Candi Dasa travel guide

Candi Dasa is smaller, more intimate and offers better value for money than the main resorts of Bali. It is also an excellent base from which to explore the sights of East Bali.

The gold- and black-sand beach has been badly eroded and beach lovers will be disappointed. However,the government is pouring in money to create a new man-made beach at the western end of the development to try and regain some of the area’s undoubted lost glory.

Candi Dasa gets its name from the temple on the hill overlooking the main road and the freshwater lagoon; the ancient relics in this temple indicate that there has been a village on this site since the 11th century.

Traditionally fishermen in these parts have gone out fishing each day from 0400 until 0800, and again from about 1430 until 1800. Although most people on Bali fear the sea as a place of evil spirits and a potential source of disaster, those who live near the sea and earn their living from it consider it a holy place and worship such sea gods as Baruna. The boats they use, jukung, are made from locally grown wood and bamboo, which is cut according to traditional practice. The day chosen for cutting down the tree must be deemed favourable by the gods to whom prayers and offerings are then made, and a sapling is planted to replace it. Carved from a single tree trunk without using nails and with bamboo outriders to give it stability, the finished boat will be gaily coloured with the characteristic large eyes that enable it to see where the fish lurk. The design has not changed for thousands of years; it is very stable due to the low centre of gravity created by the way the sail is fastened. These days there are fewer fish to catch and many fishermen take tourists out snorkelling. Jukungs cost about US$25 to hire for three to four hours.

In the rice field by the road to Tenganan are two ingenious bird-scaring devices, operated by a man sitting in a thatched hut. One is a metre-long bamboo pole with plastic bags and strips of bamboo; when the man pulls on the attached rope, the pole swings round, causing the bamboo strips to make a clacking noise and the plastic bags to flutter. The other consists of two four-metre-long bamboo poles that are hinged at one end, with flags and plastic bags attached; when the attached rope is pulled, the two poles swing round with flags and plastic bags waving....read more