Most people visiting the paradise island of Bali shimmy straight through its capital, Denpasar, making a beeline for the palm-tree fringed tourist ghettos of Sanur, Seminyak and Kuta that spill out from Greater Denpasar. To bypass this culturally rich capital, where simple Balinese traditions coexist with the city’s modernising moves, is a rookie traveller error. Originally a centre of the Badung Kingdom, Denpasar may be a later bloomer (it wasn’t made capital until 1958) but its surprising wealth of monuments, temples and museums ensure tourists aren’t short-changed on the heritage front. One of the city’s most iconic landmarks,...