It quickly became apparent that two days in paradise simply isn’t enough, so we extended our stay in Bali to five days. This allowed plenty of time for some serious relaxation and the occasional day trip. The relaxation part consisted of a leisurely breakfast, maybe watching the workers toiling in the padi fields right outside our room, followed by lazing by the pool with a good book (or doing our blogs), then a light lunch. Then before you knew it, the afternoon was drawing to an end and it was time for a rejuvenating massage at one of the many spas in the village, to ease away the aches and pains that go with this stressful lifestyle. Ubud contains many first class restaurants, and we had some excellent Indonesian meals every evening. Also took in another performance of Hindu dances.
In the end, the only day trip we signed up for was a downhill ‘eco’ cycle ride through ‘the real Bali’. I’m not sure that made it eco, but the outing was certainly well worth while. Starting in the mountains, we had a sort view of one of the Bali volcanoes and its crater lake though the clouds. We then descended a bit to a coffee plantation to view the coffee making process and sample some of the produce. This included the world famous civet poo coffee, which apparently gains its distinctive and much sought after taste by having the civets eat the coffee bean fruit then collecting their droppings to extract the coffee beans. I’m afraid that my humble taste buds were not able to make out what made it so special.
The tour continued downhill, as advertised (meaning minimal pedalling) taking in the rice growing process, wood carving and a chance to look round a typical Balinese family compound. These all contain their own family Hindu temple and a central ceremonial building for weddings, funerals, etc, plus houses for all the extended family members. The setup seems to work very well for them. After an excellent buffet lunch we ended up in the Monkey Forest, which is just around the corner from our hotel. This contains three Hindu temples, plus of course, many monkeys doing their thing (see pictures).
On the way to the airport on my last day in Bali, I had the chance to see some of the more developed part of the island. Not nearly as attractive as Ubud. Hopefully I will have the chance to return to paradise again before to long.
1 comment:
Interested to see that it rains even in paradise!
Looks and sounds very like Laos, right down to the civet poo coffee. That was a pretty idyllic place, too - for tourists, anyway, if not for the poor farmers in the NW who were liable to be blown up by old UXO lurking in the paddy fields ...
Post a Comment