Batu bulan Village : Road trip to Ubud

Bali Spirit Festival 2012 will be held in Bali, exactly in the Ubud area. Common route taken to get to Ubud is through Denpasar city, a city which is the provincial capital of Bali. From Denpasar to Ubud, there are some interesting places you can visit during  Road trip to Ubud. The journey from Denpasar to Ubud usually through out area named Batubulan, Celuk, Sukawati, Batuan, Mas, and a few other places. This route is commonly used by tourists who are looking for trinkets and souvenirs of Bali. In this post, we will provide information about the region of Batubulan.

What makes the region of Batubulan should to visit?
If you ever hear about terracotta army in the land of China, with hundreds of troops, lined up and stretching complete with armor and horse-drawn carriage. All of it is statue, that looked entirely made of stone. And the region of Batubulan is the center of famous stone craft in Bali (although not as terracotta figurines earlier). Hundreds of statues of various shapes and types, displayed along the road from the Batubulan village to Silakarang . Batubulan is located approximately 10 miles from the city of Denpasar and 17 km from the city of Gianyar. Batubulan village adjacent to the Celuk village and Singapadu and have similarities in terms of art, such as: the art of dance, sculpture and a variety of percussion enticing.

Stone carving is actually the main mark of Batubulan village since very long time ago which is around 1970s. The first sculpture, just like wooden carving use the main object were various myth such as the epic of Ramayana, Mahabharata, and others. Until now actually most of their sculptures are still using this traditional ethnic figures, very few new designs or creation. Only the enrichement of materials are found to be bearing more type of figures. In this area, visitors can see up close how the statue was made, even if you are interested, you can buy them as souvenirs. Batubulan stone sculpture are made of from material called "paras", A kind of porous volcanic rock that has a soft texture and light. Yet the variation of stone carving is considered has been experincing a great developement in the choice of materials, not only natural stone, but also created from cement and concrete.

The resulting sculptures are very diverse. ranging from statue of humans, animals, boats, and many others. Finely carved on stone, is a hallmark which well known from the maker of statue in this region. Almost all statue which used as a gate keeper on every temple in Bali, was the result of statue maker in the region of Batubulan. Come to a temple which is located 200 meters to the east of the highway. This temple called Pura Paseh. This temple decoration is unique and different from pretending that exist in Bali in general. Pura paseh combines elements of Hindu and non Hindu culture.

If you are lucky and comes at the right time, you can see some of art performance organized by a few souvenir shops around the region Batubulan. Usually they show dance Barong and Rangda. The show usually done in collaboration with tour organizers. As a tourism object and stone carving business area, Batubulan village is visited by tourist of foreign countries and domestic since in the morning time until evening time. At 09:00-10:30 am daily, Barong Dance is held while at 18:00-19:00 pm, the Kecak Dance or Bali Night performances are executed.