Bali's best-known The Bali Aga, is the island's oldest inhabitant, aboriginal who lived here long before the Majapahit invasion in the 14th century. Legend has it the village was established on the spot where an ancient 'taru menyan' tree stood-thus the town's name. It is said that in ancient times the lake goddess Dewi Danu was lured down from heaven by the lovely scent of this tree.

Today Trunyan is a real tourist trap, and you may not get to experience much more than villagers clamoring for money. Still, the setting is spectacular-green mountain backdrop and deep blue lake, mist-shrouded Gunung Batur rising up dramatically on the other side.

Culturally and ethnically outside the mainstream, Trunyan provides evidence of how Bali's earliest people lived.

The Kuburan (cemetery)

The Kuburan, the Bali Aga prefer exposing their dead in the open air rather than cremating them. Valuable land cannot be given over to the burial of the dead. After complicated rituals, the naked body is first wrapped in white cloth, then placed in a shallow pit, protected from scavengers by a triangular bamboo fence and roof.

Those who have committed suicide or who have died of horrible disfiguring diseases are buried.

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