The beautiful Taman Ujung lies 5 km to the southeast of Amlapura, 80 km east of Denpasar. To be more exact, it is in the coastal Tumbu village of Karangasem district. The area of this royal garden of the Karangasem kingdom covers 10 hectare, of terraced landscape stretching out to the north with an elevation of 30 - 133 meters.

As a royal retreat, Taman Ujung was designed using both European and Balinese traditional architecture, of which the latter always pays highest regard to nature.

The construction of Taman Ujung was carried out incrementally. According to the legend, the beautiful Taman Ujung had drawn the attention of the royal priest of Gelgel kingdom, Dang Hyang Nirartha in 15th century. During the reign of Karangasem king, I Gusti Gde Djelantik (1901) the Dirah pond was made.

The king, I Gusti Bagus Djelantik, better known as Anak Agung Anglurah Ketut Karangasem, ruled till Indonesian independence and, collaborating with Dutch colonialists in 1909, built more ponds which were adorned with matching foliage.

As a self-taught architect, the king also planned the construction of the royal meditation hall as well as Bale Kambang (shelter in the pond) as a royal summerhouse. The Dutch colonialist derived the name ' water palace' from the structures in the ponds, converging water from various springs and as if to make it float. In 1937 Taman Ujung was embellished with statues.

Statues of a rhino, a lion, and a cow were erected on a hill overlooking Taman Ujung pond. Water flowed out of the mouth of cow statue, watering rice fields below and symbolizing welfare. The king of Karangasem himself in 1921 inaugurated Taman Ujung.

The original beauty of Taman ujung, as well as its surrounding mystery, now remains only in the memory of older Balinese. However, the elements of beauty of the panorama remain. Although they are keen and aware, the current generation sees only the dilapidation and decay of what was once a beautiful palace.

Unfortunately it is inevitable. The destruction began when the Japanese army took over Bali during the World War II and dismantled iron bars in Taman Ujung for weaponry production. When Mount Agung was pouring out a heavy stream of lava and shaking Bali with disastrous earthquake in 1963, Taman Ujung helplessly shattered into pieces.

In 1976 an earthquake in Seririt district, North Bali, turned Bali upside down, further destroying Taman Ujung. The members of Karangasem palace have since then done their best to reconstruct but meager funding forced them to stop. The ruins can be found scatter here and there.