Trunyan is probably one of the best known “secrets” in Bali. It’s located on on the isolated eastern shore of the crescent-shaped Lake Batur, at the foot of Mount Abang, a peak on the eastern rim of the large caldera. It’s not so far from Mount Batur, and the hot springs, and there are only two paved roads to the area.  One is extremely steep (to the point you probably have to step off your motorbike and walk up), coming from Tianyar, in the North shore. The other, still steep but more manageable, comes from the rim, at the South. For that, tourists must pay.

Our group, on the way to the cemetery.

Access to the village is possible by car, but not so smooth, as pretty much most of the roads in the area. From the village, you’re supposed to take a boat (around 100.000 rp) to the cemetery.
I heard reports of skippers trying to extort money from tourists, threatening to leave them there unless they pay extra, but that didn’t happen do me.

Boats have engines, but skippers prefer to row, which is a far better experience, as one can enjoy the quietness of the lake, and get immerse on the green, misty atmosphere.

The cemetery itself can be a bit disappointing, as it looks far better on images than seen live.

Posing at the cemetery gates. The sign, in English, leaves no doubt on how touristic that has become.

On one side, there are around 12 bamboo cages, where the corpses lye, covered in clothes and plastics, left to decompose. Nearby, there is a pile of offerings, bones, and eventually skulls – the ones that were forced to leave their cage, as another corpse took their place.
To the other side, over, many skulls, pile up,  some with a thin layer of green moth. The stone stairs are supposed to be an altar.

We were told there is a Taru Menyan tree, whose fragrance would mask the rotting smell of dead bodies. As for experience, that’s not entirely true.

Many legends and stories surround this cemetery and the people who maintain it. Apparently, they are the descendants of the “original” Balinese people, meaning those living there at least, before the 10th century and the expansion of Buddhism and Hinduism. The reason for leaving the corpses unburied, was, according to the legend, to prevent other peoples to discover the fragrant tree.
It would make more sense to do that just to spook them away, which still works among many superstitious ones.

Despite the tradition being, most likely, pre-Hindu, now it’s fused with Hindu traditions – one being the differences attributed to the deceased: unmarried, children, people dying of infectous diseases, violent death, open wounds, deformed, suicidal, and some others are not laid in the bamboo cages but buried, instead.