Wanagiri Village Offers A Different Side Of Bali

Bali is famous for its beautiful beach, but this paradise island also has a different side of it. If you want to skip the burning sun of the beach, you can go to visit the village area. At the beach you may find it filled with tourists and lots of entertainment. Going to the village in Bali will give you a different experience. You can explore the natural landscape of this island. Balinese people in the villages are still holding strong to their traditions. Most of them work as farmers, so you will see lots of rice field along the way. One of the best places to get such experience is Wanagiri Village in Tabanan.

Wanagiri Village is located in Tabanan, it’s in the West side of Denpasar. It’s about 35 kilometers from Denpasar. Wanagiri Village Tabanan is full of rice field and coffee plantation. You can see Balinese traditional farming system. It’s a famous system called subak where the entire village cooperates to manage their rice field. This system mainly manages irrigation system required in the rice field. Going to Wanagiri Village will give you a new experience of witnessing the real traditional lifestyle of Balinese people. Coming to this village, you will be taken to walk across the rice field. If you are coming at the right time, you might be able to watch traditional ceremonies for rice farming. You will also go into coffee plantation and see how the Balinese people manage their traditional coffee plantation. Visiting this village will bring you to do a little cross country where you will walk across the village and see the beautiful landscape. As this village is relatively close to the mountain, the air is still fresh. You will also find some streams and river along the way.

Bali does not only offer you the noisy entertainment, but it also offers a different way of exploring the nature. Spend your time to visit Wanagiri Village where you can see the real life of Balinese people. It gives you enough time to rest from the bustling nightlife at the beach. If you are thinking to spend your holiday in a calm and tranquil place, this village can be the right place. Instead of spending your time at the noisy bar, you can embrace the serenity of the village. With fresh air, beautiful view, and friendly people at Wanagiri Village, you will be able to enjoy your holiday to the fullest.

Traditional Subak System Jatiluwih Gives Beautiful View

Bali might be famous for having numerous beautiful beaches. Indeed, who can resist the temptation of swimming in clear blue water and sunbathing on pearly white sand? Do you think Bali only has those beautiful beaches to visit? You are wrong. This small island has other things to offer to tourists. Bali is also famous for its cultural richness. Balinese art is popular, whether it’s on painting, sculpture, or dance. Other than Balinese art, the cultural system in Bali is quite unique. The traditional system that binds the lifestyle of Balinese people is different from other countries’ and it includes the farming system.

Subak system makes the most famous system in Balinese traditional farming. It binds the farmers in a banjar to obey this management system. Basically, subak is water management or water irrigation system. It’s used in the rice fields and it only exists in Bali. This traditional water management system has survived over 1000 years. Although subak is mostly managed water used for rice fields, but this system does not only control water used in the fields. This system also controls water used to construct the village complex that will give artificial ecosystem in the village. UNESCO has stated subak as one of World Heritage Site. Subak System Jatiluwih becomes one of the largest subak areas in Bali. Subak does not only become water management in the rice fiels, but it also demonstrates Balinese philosophical principal the close relationship of human, nature, and God. The water on the irrigation system comes from natural spring water. Water temples are built around the spring with Balinese priest purifying and controling water management for the entire village.

It shows that this irrigation system is also a part of religious life in Bali. The water comes out from the spring and flows into the temples first before falling down to the rice fields through the small channels. Although subak is one of World Heritage Site, the tourism that grows rapidly in Bali has put a threat to this traditional irrigation system. Jatiluwih Village in Tabanan becomes the largest area for rice field terrace. The rice field stretches from the foot of mountain all the way down to the coastal side. It’s a popular tourist destination in Bali as it unfolds one of cultural richness in this island. Other than its beautiful landscape, Jatiluwih is also known for its organis agriculture system that produce high quality organic rice in Bali.

Gigantic Artwork Of Ogoh-Ogoh

Coming to Bali gives unforgettable experience in your life. This small island has such huge offer for tourists. It does not only have some of the best beaches in the world, but it’s also rich in art works. You might have ever watched Balinese dance with its breathtaking dance moves and beautiful costumes. Bali is also famous for its paintings and sculpture. Numerous Balinese painters and sculpture artists have held world class exhibition around the world. It seems that art has become a lifestyle for Balinese people. Numerous traditional ceremonies become the place where Balinese people express their artistic side. Each year, there’s this special ceremony called Pengrupukan as a part of Nyepi. At this Pengrupukan ceremony, each banjar or village makes ogoh-ogoh. It’s giant effigies of monster or ugly looking creatures to represent the evil that lives among humans. The villagers will take their ogoh-ogoh on parade and end the parade by burning the ogoh-ogoh to represent evil has been defeated.

Each banjar always shows its creativity in making ogoh-ogoh. It’s such a waste to let those huge artistic effigies turn to ash. Now, some of these artistic ogoh-ogoh are put on display at Museum ogoh-ogoh. There are two museums for ogoh-ogoh in Bali, one is located at Ayodhya Street and the other one at Soka Beach. The one at Ayodhya Street is inside the complex of Manusa Yadnya Museum. It has over 20 ogoh-ogoh as its collection, both evil and good ones with the height between 3 to 5 metres. All these ogoh-ogoh are coming from different villages in Bali. It complete its collection with brief information and story of each ogoh-ogoh. This  museum is managed and run by I Ketut Nuada, a painter who had this idea of collecting ogoh-ogoh. He just wants the international world to know and recognize ogoh-ogoh as one of artworks in Bali. The museum was opened for public in April 2012.

The second museum was opened for public in May 2013. It’s located at Soka Indah Rest Area in Tabanan. As this museum is relatively new, there’s only few collection of ogoh-ogoh, in total is around 16 effigies. The museum occupies the area of 0,5 acre. Each ogoh-ogoh is displayed in small saung with the size of 6x6 metres and 6x4 metres. There’s direct access to the beach from this museum. Both museums are meant to preserve the art work of ogoh-ogoh. It truly takes a lot of work to create one with perfect sculpture on these effigies. It will be a waste to burn these gigantic artworks.