We are signed up to an all day down-hill cycling tour of the villages north-east of Ubud with an early pick-up at 7.30am. We chose a company recommended by the homestay and it turns out to be an excellent choice. There are nine people in the group and two English-speaking Balinese guides; a Japanese couple; two Australian women; a French couple and an Italian women who lives in Notting Hill! We start the day with a drive up into the mountains to breakfast at a restaurant at Penelokan on the outer rim of the enormous Gunung Batur caldera. From here there are stunning views of this giant crater, half of which is covered by an enormous lake and the rest is taken up with a group of volcanic cones. In the centre of the caldera rises the 1717m Gunung Batur formed in 1917. The cones of several smaller volcanoes created by more recent eruptions, the most recent being in 1994, sit alongside. A spectacular sight to gaze at over breakfast.
After breakfast we drive to the start point of our ride where our bikes and helmets await. Remarkably the whole 25km route is downhill all the way and a combination of gravity and hands (on the brakes) do all the work – no pedaling (or hardly any) involved. This is a relaxing and effortless way to get up close and personal with the Balinese countryside, its picturesque villages and way of life. A clever idea conceived by an Australian who migrated here 27 years ago and set up a company offering downhill cycling tours. Now there are several companies in Ubud offering similar trips.
Along the way we stop to visit a Balinese home. The Balinese live in large family compounds which can be home to several generations and up to 40 or more people. Each is laid out in accordance with feng shui traditions in a courtyard setting very similar to the one we are staying in. In this particular compound the family manufactures by hand the woven bamboo matting which is used to line the ceilings, walls and floors of Balinese homes. Interestingly it is the youngest son in the family who inherits the land and along with it responsibility for all the family members living in the compound, in particular the parents. The Balinese don’t have family names, nor do they have passports because travel is not a tradition in this culture. What they do have in abundance are celebrations to mark all manner of life’s events from births, marriages and deaths, to milestones in a child’s development. So it isn’t difficult to find either a celebration in preparation or taking place in a temple somewhere nearby. Offerings to the spirits are also an important part of everyday life and little leaf baskets with offerings of flowers and food are left everywhere – on the pavements, on steps, in doorways. There is a strict dress code for attendance at temple ceremonies which requires women to wear sarong, belt, long sleeved blouse and sash and sarong, jacket and white head scarf for men. In fact sarongs are everyday attire for many men and women in Bali.
We also visit a coffee plantation where they grow, roast and grind Aribica and Robusta coffee by hand. It takes about a week from picking the coffee bean to completing the roasting process which is done in a clay dish over an open fire. They also produce Kopi Luwak – also known as civet coffee – the most expensive in the world. Coffee berries are fed to captive palm civet (a nocturnal cat-like animal with a long snout). The inner bean passes through its digestive system, is collected, washed and then roasted. The resulting coffee is prized for its rich, smooth flavour. Even on the plantation a small packet of Kopi Luwak costs around £40! According to Andy – who sampled a cup – is nice, but not that nice. The visit is rounded off with a tea and coffee tasting followed by some tropical fruit which is also grown here and the obligatory visit to the shop. We are then on our way again cycling through picturesque villages where everyone seems pleased to see us, hellos ring out from compounds left and right, little children come running out for ‘high fives’ and colourful flowering bushes line the roadside. What a beautiful island this is.
Kite-flying is another Balinese passion probably initiated by the need to scare the birds from the rice paddies. Huge kites are often to be seen vying for position in the skies above Ubud as well as out in the countryside. It’s common to see young children out in the villages with a small kite or in the rice paddies flying some large monster of a kite that warbles in the air.
After breakfast we drive to the start point of our ride where our bikes and helmets await. Remarkably the whole 25km route is downhill all the way and a combination of gravity and hands (on the brakes) do all the work – no pedaling (or hardly any) involved. This is a relaxing and effortless way to get up close and personal with the Balinese countryside, its picturesque villages and way of life. A clever idea conceived by an Australian who migrated here 27 years ago and set up a company offering downhill cycling tours. Now there are several companies in Ubud offering similar trips.
Along the way we stop to visit a Balinese home. The Balinese live in large family compounds which can be home to several generations and up to 40 or more people. Each is laid out in accordance with feng shui traditions in a courtyard setting very similar to the one we are staying in. In this particular compound the family manufactures by hand the woven bamboo matting which is used to line the ceilings, walls and floors of Balinese homes. Interestingly it is the youngest son in the family who inherits the land and along with it responsibility for all the family members living in the compound, in particular the parents. The Balinese don’t have family names, nor do they have passports because travel is not a tradition in this culture. What they do have in abundance are celebrations to mark all manner of life’s events from births, marriages and deaths, to milestones in a child’s development. So it isn’t difficult to find either a celebration in preparation or taking place in a temple somewhere nearby. Offerings to the spirits are also an important part of everyday life and little leaf baskets with offerings of flowers and food are left everywhere – on the pavements, on steps, in doorways. There is a strict dress code for attendance at temple ceremonies which requires women to wear sarong, belt, long sleeved blouse and sash and sarong, jacket and white head scarf for men. In fact sarongs are everyday attire for many men and women in Bali.
We also visit a coffee plantation where they grow, roast and grind Aribica and Robusta coffee by hand. It takes about a week from picking the coffee bean to completing the roasting process which is done in a clay dish over an open fire. They also produce Kopi Luwak – also known as civet coffee – the most expensive in the world. Coffee berries are fed to captive palm civet (a nocturnal cat-like animal with a long snout). The inner bean passes through its digestive system, is collected, washed and then roasted. The resulting coffee is prized for its rich, smooth flavour. Even on the plantation a small packet of Kopi Luwak costs around £40! According to Andy – who sampled a cup – is nice, but not that nice. The visit is rounded off with a tea and coffee tasting followed by some tropical fruit which is also grown here and the obligatory visit to the shop. We are then on our way again cycling through picturesque villages where everyone seems pleased to see us, hellos ring out from compounds left and right, little children come running out for ‘high fives’ and colourful flowering bushes line the roadside. What a beautiful island this is.
Kite-flying is another Balinese passion probably initiated by the need to scare the birds from the rice paddies. Huge kites are often to be seen vying for position in the skies above Ubud as well as out in the countryside. It’s common to see young children out in the villages with a small kite or in the rice paddies flying some large monster of a kite that warbles in the air.