Adventures in Bali VII - Kamasan Paintings and Tirta Gangga Water Palace
Restaurant Review by Ken Stewart, The Guam Food Guy
July 2004

The last day of our Continental-sponsored Bali adventure began with a delightful breakfast at Alila Ubud's open air restaurant. An assortment of fresh baked rolls, carafes of freshly squeezed orange juice, granola, and fresh tropical fruits awaited our group on a long table. The brewed coffee sped my recovery from a trance-like sleep in what had been one of my most restful evenings, and I relished the ham & cheese omelet I'd ordered, which was a good as any I've eaten. Early morning in Bali is peacefully quiet, especially at this hillside resort in the forest. We left this special place on a journey that would take us through countless villages and picturesque scenery in what can only be described as "Amazing Bali".

Among the more fascinating stops we made was a visit to Kamasan village, an artistic community near Klungkung in southeastern Bali, where we were introduced to the Kamasan style of traditional Balinese painting. We visited a school headed by renowned artist, I Nyoman Mandra, who in 1973 was requested by the Indonesian government to teach the traditional painting method to young artists. Opened in 1974, Sanggar Lukis Tradisional Gaya Kamasan, started with ten students. Since that time he has instructed over a hundred different young artists. Student cover their tuition and other expenses through the sale of their art. They have won numerous national and international awards through their creative artistic achievements.

The Kamasan style of traditional painting originates from religious symbols used in rituals and ceremonies and is greatly influenced by Hindu and Buddhist deities and myths that have been popular for centuries. The colors, motifs, and stories are uniquely presented via this intriguing art style which uses natural materials to make the pigments used in the paintings. The School has several rooms, most of them filled with paintings, and with one room having several display cases that show the process involved in creating the paintings. A glue is made from fish or animal skin (and even tree sap) to bind colors to the handmade cotton cloth. The cloth has been especially treated with starch and polished using a cowrie shell, which makes the surface smooth for easy drawing. Once characters and stories have been selected by the artist, a pencil is used to sketch them on the cloth.

Everything used is natural, with the brushes and pens cut from bamboo and the fibers from sugarplum stalks. The different colors are made from minerals such as iron oxide (orange & brown), ochre oxide rocks (yellow), mercuric sulfide (red, or cinnabar from China), carbon and kerosene soot (black), indigo leaves or copper sulfate stones (blue), and calcium (from deer antlers and burned bones) will make white. There are several processes involved in creating these paintings, though most elements are constant, so that body parts are outlined in black and red, hair is always black and skin and wood are brown. The artwork is a collaborative effort, with the initial drawings done by the more accomplished painters and apprentices adding colors. Only the most skilled artisans complete the final details since they have the most experience. Epic Indian myths like Ramayana and Mahabharata are most frequently illustrated in this traditional style of painting. These stories were part of Balinese lore as far back as the 9th century. There are some stories indigenous to Bali, such as the traditional Brayut folktale and Balinese astrological charts (palalintangan).

We noticed several young boys (perhaps 7 or 8 years old) who were practicing drawing in one of the classrooms. It's obvious they start them at an early age, and they are usually children who show artistic promise. More accomplished artists who have graduated remain at the school and work, both painting and selling art to visitors. Kamasan is a very stimulating place for art lovers, as it is like a living museum, art studio, art school, and art store combined!

After leaving Kamasan, we drove through the breathtaking scenery and terraced country hillsides, stopping at Sideman Village to get a few photos of the terraced rice paddies. Our eventual destination, the Tirta Gangga Water Palace, was a site to behold, as this mystical place allows visitors an interactive tour. Tirta Gangga (Water of the Ganges) was built by the last King of Karangasem in the 1940's, as a tribute to his fascination with water.

Cold water from the mountains flows through several pools (some are great for bathing) and fountains in the shapes of animals and mythical creatures, like the Garuda. There are royal bathing pools (these were built on the site of a holy spring) and spacious garden areas, ideal for hiking. The main ponds have walking stones, where you can follow several paths around fountains and carved statues. Up above the ponds and pools are several Balinese style pavilions, one of which had a restaurant where we snacked on Salak Bali, snake skin fruit. This is a crisp, tart fruit with a rind that feels like snake skin. Once you peel the rind, the whitish fruit inside resembles a cluster of giant garlic cloves. We passed through the village of Sibetan on the way to Tirta Gangga and saw the enormous groves of Salak fruit trees. The village of Sibetan is known throughout Indonesia for growing the best Salak and even has a popular tourist spot called Sibetan Snake Skin Fruit Garden.

Exploring Bali can easily be arranged through a number of tour and travel organizations, however, Rama Tours is one of the better known and one of Indonesia's largest. Our guides were very knowledgeable with excellent communication skills. We were fortunate to be escorted from the beginning of our trip to the end by I.B. Harimbawa, to whom we all became quite attached, and is no doubt one of Bali's best guides. For more information on tours, visit their website. Of course, if you are going to Bali, you can count on Continental's reliable and comfortable service to get you to the "Island of the Gods" for an exciting and memorable vacation.

Adventures in Bali Part I

Adventures in Bali Part II

Adventures in Bali Part III

Adventures in Bali Part IV

Adventures in Bali Part V

Adventures in Bali Part VI