Kedisan is a small rural village on the edge of Lake Batur, under the shadow of the magnificent active volcano Mt Batur.

The village's income is predominantly farming and the view as you drive down to Kedisan is a magnificent patchwork of the many different crops.

Kedisan is in the Kintamani region in the district of Bangli and is 2.5 hours from Denpasar Airport and a world away from busy Kuta.

When on a C.Bali two night tour you have some free time to discover the area, we have listed some things you may want to do:

Take a Boat Ride to Trunyan and Kuban

The village of Trunyan is a short boat road from Kedisan. This village is inhabited by the descendants of the original Balinese, the people who predated the Majapahit arrival.

Once you reach Trunyan you have a short walk to the village of Kuban. The people of Trunyan do not cremate or bury their dead-they lie them out in bamboo cages to decompose, though there is no stench, the villagers believe this is due to the God in the large tree hanging over the cemetery. A collection of skulls and bones lies on a stone platform. This is not for everyone but if it interests you a boat ride can be organised.

Visit the locals

Take a walk through the village and be welcomed by the local children and friendly people of Kedisan. Maybe play a game of pool with the locals or do a bit of gambling, be careful though, the men in the village are very good card and snooker players, if you don't have the money to pay a bet they'll accept your mobile phone or watch as payment.

Kedisan people love to invite you into their home, they are often practicing Gamelon at night so if you hear the music just go for a walk, you'll soon find it and they'll invite you in to watch them practicing, they may even let you join in (it's not as easy as it looks)

Climb Mt Batur

C.Bali can hire you a local expert guide to take you to the centre of the huge crater of Gunung Batur (1717m). This active volcano has erupted a number of times this century, the last time being a small eruption in 2000. There are at least 3 main routes up: easy, medium and difficult. If you wish to watch the sunrise from the top then hire a guide to take you up in the early hours of the morning, don't try this without a guide. If you do the difficult climb you will be starting at 3am and the climb is quite steep and slippery in the very dark of the night. This will cost you 400,000RP for one guide (he can take up to 4 people)

The village is full of beautiful trustworthy traditional Balinese, however unfortunately like all parts of the world there are some people that ruin it for others. We feel it necessary to give you a few tips on the area if you are visiting by yourself and are not on a C.Bali tour.

1. When entering the area of Kintamani, you will be asked to pay a 3000rp fee; you will be given a ticket, keep this ticket as you may be asked for it at another checkpoint. The ticket will probably say you paid 500rp; they haven't re-printed them in a while.

2. When you reach the turn off at Penelokan to go down to Kedisan, you will most likely be met by some of Kintamani's "local guides". They will try and stop you and get you to follow them to a hotel or an expensive restaurant; where they will collect commission. If you ignore them, they will follow you to your hotel and still ask the hotel owner for commission. We need your help to stop this practice as the hotel owners feel pressured to pay, otherwise the "local guides" will threaten the hotel owners that they will stop people from staying at their hotel.

HOW CAN YOU HELP. Firstly, you need to understand that these people are not in anyway dangerous, they are just persistent and competitive with each other. This is their income, however there are other income opportunities that they could adopt but choose not to. You can help by discouraging this behavior by ignoring them and then when you reach your hotel telling the hotel owner that you had already heard about their hotel and were coming there. You can even tell the "local gangsters" that you already have a booking. Do your homework first, get names of hotels you want to look or stay at. There are only 3 in Kedisan, Hotel Segara, Hotel Surya and Hotel Astra Dana. We recommend Hotel Segara for cleanliness and the restaurant. Make sure you tell your driver you have a booking as well so he can tell them, even better still, get a confirmation in writing from your hotel to show them.

Also, don't buy things from the women at the top in Penelokan or at the Harbour in Kedisan, this will only encourage them. The items they sell are mass produced and of poor quality. The women at the harbour have been offered employment and/or have been fired from employment for lying or cheating. They are not honest and will rip you off and can be very aggressive, be careful, in the Penelokan carparks they have been known to scratch cars if you do not stop so we suggest you just keep away from them. If you do want to stop to take a photo of the magnificent view then you will need to be strong with your "NO", use "Tidak Mau" (Not want). If tourists purchase items from these women it will only encourage them. This behavior needs to stop and the Kintamani government needs to do more about it as well.

3. If you want to climb the Volcano, this is a wonderful experience that we highly recommend but beware, the "local guides" will say they are registered guides and will try and charge you as much as 500,000 rp each, we have heard of people paying $100US each to a guide at Hotel Surya, so you can understand why these "local guides" choose this type of behaviour over a full time job as that is two months wage.

You should only use a guide if you are doing the sunrise climb as it is very dark and slippery, and you should pay no more than 400,000 rp for 1 guide including breakfast on the top (if you have your own transport). 1 guide can take up to 4 people so you can split the cost. See if you can find some other people at your hotel to split the costs before you negotiate with a guide. If you have transport go to the registered guide office on the road from Kedisan to Toya Bungkah and negotiate with them. They will still start with a higher price. During the day you can climb it yourself, just wear appropriate shoes and take water (you can buy at the top but it is very expensive, but they have carried it a long way so you may want to help them out). Segara Hotel charges 400,000 per guide including breakfast on the top and if you dont have transport they can take you by motorbike to the starting point.

4. Artists. Careful of the "local guides" that call themselves "Artists". This is a village of agriculture and although Balinese are traditionally artists, we have about 10 local "Artists" and only a few of them have actually painted the work themselves, look for actual art studios where they display their work and ask them to paint something for you. Otherwise you will most likely be buying a painting that is mass produced and purchased in Denpasar market for 10,000rp. We have heard of tourists paying 600,000rp for one of these mass produced paintings which you can yourself can buy in any market.The local "Atrtists' carry their paintings in a backpack and have a book full of tourists notes, these are the ones that sell the fake paintings.  They are very very pushy and come up with elaborate stories so just be calm and smile and say you are not interested.

All in all, Kedisan is a traditional village with beautiful Balinese people, we hope you enjoy your visit and we really do encourage a visit, we hope these tips make your visit more enjoyable.