The crater of Batur is to the east side, and at the back is
the magnificent view of central and south Bali far below. Far below on the bank of the lake Batur are
ancient Bali villages such as Trunyan,
Songan, Kedisan, and Buahan. On the pass above there is a hotel Lake View Restaurant and Hotel, while
on the bank of the lake there are hotels and restaurant at Kedisan village 4 basic hotels with 2 nice
restaurants, and Buahan village are 2 hotels, and at Toya Bungkah village available 10 accommodation
with one good hotel as mentioned above the Puri Bening Hayato. The main interest of Kintamani and
surrounding is it's magnificent view of nature setting around the lake, mountain and tremendous gorges
among the wall of the crater. In the crater there is a Balinese traditional village called Trunyan.
The village has a unique tradition of treating the dead person. The dead is not buried or cremated
but exposed on a spot of land on the foot of the mountain slope of Mt. Abang. The people of Trunyan
do not introduce family planning program, but it is recorded that until 1980s, the population growth
was zero and they live in hard soil growing only onion, and small number of vegetables and fishing on
the lake. Mt. Batur still shows it's activity with secondary eruption which sometimes blowing white to
gray smokes. Kintamani area is a good overnight stop for a Bali round trip program, especially to enjoy
the sun rise around the rim or even from the summit of Mt. Batur by 3 or 4 hours trekking started
at 04.00 in the morning. Kintamani is one of the most popular stop for Bali sight Seeing program, even
one of Bali tour program selection is called Kintamani tour, combining dance, arts, temple and nature
wonder of Bali. The region of Kintamani has been well
known from 9th century. It is proved by findings of various royal edicts written on copper plates mentioning
about the right and obligation of the people living aroung Lake Batur such as Trunyan, Songan, Kedisan
and Buahan villages.
In 13th century a very important event on the history of Chinese in Bali. The area near Mount Panulisan
was the most probable site of the ancient kingdom of what the Chinese called " Balingkang "
Now one can still
visit the temple of Balingkang,
where Hindu and the Chinese Klenteng are in one court. Other facts that
Kintamani has the first population of Chinese origin in Bali, and until today it seems the Chinse and
Balinese have been in inter-marriage, and looking from the face of the people around
Kintamani looks having the characteristic of Chinese.
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