Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SHOPPING
Indigo Art Shop
Tenganan Pegringsingan 0363 41168.
One of the best-known village
shops, run by I Wayan Kondri, whose family is still involved in every stage of
geringsing
production. His exquisite weaves start at $110 for a scarf.
Daily 8am-6pm.
Amlapura and around
Formerly known as Karangasem,
AMLAPURA
was renamed after the 1963 eruption of
Gunung Agung, when the outskirts of the town were flattened by the lava flow. (Balinese
people sometimes change their names after serious illness in the belief that it will bring about
a change of fortune.) It's the capital of Karangasem district, and has a significant history, but
the modern town is quiet and unhurried, with just enough to keep you busy for an hour or
two. It also makes a handy pit stop on the popular day-trip circuit from Amed via the scenic
coastal route, with alternative accommodation and food at
Seraya Barat
, 6km east around
the coast.
The main sights in and around town are associated with the
Karangasem court
. Once so
powerful that in the seventeenth century it established Balinese rule over several Lombok
principalities, Karangasem was later severely weakened by feuding between its rival factions
and by the mid-nineteenth century was itself ruled from Lombok. Following the Dutch con-
quest of Lombok in 1894,
Anak Agung Gede Jelantik
, a member of the Lombok ruling
family, was appointed regent of Karangasem by the colonialists. He was succeeded in 1908
by his nephew,
Anak Agung Anglurah
, the last raja of Karangasem before independence
and famous as the architect of the water palaces at Tirtagangga and
Taman Soeka Sada
in
Ujung. Their relatives continue to occupy the
Puri Agung Karangasem
palace in Amlapura
and ties with Lombok are still strong: many Balinese in the west Lombok city of Cakraneg-
ara have family in Karangasem, and the sizeable Muslim community in Amlapura traces its
ancestry back to the period when Karangasem was under Lombok rule.
