In Reply to: What is the posted by Baliku on Saturday, 30. September 2006 at 17:37 Bali Time:
JBR - Part 9 - 22/3/04 Indiana Jones & The Ridge Walk - Ubud
Awoke to thunderous storms at 2 am - the New Year had begun 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 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 a bit 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 culture, but I still had a few things on my list I wanted to do so I got dropped 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. 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 seven Lotus restaurants in Bali and have 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.