Sunday, December 9, 2012

Travel to Trunyan

Unlike the Balinese people, Trunyan people do not cremate or bury their dead, but just lay them out in bamboo cages to decompose, although strangely there is no stench. A macabre collection of skulls and bones lies on the stone platform and the surrounding areas. The dead bodies don't produce bad smells because of the perfumed scents from a huge Taru Menyan tree growing nearby. Taru means 'tree' and Menyan means 'nice smell'. The name of Trunyan was also derived from these two words. The women from Travel to Trunyan are prohibited from going to the cemetery when a dead body is carried there. This follows the deeply rooted belief that if a woman comes to the cemetery while a corpse is being carried there, there will be a disaster in the village, for example a landslide or a volcanic eruption. Such events have been frequent in the village's history, but whether women had anything to do with it is a matter of opinion.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Vacation to Sanur

Sanur is one of Bali's biggest traditional villages but it's also one of the most established tourist areas. Sanur was Bali's first beach resort but still retains its Balinese character and old style village ambiance. On the southeastern side of Bali, Sanur beach is easily reachable from Denpasar, about a 5 to 10 minute drive. Sanur is an excellent site to watch the sun rises, as we jog along the white sandy beach. Being one of the first resorts developed in Bali, Sanur maintains its traditions. Only a stone thrown away from the beach, ancient temples stand as solemn as they have been in centuries past.