundred years.

Indian merchants first arrived in Bali in about 200 BCE and it was probably these people who introduced Buddhism and Hinduism. A Balinese work of uncertain date called the Nagarakertagama by the Buddhist monk lists all the Buddhist temples in Bali, twenty six altogether, and mentions that in 1275 King Kretanagara underwent a Tantric Buddhist initiation to protect his kingdom from an expected invasion by Kublai Khan. The island’s history is scant until 1343 when it was conquered by and absorbed into the Majapahit Empire of Java-Sumatra. Hinduism and Buddhism both received state patronage although the type of Buddhism that prevailed gradually became indistinguishable from Hinduism. A Javanese Buddhist work from about the 12th century contains this telling verse. “The one substance is called two, that is, the Buddha and Siva. They say they are different but how can they be divided? Despite differences there is oneness”. Clearly at the time these words were being composed some Buddhists were struggling to maintain the uniqueness of the Dharma while others were stressing its similarity with Hinduism. Eventually in both Java and Bali the integrators prevailed. Incidentally, the phrase “Despite differences there is oneness” ( Bhineka tunggal ika ) has been taken as the motto for the Republic of Indonesia. With the collapse of Mahapahit in 1515 and the ascendancy of Islam, Java’s old intellectual and religious elite, including the last surviving Buddhist monks and scholars sought refuge in Bali.

(more…)

Ubud is indisputable center of Balinese art especially for painting with its numerous talented artists and many excellent paintings. However there are artists of talent emerge outside Ubud whose style and substance appear to develop entirely separately, not conforming to the styles that develop in Ubud. And one of these talented artists was I Gusti Made Deblog.

I Gusti Made Deblog was born in 1906 in Taensiat, Denpasar municipality. He learned the art of painting especially portrait painting at the age of thirty-one from his Chinese friend, Yap Sin Tin, who made his living by drawing portrait of his clients with contee (hardened coal) and Chinese ink on paper. Unfortunately drawing portrait was not Deblog’s best talent, hetried to sell his drawing but failed miserably.

(more…)

After school, Denpasar teenagers especially the female do not go back home directly. They come by to the modest warung (a small roadside stall that sells snacks, drinks and convenient household items. However, in Bali a warung is also the local coffee house, corner store and community meeting spot for neighbours to sit and exchange the latest news or gossip. Warung that sell top three Balinese foods is flocked in the middle of the day. What are they?

Plecing is made from 90% swamp cabbage that has been boiled. Those swamp cabbages are tattered using fingers and very hot spicy sauce made from 90% chili, tomatoes, and shrimp paste is poured on them. Sometimes the sellers offer them whether they want to mix it with kuah pindang (sauce resulted from boiled fish) or not.

(more…)

On Friday, April 11th 2008, the royal cremation ceremony of the late Dr. Anak Agung Made Djelantik will be held at the royal palace of Karangasem, rescheduled from the initial plan in which the cremation ceremony will be held in August 2008. Dr Anak Agung Made Djelantik passed away on the eve of Sept. 5, 2007 and had been cremated with modest kingsan ring geni (bequeathal to fire) ceremony without the actual cremation ceremony.
(more…)