A 'gong kembar' instrument-making factory near the village of Aan, Tihingan is an obligatory stop for lovers of 'gamelan'. On the main road from Denpasar to Klungkung, take the turnoff at Salakan north to Tihingan (five km). You can also reach Tihingan from a road north of Sangkabuana, two km west of Klungkung (if coming from Klungkung, just keep straight ahead). The foundries are on the right in the rice paddies. There's a sign out front.

There are a number of gongmakers in this village, employing over 100 people. The best known is the small factory run by I Ketut Lunga Yasa, whose father is a master player and instrument maker.

This is a very warm and approachable family. Here they make smaller instruments-'gangsa', 'tawa-tawa', 'cengceng'. Gongs are forged on Sundays by men stripped to the waist wielding hammers against anvils set around a roaring fire pit in the ground. The pieces are then filed and polished the rest of the week.

These are not tourist souvenirs but actual musical instruments used in orchestras. Several showrooms (open 0700-1500) are on the main street and the Tihingan smiths run a shop in Tohpati at the intersection of the Denpasar-Batubulan road and the Nusa Dua Highway.

While in Tihingan drop by the Puri Penataran Pande in the village center, consecrated by the local 'pande gong'. There's a magnificent 'kulkul' tower supported by Rangda columns. In front of the temple is a stone statue of Twalen, the lovable clown of the Mahabharata. Under the 'waringin' tree is a statue of the goddess of winds, who supplies the air for the bellows of foundries.

Brickmaking is another cottage industry in the area (visit Penasan). Wander through the countryside and brickmakers will show you how bricks are formed in rectangular wooden molds, stacked to dry for seven days, then fit into a kiln and fired for a week using rice husks as fuel. Since the clay is dug out of the nearby topsoil, the brickmaker's factory looks like a house with a moat around it.