It was now time to transition from the blissfully hot seaside resorts of Candi Dasa to the cool refreshing mountains of Munduk in the North of Bali. The night before we leave we go around to say our goodbyes to our Balinese friends who had made our stay here is Candi Dasa so pleasurable. The best way to travel any long distance with luggage in Bali is to hire a driver and car. So we hire our new friend Wayan from the Bali Club to drive us. He picks us up at our hotel and we are off in a jeep for a long drive to Munduk, but not before making a few stops along the way. Our first point of interest was the Garden Temple of Batukau, which is one the temples that holds special significance for the Balinese people in accordance with their Hindu beliefs. As we arrived, it was very apparent why it is referred to as the Garden Temple, as it is set among this great jungle forest with bushes, shrubs, and palm trees throughout the temple grounds.
Then suddenly, as we were going through the temple complex with its numerous tower temples, pool areas with holy water, and this pond area beautifully decorated with Hindu statues and large imposing temple structures, this sound caught our attention, and it was coming from the main gateway into the temple complex.
As we turned our heads to find out what this sound was, what we saw was simply astonishing, as through the temple gateway was a ceremonial procession of Balinese coming into the temple towards us, and by this time, the Gamelan was now already playing loudly and rhythmically those familiar sounds we have grown so accustomed to near the temples of Bali. At this point, we were simply frozen in our spots near the top of the stairway leading into the entrance of the main temple compound.
As we looked at each other with amazement at our good faith to have once again been at the right place at the right time, the amount of people coming through the temple gateway was now increasing by the second to the point where there were now hundreds of Balinese entering the temple, proceeding up the stairway, and walking right before us in order to enter the main temple compound carrying baskets of colourful offerings.
We learned later that these people were all from the district of Amlapura where we had just left, and it was their designated time to come and worship at this Garden Temple in Batukau. Feeling that we were blessed with a great gift to have witnessed this community ceremonial procession, we decided it was time to leave them worship in peace and continue on our way to Munduk. In a certain way, it kind of felt as if this community had come to join us here to tell us their final goodbyes, as we had just left their district a few hours before.
Leaving hear, we then passed through another spectacular and scenic area of Bali, a place called Jatiluwih, where Jati means “really” and luwih means “special, good and beautiful”. As we made our way upwards down this winding one-lane dirt and gravel road, we were immersed into this lush green jungle full of bamboo trees, palms, and an assortment of other trees found here in Bali. To top off this beautiful scene, were these amazing vistas of rice fields and terraces around every turn we made it seemed. As we drove down this winding road, we also passed scattered patches of houses along with the Balinese people who were living in this beautiful but remote jungle area. Being lunch time by this time, we stopped at at one of road side restaurants that allowed us a great view to gaze out into this incredible expanse of rice fields and terraces, and of course to have a bite to eat to satisfy our hunger.
After filling our tummies, we then took to the road once again to regain the main road for a stretch northward before making the turn on this west bound road that would ultimately take us to Munduk, which would turn out to be an adventure all to itself. The road to Munduk actually follows the ridge of a crater, which affords these amazing views of two large lakes down below. Then at one point, elevation comes into the equation, as the road constantly goes up and then down, and if it’s not going up and down, it’s twisting and turning, or both, around these majestic large mountains that Munduk has become known for. Doing it by jeep is one thing, but as we found out a few days later, doing it by motorbike is another matter, and doing it on motorbike in the rain…and in the dark, well, let’s just say that’s a whole other matter their again that truly gives you whole other appreciation for these mountains.
Our first observations once having arrived in Munduk were the following, it is actually refreshingly cool here compared to the rest of Bali, and this is a truly isolated place set back along the top of this mountainous region. Late into the night, looking out into the mountains from the deck of our room at our guesthouse, this place took on almost a fairytale like kind of feeling, as in the dark quietness of the night, all that one would see was these strings of sparkling lights twinkling in the night throughout the mountains, almost like string lights decorating a Christmas tree. High above us, the dark black sky was filled with stars along with the familiar constellations, except one that we had never seen before or heard of, a “Double Heart”. One heart over the corner of the other. In the quiet of the night, all we could hear now were the songs of the various insects, crickets and toads, along with a single motorbike off in the distance making its way home…then, complete silence! The cool night air was refreshingly cool and pure here high up in the mountains of Munduk, compared to the warm tropical seaside air that we had previously experienced during our Journey through Bali.
During the daytime, from our guesthouse perched high up on the ridge of this mountain, we could see the magnificent vista of mountain jungle forest with a river that flowed deep below on the valley floor out of our sight on one side. Beyond this we could see rice fields along with fields growing an abundance of crops of fruits and vegetables, and beyond this, was the northern coastline of Bali and the warm friendly sea shore. On the other side, besides another range of mountains, were rice terraces after rice terraces that flowed from nearly the top of the mountain all the way down to the valley floor, making for amazing views as we quietly had lunch at one of the very few restaurants in Munduk.
We quickly noticed the weather pattern in Munduk, which was nice and sunny in the morning and then dark and rainy through the midday, to only clear up again for the evenings. So when we decided to go for our hiking excursion, which was one of the main reasons why we came to Munduk in the first place, we headed out early in the morning in order to make it back before the midday rain.
It was suggested to take one of the local guides when going hiking, and were we glad we did, as once in the jungle, there were so many paths criss-crossing each other, we may have never come out. Our hiking excursion brought us through rice fields, forest jungle, and down deep to the valley floor between these mountains to see a series of waterfalls in this garden-like environment.
All along the way our guide showed us all sorts of fruits, herbs and spices, and vegetables found throughout the forest, including vanilla, snake fruit, cloves, pineapple , papaya, turmeric, coffee, coriander, and many others. During our hike, we also passed along homes of Balinese living simply in this isolated jungle forest.
We also took a day trip from Munduk to go and see the Shangri-La Resort and Spa in Bondalem which is owned by a couple we had met in their spa one night in Ubud. It was a lovely place right on the north shore of Bali, tucked away amongst palm trees. During our visit there, the welcoming friendly staff showed us around the resort, which includes a number of bungalows, spa, meditation/yoga hall, and a small cafe restaurant, all of which enable them to have groups come to the resort and be self-sufficient for week-long retreats.
On the way back to Munduk, we stopped to see the Gigit waterfall, where we finished by purchasing a traditional Balinese scene which had been painted by a young man we had met in his shop on our way to the falls. Even back in the forest by a waterfall one can find a temple to honor the Hindu Gods.
We also met three little young girls (approximately 7 years old) selling bracelets, I guess they were already in training for the life they are most likely to live as vendors of Balinese arts and crafts to tourist.
Leaving Gigit Falls, we endured a 45-minute ride in the torrential rain on wet and windy roads going up and down the mountains all the way to our guesthouse back in Munduk, what an adventure to finish our day.
Leaving Munduk, we acknowledged that this place was very unique compared to what we had experience in other places throughout Bali. It was a refreshing end to our Journey in this beautiful country. We could not help but ponder the idea of when we would be back to experience all its beauty, from the natural environment to the Balinese people themselves.
As we woke up on this fine morning, we knew it was to be a grand day, as our Journey today was to take us to Mount Agung (Big Mountain) and Besakih, otherwise known as the Mother Temple.
Making our way northward from Candi Dasa, we would make the gradual climb through the countryside of Bali taking in the many splendid views, to finally arrive at the base of Mount Agung where sits the great Besakih Temple, the biggest, holiest, and most revered temple by the Balinese people.
Arriving at this grand place, we walked up the road a short ways to arrive at the entrance to the temple complex itself. You cannot but be struck by its grandeur as just before you lies this large garden stone-like terraced stairway that leads to the main gateway which immediately catches your attention.
As you look beyond the main gateway, numerous temple towers of varying sizes and heights spring up everywhere amongst other buildings in several compounds that all have their own purpose. As we walked amongst this great temple, it became apparent to us that there were 4-5 levels to this whole complex.
As we strolled about, we discovered one level, then another and another, until we were at the very top compound looking down upon this maze of compounds, temples, buildings, stairways and alleyways, as well as a splendid view all the way down the mountain-side and to the valley below.
Making our way back Candi Dasa from Mount Agung and Besakih, we winded our way down the road only to have our attention drawn to this large billboard announcing a resort and restaurant 5 kms down a side road with splendid views of rice field terraces.
So off we went on a little detour to explore some more and if we’re lucky, a place to have lunch. Well as things would turn out, this place was simply amazing, as it had a beautiful open-air restaurant on the edge of this hill affording us an incredible 180 degree panoramic view of these rice field terraces on the valley floor below. So without hesitation, we parked our buts at a table, had a nice little lunch, and enjoyed the spectacular view that Mother Nature had afforded us.
After asking directions to some locals outside the restaurant parking lot, we made our way to explore what is often considered to be one of the most scenic drives in Bali, which goes through the village of Sideman. This was once again a great opportunity for us to see the countryside and what many people coin as being the “True Bali”.
Passing through one small town after another afforded us an opportunity to see and appreciate the way of life of many Balinese people, which may be either rice farming or as a vendor in their own little shop on the side of the road.
Driving through the village of Sideman as well as the surrounding villages certainly didn’t disappoint, as we seemed to stop on many occasions to take in the beautiful rice field terraced views that seemed to have no end.
We were also able to watch a group of local villagers harvesting the rice, which was an interesting experience and special scene.
By the time we got to Candi Dasa (C is pronounced like “ch” as in “ch”ocolate in Balinese) in south east Bali, we were ready for a well needed rest. We treated ourselves to a lovely resort directly on the beach in Candi Dasa for the first five days.
Our absolutely favourite place on the grounds of this resort was one of the cabanas equipped with large mattresses and pillows which lined the beach under beautiful big palm trees. The grounds were adorned with very well kept gardens and our room had two lovely big picture windows with garden views. Being low season, there were only a few other guests around and they spent their days touring so this made for a very quiet and peaceful experience during our entire stay.
We got to know a lot of the fishermen who keep their boats along the beach on either side of the resort. They fish in the early morning and spend the rest of their day offering a boat service to tourists to go snorkelling on either the nearby islands or at the blue lagoon. Being the only guests around during the day, we were pretty popular as opportunities to make a few extra dollars taking tourist around on their boats were few and far between.
This may sound like a bit of a nuisance but it was quite the opposite. We saw this as yet another opportunity to get to know the locals and we quite enjoyed our chats as we learned a great deal about their way of life in Candi Dasa and about the area.
Candi Dasa is basically just one main street lined with many restaurants and accommodations for every budget. At the end of the main street is a lovely area with cabannas where you can sit and relax over the water with a superb seaview including a number of islands and a mountain range. Many of the restaurants look very similar. They are well decorated and have a really nice cozy and attractive look. Dining at night with all the candles lit up on the tables made for a great place to relax. Some of them also offer night performances including Balinese dancers and gamelan bands.
The two most popular restaurants, Toke and Vincent’s, are owned by Dutch people. They are more pricy but offer a wonderful ambiance and open up at the back to an outdoor eating area full of gardens and waterfalls.
The restaurant we chose to eat at our very first night also rents motor bikes and has a spa, so after dinner we enjoyed a nice well-deserved massage and we left with our bike for the week.
Candi Dasa is a fishing village with approximately 90% of the workforce being fishermen and the other 10% obviously in the tourism/service industry. The beach is lined with hundreds of colourful Balinese traditional fishing boats. It is also the home of many expats as it’s a beautiful quiet village on the beach where the real estate is much cheaper than other seaside locations, such as Sanur and Kuta/Legian. Most of these expats are from France, Holland, and Australia.
One day, we were approached in our cabana by a new local we hadn’t met yet. He was a middle-aged man and his name was Nyoman. First he offered to take us to the cock fighting that afternoon, which is extremely popular with Balinese men and apparently lots of gambling goes on at these events. We quickly declined that offer so he walked away for a moment and came back and offered us something we simply couldn’t refuse…. food! He offered to deliver us barbequed fresh “mahi mahi” fish with rice and Balinese fish sauce right in our cabana that evening for dinner. This turned out to be one of the loveliest meals we had in Candi Dasa.
While we ate he spread himself out within eye reach in a couple of cabana’s down from the one we were eating, just in case we should need something such as the extra rice he had already offered us about four times! Half way into the meal he made his way over just to make sure we knew he was there if we needed anything. After we were finished he sat on our cabana with us and we had a great chat. He explained to us that many local fishermen do not own their own boats. Instead, they are sponsored by foreigners in order to support the local fishermen and their families. Nyoman spoke so positively of this type of arrangement and he asked if we would consider sponsoring a boat for him. As hard as it was to say no, this is not something we were prepared to do right in that moment, but we will certainly be considering this in the future.
The ride to the island in a Balinese traditional boat was a lot of fun in itself and also afforded us great views of Candi Dasa from the water. The snorkelling around these little islands was exceptional with an abundance of coral and tropical fish in every color of the rainbow. We swam around for an hour taking it all in and were ready to go back as the water wasn’t very calm and there were some currents which was a bit unnerving but Made stayed close by with the boat at all times and assured us he’d come and get us should the currents cause any problem. We were glad we had opted to pay him after the trip and not before! lol
After five days, we were ready to trade our cabana for some exploring around Candi Dasa so we transferred to a more reasonably priced beachfront hotel down the road which also had a pool and where you could snorkel directly off the beach. How cool is that?!
The staff were much friendlier and the service was top notch compared to the 5 star… hmmm, what is wrong with this picture. For example, one day, we decide we would like some fresh coconut juice with our meal at the outdoor hotel restaurant. The waitress tells us they don’t have any and then her eyes light up and she asks us to wait a moment.
She looks up the 30-foot palm tree next to us and calls her friend to come and climb the tree to get the coconuts and then proceeds to cut them open, adds a squeeze of lime, a bit of sugar, and ice and voila, we now have the best coconut drink ever!
Lucky for us, she had her friend cut down four coconuts so we could enjoy one the next day as well!
This marked the end of our awesome snorkelling day and it was time to hop back on our bikes and make the 30 km drive back to Candi Dasa. On the way to Amed we took the inland road where we enjoyed a beautiful ride through rural Bali and great panoramic views of rice fields. On the way back, we took the long way which is a narrow and windy road directly on the coast where we drove through numerous little fishing villages and were afforded amazing coastal views including thousands of fishing boats lined up on the beaches. Once we got back to our hotel, we had a shower and waited by the poolside where we would enjoy yet another fresh fish dinner by Nyoman, only this time we had fresh tuna.
As mentioned in a previous post, both of us have always enjoyed massage tremendously and strongly believe in its numerous benefits including the promotion of well being, preventative health, and stress reduction. Balinese Massage and Reflexology are by far the most relaxing and effective treatments we experienced in Bali. So much so that we decided we wanted to learn more about massage and how to do this magic ourselves so we can share it with each other and family and friends.
We searched the internet for schools in Bali and choose one called Bali Bisa (means School and Yes, I can) in Sanur, a popular tourist area on the beach in the south of Bali. Wayan, our landlord in Ubud, transported us and our baggage to Sanur after our stay in Ubud. As hard as it was to leave Ubud, we were very excited about our week of learning ahead of us. Wayan’s cousin, who rented us the motor bike in Ubud, followed us on this two and a half hour drive so we would have the use of the bike in Sanur. I (Lori Ann) took the Balinese Massage course and Ricky took Reflexology. Both are five-day certificate programs.
We each had our own personal teachers for the entire week. My teacher’s name was Desak and Ricky’s was Kadek. Both of these young women, as most of the other staff, have travelled and worked in spas around the world such as in Turkey, Russia, and Dubai. The owner, Penny, strongly supports and encourages this as it allows her staff to have more well-rounded experience and training.
Both of us were very pleased with our teachers and the four of us worked together in the same practice room upstairs and had many laughs. As hard as they had to make us work in order to achieve what we needed to in order to pass our courses, they certainly enjoyed a bit teasing and joking around every once in a while, too. It was yet another great opportunity to get to know the locals and learn more about the Balinese way of life.
The two first days, Monday and Tuesday, consisted of theory in the morning and practice in the afternoon. By Wednesday afternoon, we were already expected to perform these full one-hour treatments on each other. By Thursday they called in European clients who now live in Sanur to come in and be our clients and provide feedback for us. On Friday we were tested on theory in the morning and practical in the afternoon. Had we known how much work this was going to be and what would be expected of us beforehand, we may have been scared away. We were in school from 9 to 5 and studied every night. This made for a very heavy workload for two people who have been on vacation for the past few months! Add in there the fact that we were learning in a different culture and English is their second language, and our Balinese vocabulary is only a total of about 25 words, and it makes for both added stress and some pretty good laughs at times! In the end, however, we totally surprised ourselves in terms of how much we were able to learn in such a short period of time and how natural it was for us to learn these techniques. We are pleased to say that our hard work and dedication payed off as we both passed with flying colors on Friday. PHEW! What a relief when it was all done.
We presented little gifts to our teachers to thank them and then all the staff, whom we all got to know quite well, joined us on the back deck for the big graduation ceremony, presentation of certificates, and a photo shoot. 
We were so tired after it was all said and done, we got pretty giddy which made for a lot of fun and laughs to celebrate the completion of our training. Both of our teachers would really love to come to Canada to work in the spa industry so we exchanged e-mails and hope to see them again some day in Canada.
Even Bali can’t escape the global impact of the Western world influence, as North American and European chains and entrepreneurs have established all sorts of well developed accommodations, restaurants, and boutiques to entertain all the needs of folks visiting this amazing place. Well, we are happy to report that there are still a few places in Bali which have maintained the traditional village ways so we hopped on our bike once again and made our way to one of them in Penglipuran. Once there, walking through the village certainly made us imagine what Bali must have been like 30 to 50 years ago.
The first striking feature you notice as you enter the village, is that the whole village is this large compound with a long street running right up the middle of the entire village. On each side of this long street are the individual family compounds which one enters through these beautiful framed stone gates much like at the temples.
Oh, and one other interesting village feature is that the Balinese must really love terraces because the stone-built road actually goes up in terrace-style towards the village temple at the top of the road on top of the hill. Things are well kept here. Beautiful shrubs and flowers line both sides of the road beautifying this traditional village. Things are very quiet as the villagers go about their daily routines and chores.
We were also invited to enter a few family compounds by the women of the house shall we say. Inside the family compounds, the design was very standard in the sense that the layout of the buildings was pretty much the same from one to the other.
In the family compound you would generally find the main house where the family would sleep and rest. Another building was used as the kitchen to cook up the meals for the family and keep the rice and other essential ingredients as well as sleeping quarters.
You would also find a workshop where tools were kept as well as where they would make the well known crafts sold in many shops. The family compound also has an area to keep a few animals, usually goats or a few pigs and of course, as in the rest of Bali, chickens running loose everywhere along with the family dog… or maybe not, as wild dogs are almost as plentiful here in Bali as sheep are in New Zealand.
What is a family compound without a garden and flowers? In the garden you will find most of the ingredients that the family will use to prepare their meals, so you could say the meals are always fresh out of the garden. There are also various fruits growing within the compound including bananas, coconut, papaya, coffee, oranges, and others. The Balinese could not make do without flowers, as these are essential to perform several daily rituals and offerings as part of their Hindu beliefs in their family, as well as in the village, temple.
And then there is the rice, the main staple of every meal. The village grows its own rice fields and at harvest time, each family is given an appropriate portion for their needs. It is interesting to note that as many rice fields as there are in Bali, they actually have to import rice to meet their demand. I guess this makes for a LOT of rice considering the population of Bali is approximately four million and rice is eaten for breakfast, lunch, and supper every day!
We enjoyed passing through one quaint village after another as well as some of the bigger town centres of Bali such as Bangli. At one point we stopped to admire lovely wedding decorations made of different types of leaves. It is so neat to see some thing so different and hand made with natural materials.
We also visited the Pura Kehen temple in Bangli on our way through. This temple sits on a hillside and affords great views. We felt a real sense of peace and tranquility here, that is once we made it through the usual local vendors that swarm the entry of the temple who seemed the most aggressive we had experienced thus far. The tall towers topped with coconut hide, which looks much like big wigs of hair to us, were very imposing and beautiful to look at.
It was now dinnertime and we stopped at this small local warung called Babi Guleng to have an authentic local delicacy, a pig dinner. This spiced pork was served with rice, of course, a green bean and coconut salad, and a piece of crispy fried pork fat just like our grandparents used to make, but not as tasty.
After having lunch with the locals we made our way to the Elephant Cave in Goa Gajah, and of course, like at any other tourist attraction, we had to walk through countless small shops with vendors eager for us to buy the same goods offered in many shops in Bali.
As usual they tried to sell us a sarong needed to enter the temple even when we were wearing one already! We felt a great sense of spiritual energy in the elephant cave where there are holes carved into the walls where people used to sit and meditate. This temple is named after one of the main Hindu Gods, Genesha, who is in the form of an elephant.
As we explore the area, we came about this small rice field area that was being harvested by five or six women. We watched them cut the rice stalks and then hit them on this almost bench-like structure, freeing the actual rice from the stalk itself…. and voila, rice. All that was left to do was put the rice into large bags and send it on its way to be dried and prepared for market.
Being such a hot day, we couldn’t believe how these ladies could do all this labour intensive work so we decided that they needed a break. We asked them if we could take over and give it a try, which after looking at each other and laughing, they willingly passed us handfuls of rice stalks and away we went hacking away releasing the rice from the stalks.
Well that got even a bigger laugh from these lovely ladies. I suppose they are used to visitors taking photos of them but not actually doing the work for them, even if it was only for a few minutes. We had seen this scene in many rice fields as we went through Bali. We were very pleased to have the opportunity to try it out and to have this Balinese experience. Another wondrous, fun, and interesting day exploring in Bali.
Joseph our neighbour in the compound where we were staying in Ubud, kindly invited us to attend the Bali Spirit Festival, a huge yoga, meditation and music festival just five minutes out of Ubud. So on another beautiful day in Bali, we set out on our bike to go check out the festivities. However, only 5 minutes down the road, our voyage to the festival was suddenly halted as the road was completely blocked.
Not by a barricade or police, but by two giant cremation ceremony towers and three huge black bulls, you could say this was the last thing we were expecting to see on our way down to the festival. After talking to a few local people, we found out that it was a cremation ceremony for three individuals, thus the reason for the three black bulls.
At this point, we found ourselves with a decision to make, we could either a) find an alternate route to get to the festival; or b) attend the cremation ceremony and head to the festival afterwards. Well it didn’t take us very long to make our decision, because with the buzz going on, we knew that this would be another special experience on our Journey through Bali…and so it would be! First we had to find out where this cremation ceremony was actually going to take place, and after having talked to another friendly local who kindly directed us to the right temple, we were all set.
The grounds were now full of people and music playing loudly to an exciting and rhythmical beat, creating suspense and anticipation that something grand was to unfold, and it certainly would after the second tower and third bull came rushing into the grounds in the same fashion. With all the necessary elements now on the temple grounds, the cremation ceremony could now begin. After a grand entrance and beginning to this ceremony, we were at the edge of our seats with great anticipation for what was going to unfold as a sequel.
Then suddenly, the two towers were brought forward to this staircase-type structure that would allow the Holy Men and a group of men to bring down all the ritual articles needed to perform the cremation ceremony.
Then the three black bulls were stationed side by side in their own structure that had been purposely built for them for this occasion. Then another team of men secured the bulls in place with bamboo and the white cloth that came down from the towers. Afterwards, the men proceeded to cut open the top back of the bulls.
Then the caskets of the deceased were brought down from inside the towers and their bodies, wrapped in white cloth, were taken out and placed in the now opened bodies of the bulls.
At this point, it was time for the Holy Men to proceed in carrying out the necessary spiritual rituals before receiving the offerings from the families that would be placed inside the body of the bulls along with the body of the deceased. This part of the ceremony took around an hour in itself to persorm, being a very important part to allow the families to make there offerings for their love ones. After this was all carried out, the cut -out tops of the bulls were placed back onto the bulls and properly secured. What we just described probably took place over a period of about three hours.
After this, well, shall we say that things got a little hot, or rather, really hot! As bamboo and wood was placed underneath the bulls, and soon after, with the assistance of some rather large torches, the big black bulls were set on fire to produce a rather spectacular seen. But on another hand, it seemed to be quite regrettable to see them destroyed after so much effort had gone into building them. Actually, as we were leaving our house that morning and told one of our Balinese neighbours where we were going he expressed that he does not agree with the amount of money used in the preparation of these elaborate ceremonies. He feels that the money could be put to much better use in the community rather than burning it. So at this point, the whole area was completely engulfed with smoke and this marked the end of the cremation ceremony many hours later than we had anticipated. It was actually 4:30 p.m.!
Although this is a very religious ceremony for the Balinese people, it seems that even the cremation ceremony is not off limits for the vendors, as they were present every where selling sarongs, wooden statues, refreshments and fruits, and many other things. It actually gave the whole ceremony this fair-like atmosphere to some extent, however, for the Balinese, it is a big celebration when one of these ceremonies is held.
One of the iconic pictures that people generally have when they think of Bali is the impressive rice terraces in all their shades of green. One of these picturesque and panoramic rice terrace scenes can be seen in the village of Tegallang, just twenty minutes north of Ubud.
Arriving in Tegallang, there is no mistaking that this is the place, as an expansive series of rice terraces spreads up from the river bellow in this steep ravine parallel to the road. From the road’s edge, all you see from this vantage point is beautifully carved rice terraces weaving their way upwards in all shapes and sizes.
Adding to the beauty of this scene, are the palm trees, which one would think have been strategically placed in this ideal scene so painters and photographers could create their masterpieces that would draw thousands upon thousands of tourists from around the globe to experience the beauty of this heavenly place. After our gawking session was over, we walked our way downwards into the rice terraces, zigzagging back and forth on the narrow paths, used by the rice farmers to make their way around, in order to indulge ourselves in this tropical oasis of a place.
As We soaked it all up, enjoying this mesmerizing and uplifting experience. Down in the rice terraces, things were very peaceful, except for one ongoing beautiful little song, the song of the trickling water going from one rice terrace to the other, bringing life to fruition in the rice paddies. The song of the trickling water in the rice terraces is said to be the song that we endeavour to reproduce in our small home like fountains back at home. However, the sound found here is perfection in all its simplicity, making you want to simply surrender and melt away. 
As we returned back to the top of the rice terraces, we sat down at one of the little cafe restaurants to have a nice cold drink and to simply take in the splendour of this natural landscape that lay before us before making our way onward. We sat here with great gratitude, thankful for the opportunity to experience the energy of such a beautiful and special place.
Looking down into the rice terraces from our pirch, we could see a very traditional scene, a rice farmer tending to his rice paddies. Seeing him walk along the terraces gave us some perspective as to how big each rice terrace actual is, as he seemed to be nothing put a small dot in this grand picture.
From there, we made our way to Gunung Kawi, the water temple. The temple is located down from the roadside with very beautiful and peaceful surroundings.
It is known as the water temple because the temple is blessed with a spring of pure water which now makes its way to a number of pools within the temple complex. The water is considered to be holy water and is used by the Holy Men during various temple ceremonies.
There It is also a specific area where local Balinese bath regularly in this holy water in order to perform a Hindu cleansing ritual. The amount of offerings above the water spouts gushing the water into these pools was a symbol of the religious devotion of the Balinese. 
Afterwards, it was on our bike once again to explore the Stone Temple. To get to this temple, you need to go down this flight of stairs that never seem to end and of course small shops line our path, enticing us to buy all sorts of trinkets. But that is the least of our distractions, because all around us, as we keep going down, are these spectacular views of rice fields and terraces along with a running river at the bottom of a ravine in the distance.
As we finally got to the bottom, we explored one section of the Stone Temple which is quite unique; as it has been literally carved out of the rock face of the hill which we have just climbed down. As we then walked along the river, this young Balinese man was on the other side instructing us on how to best get across to the Stone Temple. Once across, he asked us if we wanted to see the waterfalls at the end of the rice fields, explorers that we are, we simply said, “lead the way!”.
So off we went through the rice field with our adventurous spirit and guide to find this water fall. As we walk our new friend Ketut, who is a wood carver like his two brothers, tells us about his life here in Bali and he very curiously asks us many questions to try and understand who we are and what its like to live in Canada. After 10-15 minutes’ walk, we arrived at this water fall with a small pool of water at its base. The young man then proceeded to invite us to go in for a swim. At first we declined having no swimming trunks and all, which he quickly replied, “no problem”, just take off your shorts and shirt and jump in, which he then proceeded to do himself. At this point we looked at each other and thought, it actually is that easy, and how freeing of an experience would that be, so off went the shorts and shirt and in we went.
We showered in the small thundering falls and were even able to slide behind the falls to have a really cool perspective of the water gushing down from the river above. Once out, we could notice people above the actual falls, when we asked him what were those people doing there, he simply replied that those were local Balinese bathing. At that moment in time, it struck us, we had just experienced a truly authentic Balinese experience that not too many people visiting Bali probably have. It was actually a similar scene that made Bali known to the rest of the world some 60 odd years ago through the writings and paintings of the bare-chested Balinese women bathing in a river just like this one. Walking away, we were left once again amazed and in awe of our faith to have met this young man who allowed us to have this truly Balinese experience that was totally unexpected on this day.
Once we got back to the temple area, this torrential rain started coming straight down. We took cover in this little hut with an older man who was a vendor. As the rain relentesly came down, it came to us that even the rain here in Bali seems to be beautiful in its own special way. It seems that you more easily accept the fact that it is raining and that there is nothing that you can do but just wait and watch it all come down, giving life to all the plants and rice around us.
From that point, we continued on our way down the path and up the stairs looking at this rice fields expansively stretched out in front of us and terraces which seemed weave there way on and on into the jungle for as far as we could see. All in all, this made for another truly exceptional day discovering the countryside of Bali and its true essence. 
We finally peal ourselves away from these breathtaking views and head back to Ubud. We have to say it was very hard to keep our eyes on the road!
The possibilities to visit temples in Bali are plentiful. They literally dot the landscape of every town in this beautiful country. They seem to appear on every street corner as there are so many of them. Each family has a small temple in their family compound for daily worshiping to the gods, most of which are very simple. Furthermore, each family is part of a community which worships together at a community temple which is more elaborate and obviously bigger. And then there are a certain number of sacred holy temples which all Balinese will go to at specific times through the year or years to worship and to take part in special Hindu ceremonies. These temples are imposing in size and consist of a number of structures with various purposes, countless Hindu statues everywhere, stunning landscapes with palms, multi-coloured shrubs and flowers, as well as ponds and pools of Holy Water.
As we made our way up and up towards Mount Batur from Ubud, we should have known that something might be happening up there. As the closer we got, the busier things seem to get, as car, truck, and bus loads of Balinese in their traditional dress were everywhere.
Well, to our great amazement as we arrived to Mount Batur, the village on the top of the ridge of the crater was simply swarming with people, as this huge ceremony was taking place at the local temple.
There were so many people walking to and from the temple that we actually had to get off our motorbike and walk the bike down the road to see what all the excitement was about for ourselves. 
As we walked along, we told ourselves that this must be our lucky day, as this is exactly one of the experiences we were hoping to have during our stay in Bali. And as we parked the bike and took out our sarong and temple wear from underneath the seat of the bike, in true Balinese fashion, in no time at all we each had an offering to bring into the temple and this kind lady helped us look our best… and voila!…we were temple ready.
So off we went, and as we entered the main black volcanic stone gateway of the temple with the many Balinese having made the voyage hear today, we entered the first and second courtyard which was beautifully decorated for the occasion.
We were … impressed shall we say, as the camera was out of the bag and shooting photos left, right and centre. But the thing was, we hadn’t actually seen anything yet…really?! …yeah really!
As behind the wall with a series of gateways at the back of the courtyard, was the entrance to the third and main sacred courtyard of the temple where the Balinese were worshiping. Only the Hindu are permitted to enter this praying area, but we were allowed to observe the proceedings through one of the gated side gateways.
The scene that we witnessed consisted of this beautiful temple serving as the backdrop for this spiritual occasion for the Balinese people. The temple area was lavishly decorated with numerous Hindu statues, umbrellas of every colour, colourful offerings were so plentiful they filled the front of the temple structure. 
The courtyard was full of Balinese in white traditional clothing, all chanting their response in unison to the call and prayers of the Holy Man. The air was filled with smoke and the scent of incense burning. All together making for a truly memorable and magical experience for all our six senses.
Yes, it has been a long time since our last post. We have fallen under the Balinese spell! This place does something to you that we have never felt or experienced before. The funny thing is we cannot put our finger on what it is exactly that makes this place so very special. We have met fellow visitors here who have travelled the world and will tell you there is just no other place like Bali. It is very hard to explain but we will try as we write about what we have been up to this beautiful place.
After about two days in Ubud, we knew we wanted to stay a while as we loved the energy there. We rented a house just five minutes outside Ubud in a village called Penestanan, and stayed for a month. Aw! Finally! A place to call our own for a whole month! Seems like a long time after not staying in one spot more than a few days in NZ. Bali is a completely different place than NZ. Here you simply need to sit back, relax, read a book, maybe take an afternoon nap, go for a short ride on the bike to pick up some fruit, eat lunch, meet some friends/locals, or go for a yoga class or message treatment if you feel like it…and simply surrender and take it all in. No schedule, timeline or any specific task that MUST be done today…ah what an experience…and that’s the Ubud lifestyle… gotta love it in all its SIMPLICITY!
The house we rented was in a compound with three other houses. Our Balinese landlord, Wayan, and his wife live in one of the houses. Ari and Patrick, a couple from Montreal are also in this compound, as well as a yoga teacher from Signapore, Joseph. Wayan treated us so well. He took care of our every need and could even anticipate our needs before we could, such as our continuous need for bottled water, laundry, and others. He is a very religious and traditional man and shared a great deal with us which we very much enjoyed and appreciated.
We were surrounded by locals and got to see and experience their day to day lives. This included watching women carry big loads of black volcanic soil in a bucket on top of their heads down the long, windy, narrow path leading to our house. One day, approximately eight of them carried an entire dump truck load down the path to a construction site. We also watched women doing their laundry in the stream that runs down the side of the path. Most locals raise their own chickens and roosters so we heard these all day long.
To really do like the locals, we got our own wheels. We rented a moped for the month. It’s hard to put into words the freedom we felt on this bike. We could go anywhere we wanted and stop at any place at any time. That sure beat riding the bemo (local shuttle, stuffed with people and no a/c). It sure took some getting used to though! Experience driving on the other side of the road in NZ came in handy.
We had that down pat already but nothing could have prepared us for the driving etiquette here. There are no rules for the bikes. Going the wrong way on a one-way street and zig zaging passed cars is expected. Then it was time to learn to balance the bike with someone on the back. Looked pretty easy when we saw entire families on them and locals carrying big loads of grass and rice towering three feet over their heads! Practice makes perfect, though! Within a week or so we were going the wrong way on the one-ways along with them! The locals find seeing visitors on bikes quite funny. They watch you go by and chuckle among themselves.
Ubud is a very spiritual and artistic town. Its fame began when artists of the likes of Monet visited Ubud and began painting panoramic scenes of Bali. It is said that almost every home in Ubud has an artist who paints incredible landscapes of Bali.
We once read somewhere that every Balinese is born with a creative gene which is not hard to believe. The art here, including rock and wood carvings, paintings, silver and gold jewellery, and fibreglass art is breathtaking. The detail and design is incredible.
The town is loaded with lovely restaurants decorated with lush exotic gardens, Hindu statues, lanterns, and Balinese art. Many restaurants open up at the back to the greenest of rice fields. We found a small, cozy, simple restaurant near the library called Juice Ja which serves several kinds of simple, healthy and very tasty drinks and meals.
The Monkey Forest Road gets its name for good reason. It runs directly past one of the two Monkey Forests in Bali. The monkeys run all about the end of this street usually looking for food and don’t think about hiding any food you may have in your bag as they will smell it a mile away and climb on you to get it in your bag .
We visited this Monkey Forest Sanctuary. It was a very neat experience to walk through thick, humid jungle with long vines hanging down from the huge trees. The monkeys were everywhere and played (or should we say fought) with each other by pushing each other into a pool of water. They dropped themselves into the water from high up in the trees. You never knew where they were going to come out of.
Ubud is also the home to many Hindu temples, museums and art galleries. There are a number of traditional Balinese performances every night in Ubud which are not to be missed, offering every type of traditional Balinese dance, including the Barong, Kecak and Legong dances. With these amazing temples serving as a spectacular backdrop along with the moon and stars above and the Gamelan playing traditional Balinese music in the background, it makes for a mystical experience. This is one of those activities that will allow you to have a true Balinese experiences. 
We also had the pleasure to take in a five-day meditation course offered by the locals during the evening at The Meditation Shop across the road from our house. During our last weekend in Ubud, we took in our Level 2 Reiki training with a Reiki Master from the US in a beautiful spot just a few minutes from our house called Intuitive Flow. The classroom was on the second floor and three of the four walls were floor to ceiling windows overlooking miles and miles of rice fields and greenery (not able to capture in a photo, unfortunately).
And Ricky finally got to take some private drumming lessons with a drumming master which he has been wanting to do for some time now.
We took in regular massages at a number of different spas offering a range of different massages, scrubs, Balinese spice baths, and reflexology, some of which are set in beautiful outdoor gardens and lush greenery. We were intrigued by all the different types of massages and healing techniques offered here from people from all around the world. One evening we took in a Tibetan Bells Sound Healing massage with Arun, who is from Italy, which knocked our socks off. The sound of these bells just make you melt and your mind just floats away to la la land! Incredible! We will definitely be learning more about these bells.
We went to the local market regularly to fill up our bags with local fruit to make our smoothies in the morning. Our favorites are the mangos, pomelos, and snake fruit. Driving down gangs (small narrow streets which Bali is known for) and exploring was always fun, too.
We spent a great deal of time talking with the locals where ever we went. They love to tell you about their customs and day to day activities. They are a very special people. We find the Balinese to be very genuine, open and welcoming, polite, and so very warm. When they smile, it truly warms your heart. They have no edge to them and are very accepting. For example, when we were learning to drive, we got in people’s way on the road a number of times and never did we see them frustrated or annoyed with us. They simply smiled, tried to help us, and then told us “hati hati!” (be careful). Meanwhile we were expecting to get the finger or have horns honked at us as would happen at home! The Balinese are very calm and laid back. You never see them rushing, they always have time to talk, and you can see their relaxed lifestyle in their faces. Everything is so easy here. When we rented the house all was done out of trust and good will. There was no contract or paperwork. How cool is that?!
While in Ubud we also took in a Balinese cooking class with Nyoman at Bumi Bali. This proved to be a very pleasurable and memorable day. We were the only two students so we had Nyoman all to ourselves. It started by us following Nyoman on his bike to the local market. We were thankful we had our own as three of us on his bike may have been a bit tight! Once at the market , we viewed local vegetables, spices, herbs, etc., which we would be using during our cooking class. Once back at the restaurant, Nyoman informed us that during our Balinese cooking class experience, we would not only be preparing six different recipes, but eating them as well. We ended up eating enough food for two days. There is a very common paste in the fridges of most Balinese homes which he also taught us to prepare. It is called Bumbu Bali and can be used to give flavour to almost anything. It can be used as a marinade for meat or fish, or to stirfry vegetables. It includes ingredients such as white pepper, chilli, shrimp paste, and ginger.
After a great week in deep rest and relaxation in Legian and the Kumala Pantai Oasis Gardens, we left by chartered taxi to experience the artistic and spiritual centre of Ubud. But before we could live those experiences, our Journey there would be filled with further exploration and discovery of this fascinating Balinese culture. Driving northwards from Legian, we came to the village of Batubulan, most notably known for two things, its stone carving and the very colourful Barong Dance. Driving through, we start to wonder if that’s all people in this town do is stone carving. As shop after shop of these amazingly carved Hindu and Buddhist stone carvings line the road. We stop and walk about one of these shops and are dazzled by the craftsmanship of these stone statues created by the master stone carvers.
We feel that if we stood in front of them for long enough they may simply come alive and jump right out at us, as they are so well carved, they look like real gods and goddesses. There is also some rather creative pieces and pots that are also very impressive and different from anything we’ve ever seen before. They say that all Balinese are born creative, looking at these pieces all around us, we would certainly attest to that!
From here, we make our way to take in the Batubulan Barong and Kris Dance. We arrive at the temple and are greeted by two lovely ladies in brightly coloured traditional Balinese costumes…an excellent photo opportunity…you know what mean, you know what mean…eh! eh!
We are then guided to the performance area where we await with great anticipation. The first sign that things are to begin is the arrival of the musicians. Referred to as a “Gamelan” or a “Gong”, is an ensemble of as many as 25 musicians in the modern popular form or anywhere between 35-40 in the traditional form. The Gamelan is impressive in its own right, with their many traditional Balinese instruments and coloured costumes. Although it sounds strange at first with its noisy, jangly percussions, it’s also exciting , enjoyable, melodic and at times even haunting.
As the Gamelan starts to play, our eyes are fixed on the extravagantly decorated traditional orange and black stone temple that serves as the backdrop for this performance. Then suddenly, out of the main gate of the temple, appears this large devious and fun-loving dog-lion like creature who starts dancing about with …bells. This apparently is a mythological animal who represents the good spirit. As with the Kecak Dance, this is again a story about the battle between good (the Barong) and evil (the Rangda).
As the performance unfolds, a series of other characters of this story appear in there lavishly coloured costumes, performing with great precision and grace this memorizing dance that tell the tale of this enchanting and entertaining story, all to the rhythm of the music of the Gamelan. 
Leaving the performance, we then go on to explore the art of “Batik”, because when in Bali, one must ware “Sarong”, especially if visiting temples, or maybe when attending a traditional Balinese performance or supper, simply lazing around one’s bungalow or guesthouse or shopping down the many shop filled streets…well simply but, just about any time really!
The Sarong is the traditional ware of the Balinesse and comes in many beautiful colours and patterns, you really can’t leave Bali without seeing them, and two, most probably waring one yourself. Batik is the art of pain stainkenly painting onto fabric brightly coloured patterns and designs, which are simply stunning and beautiful by nature… beware shoppers! It’s with amazing precision and confidence that these ladies apply the dye to the fabric to make these beautiful designs and scenes of Bali’s traditional life. Being impressed and somewhat overwhelmed once again by the artistic and creative nature of the Balinese people, we leave Batubulan for another artistic town, the one of Celuk, which is known for its silver craftsmanship.
Nearing Ubud, we make one final stop in the town of Mas, which it has come to be known for its art of woodcarving. Woodcarvings abound everywhere you look in this village, and so beautifully crafted too. Statues of Hindu Gods and Buddha are essential everywhere and come in every size and colour of wood imaginable. The amount of detail in these carvings is beyond belief that someone could actually carve that out of a simple block of wood.
