Tabanan Places of interest

Tabanan is the name of one district and town in Bali. Though Tabanan is not really a tourist town there are still some interesting aspects to it. Back in 1906 the Balinese and Dutch were fighting over control of the island.

The kingdom of Tabanan (a former regency of Bali) refused to abide by Dutch regulations. The Dutch forces marched towards Tabanan from the south, refusing to negotiate with the raja. In other regencies of Bali the raja and his court committed the ritual puputan (fight until death or last blood). The raja of Tabanan wanted to avoid this, but rather than be exiled in Lombok, he committed suicide in Denpasar prison. The history of colonial rule around the world is written in blood, Bali being no exception.

One of the more positive historical points of interest is the Subak Museum, located close to the main bypass road. While the museum itself is nothing special, it documents one of the most important social/economic/cultural institutions in Bali, the Subak. Dating back to 600AD, Bali has been using a system of un-mechanized rice cultivation and water management. Bali’s ability to produce an endless supply of rice year round is central to its history. The Subak controls management of the watercourses, stretching all the way to the highland lakes. A farmer cannot simply flood all his fields at the same time, or divert a main stream to access more water. The system is intricate and the Subak museum is the place where it’s officially documented.

Yeh Gangga, Lalang Linggah and Balian to the west are beach environments around the area. Highlights of the area close to Tabanan include Taman Kupu Kupu (Butterfly Park) in Wanasari and Yeh Panas hot springs. Pura Tanah Lot is a 15-minute drive South from Tabanan.

Tanah Lot
Tanah Lot, one of the most popular places of interest in Bali, is located on the coast of West Bali, at the village of Beraban in the Tabanan Regency. It is also called Tanah Let, which means ancient land, and also Tanah Lod, which mean the land to the south. The temple Pura Tanah Lot, simple in its construction, is dramatic in its ocean-front location and is one of the main temples in the worship of Balinese gods.

Tanah Lot has a long history in the world of tourism. The temple itself is built on a small promontory, which is only accessible at low tide. During high water the rock takes on the appearance of a large boat at sea, such is its shape.

Poisonous snakes live in the nearby caves to 'guard' the temple and contribute to the temple's dangerous reputation. Sunset is the best time to visit Tanah lot, when the golden red skies frame the temple and waves crash into the rocks. It is advisable to avoid the tourist crush here, as it can be severe.

Museum Subak
Rice cultivation has been a part of Balinese life since well before the 9th century AD. The island has been developed by an organization called the subak, which controls watercourses. The subak and the Goddess of Rice, Dewi Sri are part and parcel of daily life in Bali, with every sawah, or rice field having a shrine to Dewi Sri.

The original type of rice that grew in Bali (nasi Bali) has slowly been replaced by newer brands from overseas, which ripen quicker. These newer brands have other characteristic too. The rice tends to fall off of the ripened stalks easily, so rather than taking bundles of ripened rice to the village for threshing, the rice must be threshed on site. Men are always responsible for rice planting, but women and men help with threshing. Many of the songs and rituals that were shared during the village threshing are disappearing. As Norm from Eco Lodge pointed out, people look for the easy route - fast growing rice, easy threshing and not returning the stalks to the field, but burning them instead.

Here in Bali rice has 3 names: padi is growing rice, beras is harvested uncooked rice and nasi is cooked rice.

Yeh Gangga Beach
This beach is 10km South West of Tabanan. The attraction of this area is natural beauty, with rice fields leading down to the beach, volcanoes in the distance and a rugged, empty coastline. Yeh Gangga beach, like many of the beaches on the South West coast, is not suitable for swimming, due to the currents and lack of any emergency services. When it is low tide, the beach is quite wide and easy to walk on but there are not many places to buy food and drinks, although Yeh Gangga beach itself has a few very basic places.

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