Pejeng · Tampaksiring · The Petanu
The valley where
Bali began
Most hotels near Ubud describe themselves by their distance from it. Ten minutes. Fifteen. Twenty.
We would rather tell you where you really are.
The resort stands in Pejeng, in the district of Tampaksiring, on the western slope of the Petanu river valley. This is the oldest inhabited part of Bali. There were kings, temples and bronze workshops here a thousand years before anyone had heard of Ubud. Ubud is the town you drive to for dinner. This is where Bali started.
The river you hear
A river that should
not exist
The Petanu runs at the bottom of the valley, directly below the resort. You will not see it from your room: the slope is steep and the trees hide the water.
You will hear it. At night, when the wind is still and the terrace is empty, the river is the only sound left in the valley.
The story goes that the river was born from the blood of Mayadenawa, a king who denied the gods. Indra hunted him across these hills, and where he fell, the water rose. Indra cursed the river for a thousand years: the rice it watered would grow too fast, in a way that was not right. Farmers here can still tell you the exact century when the curse ended.
Balinese people celebrate that hunt every 210 days. The festival is called Galungan, and it is celebrated across the whole island, for the events that happened in this valley.
Where the name comes from
The slanted footprint
Tampaksiring means “slanted footprint”, a footprint that points the wrong way. Fleeing Indra, Mayadenawa is said to have walked on the sides of his feet so that his footprints would point the wrong way.
He was found anyway. The spring he poisoned during the chase became Tirta Empul, and Balinese families have been purifying themselves in its water for more than a thousand years. It is a 25-minute drive from your room, and it is not a monument. It is in use, every day, by people who live here.
Within half an hour
What the valley keeps
Gunung Kawi: shrines 7 metres tall cut into the cliff, with no museum, no glass, no barrier. You walk right up to them.
Back to the resort
Why we tell you this
You can spend a week here and see none of it, and that is completely fine. But we did not want to sell you the view without telling you what you are looking at.