Bali off the beaten track

Many tourists prefer locations in Bali such as Kuta, Sanur, Nusa Dua or Ubud city centre because they are easy to reach from Ngurah Rai airport. These places can be beautiful, have a strong surf break or scenery but they are so swamped with the type of tourists I prefer not to meet. So this time we visited the less touristy and well-known places like Uluwatu and Padang Padang beach, Mengwi and Batukaru area as well as Munduk and Beratan surroundings.

Uluwatu beach region
Uluwatu and Padang Padang beach and surrounding rocky areas are relatively expensive for local standards and you hardly find any local eateries offering local prices. They mostly cater to Western tourists and expats. However, we still enjoyed the atmosphere in places like Single Fin Bar at Uluwatu Beach or Mango Tree Cafe near Padang Padang Beach.

We stayed at Zona Greens Homestay which had a lovely view over the hill, forest and water. Uluwatu beaches especially Blue Point Beach had a strong surf, we needed some efforts to climb down the rocks but it had a magnificent view over the cliffs, rocks and the surfers in the water. The Uluwatu Temple is located in the forest, overlooking wild cliffs and ocean. Occasionally we could watch a monkey eating a whole bag of chips.

The Kecak performance along with the Ramayana dances at sundown was not necessarily traditional but the fire acrobat comedians still did a great job and interacted with the public. The sunset just added the right atmosphere to the beautiful temple and the breathtaking view of the cliffs and ocean.

Mengwi and Umabian village
Our next trip was the Mengwi area: Our first impression was not great especially after our stay in Uluwatu. However, we quickly changed our minds after entering the resort, saw the tastefully appointed rooms and garden where we received an extremely warm welcome from the staff members. Our hotel Umasari Terraces was located in the middle of the rice terraces where we already had the chance to be part of the village. The staff was extremely professional, genuinely warmhearted, every room was equipped with a flat screen TV, fridge, coffee and tea making facilities and free water. There was a beautifully decorated verandah in front where we were also served breakfast and sundowners.  It was close enough to the town of Mengwi, around 15 min by scooter. We visited the beautiful Pura Taman Ayun Temple, a relatively large HIndu temple surrounded by a beautiful park near a beautiful river. In the morning there was a local farmer's market with local produce, snacks and cakes.

Our homestay host and his family invited us to be part of the Galungan Festival, a religious festival in Bali. We joined them into their family temple. As the neighbours announced that a pig would be slaughtered nearly at our doorstep, I found an excuse not to watch it. I told them that we needed to do some shopping in town. From what I had heard later, the screaming animal needed around 20 minutes to die, in fact it was being bled to death to gain its blood. Occasionally they would widen the wound to let more blood flow and the poor animal even screamed harder.

On Galungan Day we walked through the hilly rice terraces to the family temple, past a small river where ladies took their bath. Our hotel lent us a sarong and sache because otherwise we would be denied entrance to the shrine. It was a serene and holy feel, the type of spiritual atmosphere we found difficult to capture in a blog text

Batukaru area
Our next journey led us to Batukaru temple, one of the major temples in Bali which I would definitely recommend instead of Besakih temple. People from all over Bali and Indonesia came along in beautiful and colourful costumes to worship God and their ancestors . We experienced the first day of Galungan, had the opportunity to watch beautiful ritual dances welcoming the ancestors from the afterlife, performed by young girls of premenstrual age. Women in their period or pregnant, baby who haven't grown teeth were not allowed into the Batukaru temple.

Each temple had its own regulations because other temples had no problems allowing babies or pregnant women. It was a different atmosphere, more worldly than in Umabian village because people came from all over Indonesia in their best  kamen(Balinese sarong), kebaya(traditional blouse) and anteng(sache tied around the kebaya). Apart from the beautiful dances and costumes, we could watch several people who acted as though they were possessed. Local people told us that the gods and the ancestors descended onto the earth and communicated through designated people with their families. The Galungan festivities take place twice a year and symbolises the battle between good and bad. The Gods and ancestors will descend to earth and remain there for fourteen days until Kuningan Day. On this day, they will return to heaven again and there will be modest but impressive temple festivities.

Jatiluwih, Beratan, Candi Kuning market, Munduk
Our driver took us through less frequented small roads where we passed impressive rice terraces and our  first stop was Mirah Agrotourism plantation, beautifully located on top of a hill. We could sample many different types of coffee and chocolate and view the plantation. We saw luwaks in a cage, the cage was relatively big compared to some other plantations but we still decided not to support this inhumane business. The coffee was also the worst and the most expensive compared to what we had in other places like Uluwatu, Batukaru or Munduk.

We needed to pay the amount of idr 15 k  for international and 10 k for local tourists to pass the stretch through Jatiluwih Rice Terraces. It was a huge and wide-spread area of rice terraces surrounded by beautiful mountains. The weather was not nice and suddenly it started to rain. Normally visitors had the chance to do a real hike through the rice fields but we didn't have the opportunity to do this due to the heavy rain

Munduk and surroundings
After visiting the Candi Kuning market and passing the Beratan lake, finally we reached Munduk. Because of the rain, I didn't bother to go through the market which I found too touristy and agressive anyway. I planned to stay in Munduk just for one night and never expected that I ended up staying for 10 days. My first visit was the Tamblingan Lake where we could see 3 temple ruines. The lake itself wasn't worth the entrance fee, it was much more picturesque to view it from the road. But the road between Munduk and Gobleg had a breathtaking view on the lakes and plantations. Later I walked or rode the stretch between Munduk and the two lakes Buyan and Tamblingan in Gobleg at least 4 times. I also visited the giant Banyan tree which fell down during the storm. The giant Banyan roots were open to viewing and we could just imagine how gigantic the tree was.

Unfortunately Munduk and Gobleg were villages and just started to develop tourism. They are nice but when you are not lucky, you will be continuously bothered by people who wanted to sell you overpriced food or souvenirs. Nevertheless, most people were friendly and after I have been there there for some time, people started to loosen up and became very loyal and protective

Waterfalls and plantations
There was a strong GPS signal where ever I walked although I preferred to walk the main road with occasional treks through plantations. Later I found out that the trekking members paid a fee to the plantations but people were friendly enough to let a lone lady trekker pass through their land. Whereever I walked, the heavenly fragrance of the coffee beans and cloves caressed my olfactory senses. I wasn't too impressed by the Munduk Waterfalls because it was full of tourists and I had difficulties to capture a moment without a backpacker on it.

Later I found out that the path leading to the waterfalls had been a dispute between the villages Munduk and Gobleg. Munduk wanted to boost tourism and built steps leading to the waterfalls. Gobleg protested because some local residents had their homes all the way down on these jungle paths. So they broke up the steps and built a small path for scooters. Sharing such a narrow path with fast motor vehicles was not pleasant at all and I felt unsafe, so I wouldn't really recommend the Munduk or Melanting waterfalls at all

My favourite waterfall was the Golden Valley waterfall, around 3 km upwards from Melanting . The way down was slippery, had no bars to hold on but as an experienced bush walker I knew how to hold on to plants without injuring myself. After all, locals who live on this stretch do the same. This waterfall was small but it was a real hidden gem owned by an organic coffee plantation. So you could see coffee plants all over on your way down to the waterfall where you could have a coffee in the organic Cafe. Tip: If you need an umbrella to protect you against rain or sun, you can use a huge tarot leaf. Tarot plants grow everywhere in the area and you don't need to carry an umbrella.

At least they only had coffee from wild living luwaks(civets) and the animals weren't kept in small cages. The next waterfalls was Git Git where you could ride a scooter through the beautiful forested and mountainous landscape. Unfortunately at the entrance there were many little children pushing to sell you overpriced souvenirs. Please ignore them because they really disturb the tourists.

I celebrated Kuningan Day, the last day of the Galungan Festivities with my homestay host. They lent me a real temple attire, I could help in the kitchen and join them praying in the family temple. Maybe initially they didn't plan to involve me in their family plans but finally they decided to invite me to join the family. Apparently they had seen that I have put much efforts in creating the offering plate with fruits, sate, BBQ chicken and flowers. By that time I had enough knowledge of the local culture to smoothly participate in their ceremonies..

I grew accustomed to this place and saying goodbye always hurt a bit. It was quite touching to see my host family and neighbours bringing me to the car to say good bye. On my way back to Denpasar airport, I bought some fruits at Candi Kuning Market and visited Beratan Lake in Bedugul. We stopped for late breakfast in a delicious local eatery somewhere aong the way. I hope I will have the opportunity to explore more places off the beaten tourist track in the future. I seriously consider living in Bali after I have found the place where I would like to live. So for the next trip I will explore the Ubud surroundings and Batur area. The latter is also tourist hell but I hope I will find quieter times outside the main season.

Bali can be really God's Island if you come to the right place at the right time, but if you come to the wrong places at the wrong time, just be prepared to experience what hell would be like.