Pura Penataran Sasih, founded in 1266 AD, was once the state temple of the Pejeng kingdom. Set in the fertile Petauan River valley, it reflects Bali’s ancient ties between ritual and agriculture. At its centre lies the Moon of Pejeng, a 2000 year old bronze drum and the largest single-cast of its kind in the world.

In the heart of Batuan village stands Pura Puseh Desa Batuan, one of Bali’s oldest and most spiritually charged temples. Founded in 1020 AD and recorded in Balinese historical texts for over a millennium, it is rooted in something far older, believed to have been built atop a megalithic stone circle, echoing the ancient power of Stonehenge, where ancestral rites were once performed.

The Dutch first reached Bali in 1597 while scouting new ground for conquest and profit. They left without drawing blood but they didn’t leave without a decision. Bali had been marked. For the next two centuries, the island remained untouched, not because the Dutch had lost interest, but because they were waiting for the moment it would be worth the slaughter. It wasn’t peace. It was a pause before an extermination. When they returned, the rivers would turn red.