Big Bali Tour

Rooftop Breakfast

Tuesday was the day of our long tour! We started the day off at 8 am ughh with a beautiful breakfast on the rooftop to the sun waking us up. Our tour guide Wayyon arrived at about 830 in his new toyota crossover; which he was very proud of. We got in the car not sure what to expect and Wayyon took out his map and asked us where we wanted to go. I was a little taken aback because 1.) he had such great english and was genuinely nice and 2.) he was interested in what we wanted to see and what would make us happiest. We developed a general game plane and headed off. Bali is overcrowded with many motorbikes and cars, so things are generally not a far distance, but there is always miserable traffic. The first stop of the day was finally out of some of the congestion. We drove through Tohpati which is a batik making village. The towns in Bali mostly all have a certain craft that have been passed on to them. Therefore when driving through these areas you will see thousands of the same thing repeated. We stopped at one of the plentiful Batik "factories" and learned the art of these beautiful fabrics. The fabric is first outlined with a pattern with black ink then sealed with wax. The wax is scraped flat and more colors are slowly added in layers until the pattern is complete and more wax is placed over it. It was such an intricate process which definitely surprised me. There of course was a gift shop and the prices definitely reflected the time and effort that goes into every piece. I did not buy anything here mostly because they were inflated tourist prices. 

Batik Outline

Wax covering

Next stop was the silver making village called Celuk. We stopped at a silver factory that was opened by Wayyon's college friends. Wayyon never graduated from college but he was getting his degree in some sort of International studies with a focus in English, and he knows about six languages.  The silver jewelry making was so intricate and of course all done by hand. A pair of earrings would take one skilled man a little over one days work to complete. A necklace with all the links hand made would take about a week! Inside there was absolutely stunning jewelry and when I have a real job Kara and I will return and select one special piece of jewelry there. 

Hand making earrings

So beautiful

Mas village was the next stop, which is the wood carving village. We arrived to see about ten men whittling and filing away on foot long hunks of wood. Some were in the beginning process and some were becoming very elaborate. The tour guide there told us that each artist had their own style so there are never two pieces that are the same. The men are the only ones allowed to do actual carvings on the side there were five women sanding down all of the finished pieces. Apparently it is considered unholy if the women were to carve. The wood carving stop was right next a gorgeous rice field and Wayyon explained to us a little bit about the harvesting. (I honestly don't remember the particulars about it- but I do know it is an extreme amount of work). He said that in the past every family would have their own rice field and altars were set up in the fields to ensure a good harvest and luck. Slowly people began to focus more on other crafts, so the altars would move to these locations. Now every household has an altar instead of in different work places, so everyone will prosper. 

Carvers

Women sanding 

Masks in the gift shop...

On our way through the island we drove through Ubud which is a main city in Bali. We were shopped out so we did not stop at the touristy marketplace there. The next stop was Jalan Wanara Wana which is a sacred monkey forest outside Ubud. The monkeys roam through the paths and temples here and worshipped by the locals. After our terrifying experience at monkey beach is ph phi, Kara and I were very wary of these crazy creatures. You could feed the monkeys, so they were quite friendly and after walking around for a few minutes I was definitely ready to leave. We managed to make it up to the main temple and took a few pictures and then we pretty much ran out of there. 

This was close enough

Main temple for the monkeys

Family Cleaning

Tegalalang was the next stop . It is just a beautiful viewpoint of rice terraces-the view was quite breathtaking and I will never forget how precisely the fields were carved into the mountains and just the vibrant colors of the fields.

Beautiful Rice Terraces

Kara, Francie and I

 Our furthest northern stop was next- the semi-active volcano Gunung Batur and the lake inside the crater Danua Batur. The crater inside the volcano is massive, in the 1980s the volcano erupted and there is still damage in about a half of the crater. The other half is small villages surrounding the largest fresh water lake in Bali. Normal tours only look at the view on top of the mountain but Wayyon took us down the scariest weavy road to the lake. We ate at a local restaurant know for their fresh Tilapia that they harvest. The restaurant was on floating docks in the middle of the lake, it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience-eating on the water inside a volcano! 

Danua Batur

Gunung Batur

Us with Wayyon eating on the floor!

FRESH Tilapia Lunch

The floating restaurant!

Posing in the crater lake!

The next stop after the trecherous clim back up the mountian was a coffee growing farm. Bali is known for a certain coffee, Luwak Coffee or fondly known as "cat poop coffee". These cat like creatures- Luwak will selectively eat certain coffee beans that smell the best. Their bodies can not handle the beans, so they are passed right through the body without digesting. People then collect the excreted coffee beans and roast them to make coffee. I did not try the cat poop coffee since it was a bit of an appetite suppressor but I heard that it is quite smooth and delicious ughhh We opted for the free coffee and tea sampler. My favorite was by far the ginseng coffee, it had the most amazing smooth taste with a ending hint of ginseng without it being too overpowering. The hot cocoa was great too because cocoa beans are harvested as well at this farm. 

Roasting beans

Our sampler

View form the cafe

Gunung Kawi temple was the following stop. It is one of the most famous temples in Bali because it was built and carved into the rock faces in the 16th century but it was covered over by vegetation and was not rediscovered until the 1960's! These days the temple is used once again for special celebrations. We had to wear clothing that was appropriate for the religion, so even the men had to tie fabric around our waists as skirts to cover our legs and a rope to hold it up. It was really fun to explore and I felt an outer body experience like I could feel the ancestors there and feel the history seeping out of the rocks. Then we continued to climb up the 1000 steps back to car- it was worth the workout though!

Adventuring

Of course we had to

 Ketut Liyer Medicine Man from Eat Pray Love was next. I was so excited to see this celebrity in person. The locals all say that Ketut is a scam because he tells everyone the same fortune but we still wanted to check it out. It was 250,000 rupiahs- which is quite expensive for Bali. (about $29) We actually had a show to get to on time, so we couldn't wait for Ketut to give two more 20 minute fortunes. It was quite hilarious to listen to Ketut because he doesn't know that much english so his story did not make too much sense, she was going to go back to school to become a doctor and get married when she was 30 (even though she was 29 and single and had her teaching degree). I guess I will just have to see what the future unfolds for me instead of learning ahead of time. 

Our final destination was a night fire show. We were exhausted and did not enjoy the show too much, it was more amusing listening to about 30 men chanting as the background music to the show. Next time we know that the show was a D-rated production of a fire story and after a long day not exactly the thing you want to sit and watch. We still laughed secretively and almost fell asleep.

Creepy masks afterwards

 The drive back to Echoland was silent- we all fell asleep! Wayyon was so great to take us on such a long tour for the same price as others. I will have one more entry this week to sum up my trip! Until next time...

xoxo

Leah