KARANGASEM HOTELS AREA

The regency is named after the kingdom of Karangasem, established in the 18th century, which was Bali's most powerful well into the 19th century.The knight warriors from Karangasem conquered Western Lombok, which still has to this day an important Balinese minority. The Dutch subjected Karangasem after the Buleleng war (1846-1849). Karangasem has the most varied landscape of the island, it hosts Bali's mother temple,

the Pura Besakih temple. And has one of the most exotic beach resorts of Bali. Bali's highest mountain is Mt, Agung (3,142m). Throughout the Indonesian archipelago the mountain is the abode of the deified ancestors. The Balinese called it To Langkir, or the man of the mountain. To this native concept has been added a Hindu one. According to the Babad Pasek, the island of Bali was unstable until a chunk of the Mahameru, the Indian cosmic mountain, was cut off by the gods and transferred to Bali, complete with its pantheon of Hindu gods. As the island's main mountain, Mt, Agung is therefore host to Bali's highest gods and ancestors.

Mt, Agung has also contributed to the making of Karangasem's natural face. When it erupted in 1963, it obliterated many temples and villages; and killed several thousand people. Its raining ashes destroyed crops in Bali and throughout much of Eastern Java. Wide expanses of black ash and basaltic stones are now a common feature in the area from Goa Lawah to the West to Tianyar to the North.

The extent of the damage is clear enough around the Ujung palace. A mix of Balinese and early-century Dutch architecture, the palace was heavily damaged by the eruption and the 1976 earthquake. It is now virtually destroyed. More than thirty years after the eruption, many buildings have been restored. The eruption has left traces i.e. its ashes contribute to the fertility of the rice fields, while its lava gives some areas the look of a savannah landscape. The eruption also prepared Bali for the 1990s boom in tourism development. It provides land and the famous "batu Karangasem" stone used on the island's construction sites. Everyday, hundred of trucks descend from all over Bali to pick up the materials.