When planning our travels with Nyoman (Alex) we told him we were going organise a day trip inland from the Lovina area (lunch at the Ngiring Ngewedang Restaurant perched up in the mountains behind the Lovina area and visit the Hot Springs at Banjar) We were going to hire a local driver but Alex wouldn’t hear of it (he’s a great friend, nothing is too much trouble for him, and he’s very protective of our safety – he had the horrors when I told him later about my motorbike ride!), so we agreed that he would come up to Anturan about 11 am and take us around for the day, then we’d either get him a room at Villa Agung or give him some money for accommodation or he’d stay at his family village Tianyar which is down on the east coast for the night.
We remembered that we had accepted Nyoman “Oh Jesus” V.A. Manager’s invitation to visit his family compound and the new house he was proudly building. Off we went with Nyoman to the village of Anturan (situated on the mountain side of the main road). He showed us the house in the family compound that he and his wife are currently living in. His boys sleep on the verandah in the good weather (and yes the donated books are well and truly used and appreciated and sitting in a little bookcase there).
We had remembered a BTF suggestion that we take some English books for his boys and he gratefully accepted a Children’s Illustrated Atlas and some other books and toys for his boys 5 and 9 years old.
We had a tour of the compound with all the chickens running around, took the obligatory photos of the family pigs ranging in ages from aged 1 month onwards and a mother pig with a terrible swayback. The worst I’ve ever seen!!
A family member was busily pounding dried corn kernels in a huge rock about ½ metre high with a hole worn in it to hold the corn, just purpose built I think for the job. Nyoman’s wife, who is a fabulous cook at the V.A. showed me around her small kitchen, which was in a separate building from the living quarters. It had a cooker with 2 gas jets with a wok and a large pot and she was cooking peanuts in their shells. 35 kg of rice was stored in a large plastic bin with a lid and the vegetable/coconut oil was in a 10 litre container. This was generally enough for 1 month’s supply. There was no refrigerator.
Nyoman proudly showed us the new house he was building, he had gradually bought bricks over the past 4-5 years as they could afford them and only recently had been able to put on a roof by getting a bank loan so the ceiling beams would not rot in the wet. He hasn’t put down any flooring so they haven’t moved in yet. When finished his house will have 2 bathrooms, 3 small bedrooms, a community area (lounge) and a small kitchen. He has plans for a beautiful garden, but I thought it looked nice already surrounded by banana palms.
We had morning tea (fried bananas made by his wife and small aquas) sitting inside his new house talking to him about his plans.
Back to the Villa Agung at 10 am where we found Nyoman (Alex) relaxing with a cup of tea (we thought we’d be able to beat him there but Alex just seemed to get earlier and earlier with his timing to pick us up!) It worked out well anyway because we asked Alex if we could get back to Anturan at 3 pm for the melasti procession and ceremony down on the beach.
Alex had secured for Sam one of the huge Megawati flags, a few different propaganda tee-shirts and some political stickers for me to put up in my office at work. The large flag is now hanging as a curtain in his bedroom window at home.
We headed off west down to Seririt and up through the mountains stopping for a drink and to take photos of the tiny village of Manduk Bestala nestled in a valley. After much winding around mountains we arrived at the Ngiring Ngewedang Restaurant perched up high on an absolute U bend in the road.
The view over the western area of Bali was spectacular and we enjoyed a nice lunch before seeing a demonstration of coffee production (and purchasing some kopi to take home). We had planned to drive on to Lakes Buyan and Tamblingan but the fog came down so we decided to head back to Banjar to see the hot springs. I would visit the lakes another day with Alex while Sam was playing golf at Bedugal.
We passed the entrance to the Manduk waterfalls but being short on time decided not to stop. We arrived at the Hot Springs and once past the row of market stalls, entered the springs area, and found they were very tastefully landscaped. I liked the stream tumbling alongside with lovely greenery growing and a refreshing variety of bamboo growing.
The small-carved shrines around the area made it a very peaceful place. The springs had 3 pools and very ornate naga carvings from which water spouted from their mouths. Sam enjoyed having a dip in all 3 springs, declaring the water to indeed be hot but relaxing. There was an open air shower at the side of the springs and change-rooms. There were only about 10 – 15 other tourists around so it wasn’t crowded.
On our way back to Anturan we passed through the village of Banjar Tega where the village was preparing for their procession for melasti, a purification ceremony usually performed at the sea or a river, a few days prior to Nyepi Day. People were dressed in their finest traditional clothing with colourful flags, parasols and baskets of offerings everywhere.
Just as we came into Anturan we saw their melasti procession, it would have been at least ½ km long and they were making their way down to the beach for the ceremony. My beach seller ladies enthusiastically waved to me as I was taking photos; I had not recognised them in their ornate clothing.
When we got back to Villa Agung we could see that the procession had arrived quite a bit further along the beach so not wanting to miss out we quickly made our way along the beach. It was blowing a gale and fishermen were hurriedly making sure their larger boats were well anchored for the storm that was blowing in.
We gathered up two ladies who were on the beach who were interested as well and together we weaved our way around family dwellings, past cow pens and chooks to find the back of the ceremony. I think we surprised all the dogs, they didn’t even bark! By this time it was pelting with rain and I was wishing we had remembered to bring the umbrellas we had in our bags back at V.A.
Well, I think that the priests had decided they had kept the masses long enough in the weather so it all finished up fairly quickly. Got some photos despite the rain of the masses, the colourful flags anchored at the seaside, and the two guys carrying a huge gong on a pole straddled between their shoulders.
We trailed along at the end of the procession as it made it’s way back to the village of Anturan, parts of the procession breaking off as they reached their turnoff points until… there was no procession any more …. just 4 very wet bedraggled soggy tourists tramping along the main road, much to the amusement of the Balinese people we passed! (Sam had decided to forgo this cultural jaunt of his mother’s) It was only at this stage was there any offers to sell us an umbrella … we were even offered a fish or two for dinner!
We invited the two intrepid travellers to join us for dinner at V.A. Catherine from Queensland and Greita from Denmark had just arrived that afternoon on a Pertama bus and had found themselves whisked off to a small hotel a few doors down where they didn’t enforce the policy of not allowing the beach sellers into the property. They were feeling a bit harassed, the hotel was not to their liking and they were thinking about getting on the first bus back south.
Hopefully we convinced them that our experiences of Lovina were worthwhile staying a bit longer than one night ….it was with regret that we turned into bed knowing that tomorrow we would be leaving Anturan … but each of us knowing that one day we would be back.
Nyoman (Alex) had driven to his village of Tianyar (about 1 ½ hours drive on the east coast) for the night so he was back at 9 am to pick us up to take us to our next point of stay being Ubud. Having only visited Ubud for a brief day visit previously I was keen to see a few temples of interest and do some walks around the fringes of Ubud. We had pre-booked 5 nights accommodation at Villa Rasa Sayang through San Michele in conjunction with our airfares.
When Nyoman (VA Manager) gave me the bill which included the accommodation and meals and numerous cokes that Sam had put on the tab, I got him back … “Oh Jesus” I said …. It took him a while to realise I was joking!
When Alex arrived Sam came racing up to me and said “don’t laugh Mum, but Alex has got rice on his face” – evidently Alex had done Melasti or something at his village overnight and had grains of rice stuck very effectively on his forehead and temple.
We drove through Singaraja and turned off to the south at Sangsit to find a gamelan maker at the village of Sawan (page 347 Rough Guide to Bali & Lombok). After a few kilometres we found the “Pentatone” sign marking his residence and workshop. A couple of young kiddies were at home but no parents were to be seen. Alex rang him and found out he was at a temple nearby but he said he’d be back soon; 35 minutes later he turned up (bali time again).
In the meantime we had a lot of fun trying out all the instruments in the showroom and having a look at his foundry out the back. One massive gong that would have been at least a metre in diameter; we later found out that it cost 3 million rp. to buy (local price). There were smaller gongs about 25 cm in diameter hanging in brightly decorated painted stands were priced at 450,000 rp.
I usually let Alex do the negotiating for me on these items. On our last trip to Bali he sourced a gamelan shop in Dempasar and got a good price for me on a gong about 38 cm diameter in a stand which now calls the family to dinner - it even reaches teenagers behind closed doors!
This time I decided to buy a cengceng, an instrument comprising two separate small cymbals with bright yellow pom-poms attached on top held in each hand to clash in an up and down and sideways movement on a set of five small cymbals attached to a bright red stand. Apparently it is played in conjunction with the drums and boy, does it make a noise (just what was needed for Nyepi Eve I think!)
We travelled onto Kubutambahan, a town about 11 km east of Singaraja to the temple Pura Meduwe Karang. At the front of the temple is 34 carved figures from the Ramayana epic and the central shrine has huge carvings and after a little searching around the base I found the carved panel I had come to see; depicting Dutch artist W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp on a bicycle, apparently he had cycled around Bali in 1908.
Tucked behind his carved ear was a frangipani flower from one of the trees within the temple. A couple of children obligingly posted for a photo on each side of the carving for me.
By this time we had quite a following of children so when we got back to the car I asked Alex to distribute some toys I had bought at an op shop in Australia, I think Alex distributed at least fifty of them cause I think they put them in their pockets and put their hand out again!
Off again we went, this time heading for Tianyar, Alex’s village which is on the coastline in the north east. We drove along a fairly straight coast road catching glimpses of the sea along the way. Along the way we crossed bridges over dry riverbeds, this part of Bali can get very dry and hot.
At Alex’s family compound the Tianyar volleyball team was there to meet us as we had brought an Australian volleyball to give to them. We sat in a bale and his dad opened up some coconuts for us and we enjoyed a long refreshing coconut drink; I didn’t realise coconuts held so much liquid. His dad then split the coconuts in half so we could scoop out the soft coconut flesh with a spoon.
Afterwards his mum, who is a tiny lady aged about 70 years, and I strolled around the family compound and I took photos of their pigs, had a look down their well and saw their family temple. They had a fun bird that could talk … Balinese of course!
Alex took us for a walk to the beach where he explained how they produced salt from the seawater. He introduced us to his sister-in-law and small niece who were resting in a shelter waiting for the return of her husband who is a fisherman.
After shaking of many hands and feeling very privileged at being invited to such a gathering, we headed off to Ubud over steep mountain roads from Lupak that just went up, up, up till we got to Blandingan and then skirted the perimeter around the massive Gunung Batur.
We stopped at Penulisan for a fantastic view of the volcano and Lake Batur in the distance and got some soft drinks, at first I wondered why the straw wasn’t working well, then realised they were evidently secondhand and had been washed and reused, so watch out for recycled straws at some of these out of the way places!
Alex must have heard Sam’s tummy rumbling because he also bought some peanuts in their shells for Sam who happily munched on these all the way to Ubud, sharing none of course, typical teenager! I think he found it hard going as the peanuts in Bali are a lot smaller so there is a lot more shelling to be done to get a feed.
After a long day of driving, Alex dropped us off at the Villa Rasa Sayang in Monkey Forest Road and we wished him happy Nyepi and would see him again in 5 days to go onto Padang Bai in the east.
We had pre-booked Bungalow No. 1 located in front of the pool and found we were the only guests there for the first night. There were 7 other bungalows running in a line down the property.
Our bungalow had a lounge area inside the entrance with a glass coffee table and a comfortable cane lounge with cloth cushions. It was very clean and the lighting was good. The only complaint I’d have is that our bungalow, most likely because of the separate lounge area was multi-level and had a few small steps and with white tiles it would be easy to forget they were there so I had to take extra care.
On the verandah were two chairs and a table where I would have my bali kopi each morning. (The staff were very obliging and would bring you kopi on request - included in the tariff). The gardens were lush and green and the lotus flower in a large pot in front of our room flowered while we were there. The pool was a good size and had a shallow end separated by a low wall just below the water level.
We had an early tea at Bali Pesto (out the front of the V.R.S.), crispy based pizza, bit like a Sao biscuit, but still good and went to bed early. We were keen to explore Ubud.
Woke at 6.30 am. and had bali kopi on the verandah at the front of our bungalow (couldn’t wait till 8.30 am for breakfast time).
We enjoyed our breakfast served in the dining area, which was in an upstairs bale; it was very pleasant to get the morning breeze. Breakfast consisted of the usual - fruit – papaya, pineapple, banana, mixed juice, a small omelette and 2 slices toast with jam and butter (we took our vegemite for a fix) and kopi or tea.
Sam decided to head out on his own after breakfast and later on I found out that he had gone some considerable way, and as it was getting a bit too hot for him to continue, he found ‘transport’, showed them the Villa Rasa Sayang card cause he didn’t have a clue where he was (he said he made it a practice to get a hotel card on the way out – clever kid), and got a ride back pillion on a motorbike. He’d thoroughly enjoyed his morning exploring Ubud on his own.
In the meantime Graeme & I decided to go for a walk to Nyuh kuning, a small woodcarving village to the south of Ubud Central. We walked down Monkey Forest Road, through the Monkey Forest (10,000 rp each) and while we were sitting down watching the monkeys, a naughty monkey climbed on my head & bit off the peak of my new rice farmers hat! I didn’t have any food so it must have decided that my hat was fair game! – so, now it’s a leaky rice farmers hat.
We continued along the pathway through to the other side of the monkey forest and down a small road past a few shops and homestays. On the left hand side I saw a beautiful lotus pond and we were invited to have a closer look – it was part of the Laka Leke hideaway restaurant and cooking school (phone: 62 361 977565). We were shown the open-air bales where the cooking classes were conducted – it looked very tranquil overlooking rice paddies.
They also gave us a copy of their program of the cooking classes. We spoke to some Canadian travellers who showed us a good map supplied by their hotel, the Alam Indah, just close by, so when we walked past Graeme went in and they were happy to give him one of their maps. It’s a hand drawn map, A4 size and covers the areas bordered by Penestanan, Nyuhkuning, Peliaton and Central Ubud.
Continuing on we walked past one of the village temples and a football field and then stopped at a warung for a cool drink. I bought 2 of the traditional headwear that the balinese men wear to temple ceremonies; one was purple with gold embroidery for 53,000 rp. and the other a black and white check material for 27,000 rp. They had a range of face and body lotions, mostly Ponds behind glass cabinets.
Coming to a T intersection we crossed the road to another temple where a lot of women were placing offerings outside, perhaps waiting for the temple priests to arrive. We continued along the main road and over a bridge that crossed the river, had a look at some interesting woven baskets at the basket man but didn’t buy any, he didn’t apply any pressure luckily, otherwise I may have succumbed because they were very nice (at this stage I was trying not to buy too much stuff to cart around Bali before we got back to Kuta).
We stopped at the Bharata Gallery to view an art exhibition called Rhythm by Colour. One of the artists, Drs.I Wayan Surim born in 1955 was exhibiting a painting called Kangguru … and it looked like kangaroos too .. I wonder if he had ever been to Australia?
We headed off back in the direction of Monkey Forest Road and were feeling a bit hot and ready to expire by this time and we were very grateful to run into the driver from the Villa Rasa Sayang who spied us and gave us a ride back to the hotel in his van. A couple of times later that day when asked if we wanted “transport” we said “no, but what about tomorrow?” … some of them got the joke (the next day was the day of silence - Nyepi Day).
We found Sam back at Villa Rasa Sayang and for lunch we went to the Wahyn Café, which is next to the soccer field. Enjoyed a nice nasi campur ayam, a sate ayam (chicken) and a sate tempe (vegetable) along with a few cold bintangs while watching a Japanese crew working on a modelling shoot on the soccer field.
Because we could not leave the hotel premises on Nypei Day we ordered some Nyepi food boxes for the next day from the Café Wayan in Monkey Forest Road as the Villa Rasa Sayang doesn’t have their own on site restaurant.
They were delivered about 8 pm packed into medium size offerings basket with a lid and tied up with a red plastic tie. We chose a Balinese box (for 95,000 rp which contained Ayam Gorent (fried chicken), Tipat (pressed steamed rice wrapped in coconut leaf), Abon (crusty dried beef), Acar (pickled cucumber and carrot salad), Kacang saur (friend red bean and shredded coconut), shrimp crackers, fresh fruits, home made cake & Balinese cake and a small aqua, and also a Western box for 80,000 with no meat or 95,000 rp with chicken containing two croissants with peanut butter, corn chips, the same pickled cucumber & carrot salad, hard boiled eg, peanuts, shrimp crackers, home made cake & Balinese cake, fresh fruits & a small aqua.
We found that quite a few restaurants and cafés were closed on Nyepi Eve so we went to a small café called the Café Jaya just a bit further down Monkey Forest Road. It was the most popular place that night being the only one open in the vicinity and had a steady trade.
I had the most interesting experience with garlic bread there. I think only in Bali .. life can be like a box of chocolates .. you don’t know what you are going to get … the garlic bread was two slices of very lightly toasted bread, stuck together like a sandwich, and when opened it revealed at least two cloves of roughly chopped garlic pieces on some melted butter. After scrapping most of the garlic pieces off I was able to eat some with my carbonara spaghetti. The boys weren’t touching it!
Went to bed with the continuous sound of large clattering of tins and pans from properties along Monkey Forest Road to bring out the evil spirits lurking away in the corners of Bali. I should have had my changchang to join in but it had gone back to Kuta as excess luggage with Alex. The staff left at the Villa Rasa Sayang for Nyepi enjoyed a noisy pool party that night. They had heaps of fun which was good to see as they were all great people.
Nyepi Day … the staff served breakfast and it was quite eerie not hearing the noise of traffic, only the birds (and the staff at the hotel next door … Graeme said I thought we were meant to be quiet?).
We were well prepared with plenty of reading material and our ample Nyepi baskets for food, so we enjoyed a relaxing day by the pool (but did get rather sunburnt) At night we had some snacks from the Pertiwi hotel next door and the menu and the yummy spring rolls were delivered via a ladder over the perimeter fence. Half of the outside path lights were turned off but we were permitted to use lighting in our room as long as the curtains were drawn across.
Awoke to thunderous storms at 2 am – the New Year hadbegun in Bali!
Feeling eager to escape the hotel confines and stretch our legs after Nyepi Day we headed out to Monkey Forest Road and caught (should that be commandeered?) a bemo.
For those who don’t know, Bemos are a source of public transport that run particular routes that are determined by what colour the bemo is. They have either bench seats running along each side of a covered canopy or, seating more like a mini bus. Although they have seating for about 14, usually you see bemos containing well over their capacity, crowded with Balinese people loaded with market produce, chickens or whatever. School children ride them to and from school, often hanging off the back step. They are a fairly cheap mode of transport; most rides around 2-3 km being the equivalent of 30 – 40 cents Australian.
I saw a brown bemo in Monkey Forest Road, and the Rough Guide to Bali & Lombok said brown bemos go past Campuhan, the start of our walk, so in we hopped. The driver and two passengers looked a bit bewildered when I told them were we were going, but without further ado they must have decided we looked like paying customers and before long we were dropped off at the curve in the road at the Campuhan bridge.
I was somewhat surprised to see the bemo then do a U turn and head back to town, so figured out I must have hailed down the wrong bemo (how many shades of brown are there? – ah well I had paid them a good price for being hijacked).
We found the Ibah hotel and walked along their driveway to the turnoff to the river. We discovered the bridge to the start of the walk had been washed away and a temporary crossing had been made - a plank with pieces of wood nailed across it to prevent slipping into the deep river valley and the thunderous water below.
The boys went across first and I thought heck.. should I risk it? having been so cautious so far not to break a leg or ankle in Bali … and with their enthusiastic encouragement (even the workmen toiling away stopped working to watch) I crept my way along the plank and was across! I now call it my Indiana Jones experience across the Wos Timor!
The walk (page 213, Rough Guide to Bali & Lombok) is paved for the first few kilometres and gently slopes upwards until you reach the top of the ridge. Two rivers, the Wos Timor and the Wos Barat run on each side of the ridge. It is a very peaceful place with alang alang grass growing about a metre high covering the ridge and we passed two farmers harvesting the grass with long sickles. The grass is used for thatching in houses and temples.
To the left we could see hotels that had been built down into the river valley next to the Wos Barat and to the right rice paddy fields across from the Wos Timor.
After passing a small temple, Pura Gunung Lebah we stopped at Klub Kokos for a cool drink. The salt-water pool looks nice and their brochure indicates they have 7 bungalows as well as a family unit. They advertise that they can arrange activities such as Balinese dance, hat, basket, kite making, painting, music, and carving through the village next door. They can arrange a very comprehensive Bali Eco and Educational Cycling Tour (360,000 rp) through Pt. Bali Budaya Tours, Jl. Raya Pengosekan Ubud Tel/Fax 975 557 (081 833 6580).
After much needed refreshment we continued our walk through the small village of Bangkiang Sidem; there were small artist’s galleries and we saw a stone carver busy at work.
The walk continues through rice paddy fields and rural life with a great view of Gunung Agung in the distance until you come to a road where you turn along a road to the left to head back to a main road to catch a bemo back to Ubud.
By this time my legs were feeling quite weary and with another hill ahead to climb I said that’s enough and I went back to a road construction crew we had passed and made a request for transport. The boys were amused when I sailed past them on the back of a motorbike where I got off at the main road and sat in the shade waiting for them.
Sam arrived about 20 minutes later and because Graeme had got talking to someone at the side of the road, which is a perennial habit he has, and had been given a tour of their new house, he happily arrived in an airconditioned Kijang about 45 minutes later, so we got a nice cool ride back to Ubud.
The boys weren’t interested in another stop off, but I still had a few things on my list I wanted to do so I got them to drop me off at the Pura Lukisan Art Museum (20,000 rp) as I wanted to compare it to the Neka Art Museum we had visited in Ubud last year.
The collections of art and wood carvings were housed in three pavilions and although interesting, especially some of the early wayang-style cloth paintings, I found that it was not well lit or well presented and the range of art limited, hence my opinion that to view Balinese art, the Neka Art Museum would be my preference when visiting an art museum in Ubud.
The surrounding lotus ponds and carvings in the garden at Pura Lukisan were very nice though.
After the museum I walked down the main street, Jalan Raya and next door to the Lotus Garden restaurant was an entrance you can use if you want to see the Lotus Garden at the Pura Sarawati without dining at the Café Lotus.
I watched the gamelan orchestra practising for a while and then went on to the Warung Ibu Oka (in the next street to your left – Jalan Seweta) where I had a delicious lunch of babi gulung (roasted suckling pig – a Balinese national dish). At the Ibu Oka you sit on matting at low tables and the waitresses bring your meal, along with your choice of drink – they only serve bali gulung there and it’s yum! I think it was about 10,000 rp. Go for an early lunch, before 2 pm, because once all the bali guling has been served up, they close.
When I got back to Villa Rasa Sayang, I found Tina G. (from the Bali Travel Forum) with her group of 8 ladies and 1 intruder had arrived after doing the Casa Luna cooking school. She was heading up to the Ubud market (about 5-10 minutes walk up Monkey Forest Road) and as I hadn’t been to the market yet, I tagged along with her and Denise and honed up on the finer skills of bargaining from watching her in action. She’s a good operator when it comes to bargaining!
That night we had dinner at the Lotus Lane Restaurant in Monkey Forest Road. The Lotus Lane is one of seven Lotus restaurants in Bali and has a reputation for good food. Graeme enjoyed a fisherman’s basket, Sam had calamari and I had a salmon pizza; along with watermelon juices, cokes and Graeme’s arak attack the bill came to 215,600 rp. which is about A$35 for the three of us – Sam declared the meal as excellent.
To bed and tomorrow another day to explore Ubud before heading off to Padang Bai in East Bali.
Next Page 3
