Bali Bike Tour

So for a day in Ubud I managed to sneak away from Christina and spend a few hours riding through the less touristy areas of Bali.  I contacted the great people at www.balitrailblazers.com  and for about $100 CDN they hooked me up with a guide, transportation and food/water for the duration of our ride.  Normally there would have been more participants than just myself, but I guess it was a slow week, and I did pick the most advanced one-day tour they had.

For those of you know us as only words on the internet, I ride a lot.  I moved to Vancouver a few years back explicitly for the quality and proximity of the trails.  The adventure in Bali was definitely not the typical day on the Vancouver trails but its was an amazing experience just the same.

We started off at the top of Tukad Bungbung, south through Rendang, and I think we finished off around Banjarangkan.  The video is about 10 minutes long and I filmed it all with a chest mount HD Hero 1.  I hope you enjoy the music too :)

Bike Tour in Bali a Mountain Biking video by allanm

Next up is our transfer from Ubud to Seminyak, with some detours along the way..

Not Done Yet! 'bud Round up and Tegallalang.

Yes I know it has been a while since the last post but we are going to finish this off.

So things are getting a bit out of sync with the timeline but missing any of the great experiences is not an option.

So after getting attacked by Monkeys, the next day we spent back with Wayan traveling through the country side of Bali.  There may be some duplicate photos but they're all good enough to show twice ;)

The day trip included many awesome stops like the typical Balinese home.

In front of the family temples.  Nice new shiny one on the right.

One building of the compound.  I think this was the Uncles residence.

The super wicked waterfall that I wanted to jump off.

View before walking down to the river.  I swear that's natures diving board halfway down.

Down at the river looking downstream.  See where the Balinese get the grey rock from?

Looking at the water fall from the river.  Diving board still visible.

The stairs had a view too.

45 Cents Per liter gas and the Water Temple.

Insane.  And they say gas is hard to transport to Vancouver.

Water bubbling up from below.  Going in this pool is a big no no.

Big Koi pond where the 'used' spring water filters into.

The Oka Agriculture stop.  Caffeine turned out to be a good thing that day.  This was one of our favorite places of the day!

Christina getting some time in the kitchen.  Roasting coffee.

The view from our coffee 'bar'.  Quiet and green.

Best sign we saw in Bali,.

The unreal views from the mountain top restaurant in Kitanmani.

Its a big Volcano called Mt Batur.

Really Big Volcano.

I had to hold on to her so she wouldn't fall off the edge,

A really big temple and more full moon ceremony prep.  This was actually the only place on the trip where we were approached by kids looking to trade.  One even followed me to the bathroom on his bike.  Once we parked the car, just across the street form the temple, they found us pretty fast.  Though it definitely did not take away from the experience in the least.

Temples with doors, only to be opened during the ceremony.

Looks the same doesn't it? but different.  Wayan showing up nicely in the foreground.

This was a big compound.

When one roof is just not enough.

Shiny and new, with some colour thrown in.

Then finally, one of my favorite stops, the rice terrace of Tegallalang .  There are a few pictures of this place, and to be honest you really can't take a bad one.  Great views for us westerners any direction you turn your head.  We stopped at the city, which is on one side of the terrace, and walked down to the very bottom. This is were Wayan and I left Christina and walked to the top of the 'green' side of the terrace.  Tricky to work here I must say, but I would find it hard to complain otherwise.  Sorry the pics are a little out of order.

At the bottom they were handing out fresh coconuts.

Wayan graciously picked this one up for us.  Only condition was we had to wear the hats. 

On the way down we stopped for a photo.

View from the top on the city side.

Looking back down at Christina on my way up the 'green' side.
Its a good 8 foot drop into a rice patty if you slip. 

On the way up with Wayan. Again horrible pictures.

Good view of the paths and scale here.

Almost at the top.  Great exercise that's for sure.

View form the 'green' side.  Lots of traps to lure you in and
you have a drink to enjoy the view.

So that's almost the end of the 'bud.  This day was not the last in Ubud, both the Blanco museum and cooking class were still to come before we headed for Seminyak.  But that should get you all caught up on our great experiences in and around Ubud.  It's much easier uploading pictures on the home computer than over Bali WiFi.  We will have to find an app to shrink the pictures on the tablet to keep the blog more interesting on our next trip.  Great experiences and lots learned about the culture in Bali.  There was an Allan only bike trip with video somewhere too, I should be able to post that next.  But once that's done - Off to Seminyak!

The Antonio Blanco Museum - Bali

Breakfast time!

When Allan and I decided to visit Bali for our honeymoon, one of the first places I wanted to see was the Antonio Blanco Museum.  Not that we know that much about art but, for some reason, this museum struck a chord with me.  Here was a man that loved Bali so much that he left the Philippines to pursue a career in art, travelled the world before settling on Ubud, Bali.  In fact, the King of Ubud gave him a plot of land to set up his studio and home.  The same plot of land is actually the museum currently AND where his son and family still live.  His son is also a painter and also uses the same studio that his father, Antonio, created his masterpieces.  Talk about special genes, hey?

Crossing the bridge to the Blanco Museum

The amazing gate

The walk up to the museum was incredible.  The driveway is immaculate and the gate is massive, impressively etched with cursive writing.  After walking up the drive, you enter a small room to pay your entrance fee, are handed a map of the grounds and you're on your way to discover a different world, it seems.  The large steps leading up to the museum area are old but the buildings surrounding the stairwell are so well kept you wouldn't know they're 50 years old.  After arriving at the museum area, you're met with parrots, cockatoos and lovebirds in every color.  The grounds the birds live on are beautiful and they aren't even restricted to cages!!!  The birds all have their own trees to perch on and are given free range to fly around the treetops.  The Blanco family still lives on the grounds, so certain areas were blocked off but that didn't stop us from peeking in the windows and visiting the family temple.  After the ground walk was done, we entered the museum.

Stumbling on the open grounds and the birds

The immaculate grounds

The museum entrance

We weren't allowed to take any pictures in the museum but the inside of the building was so rich that I wish I could.  There were spiral staircases on every side of the building and each wall was painted a different color.  (The turquoise wall was, of course, my favorite.)  I should mention that Antonio Blanco was a very flamboyant man and known for being fascinated with the female form.  The majority of all his paintings were of naked women and he actually created the frame of the picture for each painting.  In fact, the frames became as well known as his paintings.  Allan and I were awestruck by all the paintings.  Each one seemed to have a life of their own.

I can't wait to visit it again next year.  Seriously, I've never enjoyed a museum more than this one.

My new ring!

After the museum, Allan surprised me by buying a gorgeous silver garnet ring.  I have yet to take it off.  I'm a very lucky girl....

 

Cooking With Gas

So today,  Christina booked us an all day cooking class in Ubud. Great idea as good Indonesian food can be scarce with the abundance of tourist restaurants catering to the variety of imported palettes. To be honest I did not have high expectations,  but looking forward to the experience none the less.

The class started with a pick up and meet at the Ubud market,  the same one we wandered through earlier. The guide gave us some pretty cool information about the fruit,  vegetables,  meat, and utensils all specific to Indonesian cooking. Our previous venture through the market was pretty fast as the choices and structure seemed overwhelming. It was nice to casually walk through the market and focus on soaking up information,  rather than just being careful where we were walking. Also we were told that if properly washed us outsiders could probably handle the market food,  save the meat. All meet for outsiders has to be handled under the guidelines we take for granted,  or we risk a case of Bali Belly. Though if you grow up eating the local meat your stomach becomes super human and immune.

Market food

And the fruit section. 

After the market tour we (15 or so participants) were shuttled to a nearby village, whose primary focus is rice production.  Once there Wayan explained to us how the typical Bali village and family was organized. How the one large fresh water stream at the top of the rice terrace was split to service the rice fields of the different families.

Wayan and his teaching. 

Parting of the stream. 

As a side note Bali had been under some form of Dutch control since 1846 all the way up until the early 1900's.  The wars with the Dutch did have a high cost for the Balinese. Without the Dutch though,  the Balinese people would not have learnt about proper irrigation, as well as structured government. Apparently the Balinese would fight amongst themselves for water prior to the occupation. Wayan was very thankful to the Dutch for this,  despite all the negative press that came with these benefits. Goes to show the character of the Balinese I guess.

Back in the rice fields more info was passed onto us specific to growing rice. About 68% of Bali was rice fields 10 years ago but has now been reduced to 58%. Because of this the government has protected most rice producing land from development. The Balinese eat rice at all 3 meals and rely on the sale of any surplus for their livelihood. A good portion of the rice fields are also privately owned. Passed down through the generations so each family has a reliable food source. Also interesting to mention is that the rice can be harvested 3 times a year,  with a 3 month break every 2 years.

Moving on from the rice fields we finally made it to the family compound where our class would be taking place. Each family lives together in their compound until the women are married off to go live with another family,  or you die. Wayan only had 4 members of his family,  but his next door neighbour had 55 people in their compound. 55 family members living and working under one roof,  some details of their culture are always going to be a mystery to me :)  Wayan went onto explain how all the different buildings in the compound are arranged and a bunch of other details that are a separate post on their own. One thing that did come across is that Wayan and his wife are very happy despite being married by accident (or as they called it a Balinese MBA). Having a kid out of wedlock is a big no-no in Bali if the woman is not married if the kid is born before the marriage is complete she will essentially be kicked out of the community - pretty harsh.  To be clear there are solutions that help keep the mother and child in the community,  this is just an extreme case. The Balinese are very family oriented and feel a strong responsibility for everyone in the community.

Welcome music. 

Puspa,  showing us the ropes. 

When we finally got our hands dirty with the cooking the group of us was responsible for the majority of the work. Wayan's wife,  Puspa,  was the ring leader and she had about 5 helpers running around guiding us,  cleaning up,  and taking care of the general details.

The cooking was well organized and fun to work through. It went on for a few hours with each member of the group taking on new and different tasks throughout the preparation of each dish. I started off deep frying,  and Christina was on knife duty.  I moved onto to chopping once the frying was done and after a hard few minutes Christina took a powder ;-)

All participants then had to take a go at the Bali Blender.  As the name suggests this process turned the chopped veggies and spices into our yellow curry sauce. Some say I was the best, but bragging about my skills with a giant wooden stick just doesn't seem right.

Right at home in the kitchen :-D 

Amazing skills

The intoxicating laugh. 

Lots of chopping and lots of mixing through out the class. We were able to take a small break with the clear mushroom soup before we finished with our mains. There were two separate tables in the compound to accommodate the class size.  Christina and I had a great time talking with the couples from NYC,  France,  and Australia. Though we particularly did not like the Aussies for the sole reason it was a cheap 2 hour flight to Bali for them at anytime of the year.  Bottled water was free the entire time and Bintang was a cheap 15,000 ($1.50).

After the mushroom soup more chopping and cooking followed to complete our mains.  Just shy of another hour we all sat down to reap the rewards of our labour.

The food did not last long as we we were all very hungry. A lot of the class enjoyed the deep fried tempeh coated in sweet soy sauce,  Christina included. Where as my favorite was the chicken with yellow curry and potatoes. No one really likes vegetables in any country,   but I heard no complaints :-P

The view from the table. 

The spread,  and a poacher. 

The class finished off with dessert - boiled bananas with jack fruit and coconut cream sauce.  Jack fruit is like crossing a mango with a pineapple,  sweet and tasty. Where boiled bananas tastes exactly how it sounds.

We paid upon leaving and collected a little pamphlet and the recipes for the class. We owed $70 for the two of us - great bargain by our standards - but Puspa was gracious enough to not charge us for the 4 Bintangs we drank. Free beer!  What a hostess!

We were then carted back to our hotel (pickup and drop off are all included in the price) where we found the pool quickly and lounged like beached whales with our well developed food babies.

All in all a great experience that I would recommend to anyone going to Bali to put on their list.  The only downside is finding Indonesian food of similar quality at any restaurant.  Most westerners know that is it usually the hole- in- the- wall restaurants that do home style cooking the best. Though searching for one of those in Bali is a challenge my normal human stomach will definitely start a mutiny over.