Bedugul Central Mountain Tour

Start in the morning, we are going to drive through the local villages to enjoy the scenic view of Bali's countryside. We can learn a little about the local farming system as well as learning about the local tropical vegetations that grow perfectly in our tropical climate. We are going to drive up to the central mountain area of Bedugul to visit the fruit and spices market of Candikuning, its wonderful lake side temple known as Ulun Danu Beratan Temple, built in 1634 AD. We are going to continue to drive up to Munduk village where we are going to have a little walk down to a nice waterfall. A great walk through a dirt track along the coffee and clove plantations.

3 Days ~ 2 Nights – Tours Over Central and Northern Bali.

Day 1st.

Departure in the morning after breakfast around 9 am, We are going to cruise up through the small villages to enjoy its natural beauty of spectacular rice terrace view, dozens of stop can be made for a chance of photography and sharing information about villages, farming and Subak Irrigation system which unchanged for thousands of years. We continue to drive to the top of Pucak Tedung at the village of Sulangai to get the best view over rice terraces, Bali volcanoes and the southern Peninsula of Bali. Next we continue to central mountain of Bedugul to visit the lakeside temple of Ulun Danu Beratan with a short stop at the local spices and vegetable market of Candikuning. After the temple, we drive up to view the two lakes of Buyan and Tamblingan with its dense rainforest, driving down the mountain side to see a nice waterfall at Munduk village that’s well known for its spectacular view of mountains, rice terraces and the north Bali Sea. We visit Banjar village for its natural hot spring where we can have a nice swim. We head to Lovina for night stay.

Day 2nd.

We make day excursion to Menjangan Island for a great snorkeling or diving. On our return from Menjangan Island, We visit Pura Pulaki and Pura Melanting that was built in the 16th-century by a Javanese Hindu Priest. Head back to Lovina hotel.

Day 3rd.

Depart for southern Bali, taking road via Pupuan and Belimbing which are another rice bowls of Bali, enjoying its spectacular rice terrace view along the way. We also visit a great temple in the rain forest name Pura Mekori with its monkeys. We have a fabulous coffee break at Belimbing village while enjoying a scenic panorama over the southern peninsula of Bali. We take back roads via local villages heading to Pura Tanah Lot for a great sunset. We then head back to next hotel after sunset.

Bedugul-Munduk-Pupuan-Belimbing-Sunset,Tanah Lot

Pick up in the morning from your hotel we are going to drive through local villages where we can witness the daily routine of the local people as well as the great scenery of rice paddies. It is offering such a great chance for you to get knowledge about the local farming and irrigation system. We visit the central mountain area of Bedugul with its cool mountain resort where we visit a traditional fruit, spices, flowers and vegetables market of Candikuning, a visit to a magnificent lakeside temple of Ulun Danu Beratan that was built in around 1633 by the king of Mengwi.

We go up to Wanagiri for a spectacular view over the twin lake of Buyan and Tamblingan. We make a circle to the mid-west area through the mountain village of Munduk as the central for the coffee and clove plantation as well as its powerful waterfall. We will do a little exercise down through the coffee and clove plantation to see a stunning waterfall. After the waterfall we are going to drive back to the south by the village of Busungbiu, Pupuan for its spectacular rice terrace view. We possibly will see a nice sunset by Tanah Lot temple, a seaside temple that was built by a Javanese Hindu Priest who came to Bali in the 16th-century.

CYCLING FROM UBUD TO TAMAN VILLAGE.

Cycling is one of the best ways to discover the real part of the island’s life and beauty. For travelers who seek to go deep into Bali's Countryside and witness first hand the daily life of rural rice farmers and craftsmen. One of a nice and quit easy safe cycling you can do starting from Ubud Village. We can cycle through Penestanan Village which is known as the home for the local artists where there are numbers of artisans .

From Penestanan, We keep cycling through the village of Sayan and then making a right turn by a temple with huge Banyan trees on its outer courtyard, continue cycling via Semana Village and make a right turn down over a bridge that across the Ayung River where visitors are doing a white water rafting. A fabulous stop can be made by the bridge where you can have a short walk down to the river. In the morning, you would be able to see some of the local women diving down in the river collecting the volcanic sand that they would sell the people for a construction’s material.

You will be amazed on how hard these people work gathering the sand from the bottom of the river and carrying it up to the street. Continuing our cycling up through the village of Bongkasa, you will be offered such a real scene of Balinese village with its traditional family compounds line up on both side of the village’s road, well built house gates of bricks and sandstones, elaborate family temple and a spectacular view over green rice paddies as well the view of the mountain range over central and north eastern Bali.

By the time, We arrive at Banjar Kambang, make a right turn and cycle through the Banjar Sayan and to Pura Ayun where there is a nice village temple that’s built next to a huge Banyan tree. It is an ancient banyan tree which probably thousands of year old growing on the outer courtyard of the temple. The trees are really huge and almost conquering quit a big area around the temple with its fabulous roots hanging down from the branches. We can easily spend half an hour hanging around the area and would be such a great spot for resting after our cycling.

And then we continue cycling up through Banjar Tegal Kuning and then on to Taman Village where you can explore the village that is known for its farming. The local villagers are farming cocoa, coconut and other tropical fruits farming as well as rice. After Taman village, you both can go on cycling to Sangeh Monkey forest. Picked up by our Air-Conditioned Vehicle and transferred back to your hotel.

5 Days Around Bali Tours!

Spectacular rice terraces at Belimbing Village,Mid-West Bali.

Kuta – Medewi Beach, West Bali.

We left Kuta around 9 am, driving out Kuta area heading to west Bali through the main street that leads to Tanah Lot Temple. We took the village roads that come out at Meliling on the main street that goes to Gilimanuk along the west coastal region of Bali
By the T-Junction at the village of Antosari, we make a right turn up to Belimbing village. We made a stop by a little Warung on the right side of the street that has such a gorgeous view over mountains, rice terraces, and the southern peninsula of Bali. There are various kind of tropical vegetations grow around the wrong’s garden such as cocoa, clove, durian tree, coffee and vanilla bean. Right behind the Warung there were 3 huge bats or flying foxes hanging on a little bougainvilleas tree. They are like pat for the family who own the Warung. The Warung itself sells cold drink, coffee and some local snacks, so it is really a great spot for a coffee break while enjoying the scenic view over rice terraces or wandering around their tropical garden.

Across the street there was a lady selling Durian fruits so it was great as my friend Jan was willing to get one to taste, so we walked across the street and bought a Durian for 15,000 Rupiah which was a good deal as it was quit big one. I put the Durian on the back seat and the strong smell of it filled up the car and having the air conditioned on was not a good idea as it made the smell really stronger. The fruit is smell like hell but tastes like heaven…

We left Belimbing village and driving north towards Pupuan Village. We kept enjoying the scenic view over the green rice terraces all the way up. We made a stop by Pura Mekori where there were number of monkeys on the entrance, by the side of the road. The temple is built in the middle of the tropical rain forest which is the home of the macaque monkeys that hang around by the entrance where there is a small shrines by the road side where the local passers by make a short stop for a little prayer and there is an old man priest there who patiently bless everyone with the holy water. The people who stopped there placed a little offering on the shrines and do a little prayer before being sprinkled by holy water by the priest. As there is a little cake by the offering, the monkeys were hanging around by the little shrines to steal the cakes from the offerings.

We continued driving north through windy roads by local villages and still enjoying the great view over rice terraces, coffee and cocoa plantations.

When we got to the market town of Pupuan, we made a left turn, driving again through local villages with its spectacular view over lush river valley, mountains and view over west coast line. We arrived by a village named Bunut Bolong. There is a huge tree which the local called Bunut that grow in the middle of the road. They carved through the bottom part of the tree which arches the street and the cars have to drive through the tree. There is a little temple under the trees where some local passers by make their offerings. Nearby the tree there is a little Warung that sells food and drink.

We left Bunut Bolong and kept driving down the windy roads, passing by many villages until we arrived at the T-Junction by the main road towards Gilimanuk. We took a right turn heading to Medewi Beach where it is well known for the surf breaks. There were numbers of surfers by the time we got there as the wave was really great. There were few tourists and mostly local young surfers. We checked in by Medewi Beach Cottages where it is right by the beach. After lunch, we drove out again to visit Pura Rambut Siwi which is north of Medewi Beach Cottages. It is approximately 3 km up the road by the black volcanic sand beach. The temple is built by the beach and you can have a great view over the Indian Ocean, green rice paddies on the other side of the temple. We could see the eastern part of Java by the temple area. The temple was built around the 16th century by a Hindu priest who was coming from Java, named Dang Hyang Nirartha. The temple was just being renovated in some part and the new gardens have just been created. It is an elaborate temple one with beautiful Balinese carvings painted in gold leaf. We walked into the inner courtyard of the temple to get a close look to a number of shrines. We walked out from the main courtyard by the west side gate, to a little path that goes down to the beach where there is another smaller complex of temple just right by the beach with a black and yellow tiger’s sculpture, but seemed to be more like Panthers for us. There are a couple caves on the right side wall of the cliff under the main temple, with its small shrines by the mouth of the cave. We walked along the beach and suddenly we got accompany of hundreds of local elementary students who were doing a day excursion with their teachers. We took pictures of those kids and everyone was really excited to be in the picture. We walked back to the parking area by walking along the beach along with those school kids. Hundreds of the school kids were packed in a truck that transport them around for the entire day visiting different places on the west Bali region. We think that they should hire a bus for a better safety.

Day is getting late and the sun was about to sink behind the Horizon, we headed back to the hotel for our night stay. I stayed by a little home stay named Gede, next to Medewi Beach cottages, cost 50,000 Rupiah/night. It is a very simple room with cold shower. It has a little restaurant with good food and it is right by the beach with its great view over the beach.

Water Spoutings at Banjar Hot Spring, North Bali.

Medewi Beach – Pemuteran, North West Bali.

We left in the morning after breakfast at around 9.30 am, drove back to the main street heading North West towards Gilimanuk again. The road was quit busy with all the trucks and Lorries that are going and returning from the island of Java. We drove into a small road before a Moslem mosque, a couple hundred meters from Medewi Beach Cottages to a small natural port for the local fishermen. We parked the car by the end of the road, right by the beach. We walk around the beach where there were many Jukung, traditional outriggers and fishermen who were just returning from the Indian Ocean for fishing. The women were waiting on the beach with baskets and big bowls for their husband’s catches. One by one of the fishermen were coming back off shore with some catches for the morning. Dozen of men on the beach were waiting to give help to the new arrival fishermen to get their boats off the shore by carrying them on their shoulder. They were given some fish as a reward and bring them home for their family. They carry the boats quit a bit away from the coats line to avoid it being drag out by the big wave during the high tide.

The women were busy getting all the fish out from the boat and carry them in a bamboo baskets or plastic bowls.

We left the fisherman village and drove back onto the main road and driving up towards Gilimanuk. We drove a few kilometers up the roads and made another D-Tour to the Cape of Perancak that’s well known for its Ancient Hindu temple and fisherman Perahus. The size of the boat or Perahu is much bigger than those ones at Medewi Beach and has bigger motors on it, huge fishing nets. The boats look really beautiful with all its ornaments and painted in different colors. There are decoration that’s a made like a dome of the Moslem mosque and some with a little Hindu’s Shrines. They also get a special name like, Istanbul, etc. it shows a special love and pride that they have for their boats.

We sat by a little Warung, drinking cokes while watching the activities of the fishermen cleaning and maintaining their boats before going out to the Ocean.

We drove back to the main street, kept driving up and made a short stop at the City of Negara to make a quick look at a huge temple in the middle of the town called Jagatnatha temple. The temple has a huge garden on the front, a Wantilan (Open Pavilion which is normally use village’s gathering and entertainment hall). It is built in the area of the local government buildings. After taking few pictures and look around the outer courtyard of the temple, we continued driving up towards Gilimanuk and by the huge sign of Bendungan Palasari, we turned to the right, driving through coconut farm, and nice clean villages to Palasari which has a manmade lagoon and huge Dam which is used for irrigating the rice paddies of the region. We got to Palasari and followed a small and quit a bumpy road that’s going to a very fancy villa called Taman Wana which is built above the Lagoon, it is quit a way from the village. The drive over to the villa was really fabulous as the view over the rice terraces, cocoa farm and coconut are truly beautiful. The rate of the villa was quit expensive which ranges from US $ 250 – US $ 1000 for the Suite Villa. It has a helipad as well as a limo service to pick you up from Bali International airport. It has a beautiful garden and great view over the lagoon.

After lunch at Taman Wana Villa, we drove back to Palasari to visit the huge Catholic Church that was built around 1955. The Church is decorated with Balinese style of carving around the outside and a huge Balinese Split gate by its entrance. We wanted to have a look inside but the main door was shut and locked, so we were just walking around it and took some pictures.

We drove back to the main street to Gilimanuk and made a short stop by Pura Segara Rupek, on the left side of the street by Bali West National Park. We walk to the beach and could see East Java clearly from the temple outer courtyard. The temple is surrounded by the forest which is part of Bali West National Park.

We left the temple and be back on the street and by the T-Junction before the port of Gilimanuk we turned right took the road towards to Singaraja, driving through the forest, seeing a couple deer and monkeys by the roadside. We got to Labuhan Lalang, the little port to get a boat over to Menjangan Island which is known for the best snorkeling site in Bali. We walked over the port to look at all the wooden boats. The island could be seen from the port and there were few tourists who were just returning from Menjangan Island for their day excursion.
We continued to drive east to Pemuteran Village, staying at Taman Sari Beach Cottages, a great resort by the beach. It has a lovely big garden, swimming pool by the beach and a nice beach restaurant. We stayed at Ocean View Cottage for US $ 65 which is worth the value.

Demonic Sculpture at Pura Beji Sangsit, North Bali

Pemuteran-Lovina.

We made a day of excursion to the island of Menjangan for snorkeling. We arranged the trip with one of the diving company from Taman Sari Beach Cottages that take their clients out to Menjangan Island on a boat straight from the front of the hotel. It was a great boat trip and we got a chance to snorkel at some of the good points of the snorkeling sites there on the island. It is a small island where it has some nice white sand beach, beautiful coral, colorful fish. It was really a fabulous snorkeling that we had there.

We got back to the resort around 2.30 PM and getting ready to continue our trip to Lovina for our next stay, which is around 50 km from Pemuteran.

We left the hotel at around 3 PM, driving east passing the seaside temple of Pulaki and Pabean Temple where there are hundreds of monkeys there by the area of the temple and also along the side of the road, waiting for the people to stop and feed them. We did not make a visit to the temple as those monkeys seemed to be a little aggressive.
We left the area and kept driving east towards Seririt, a little town west of Lovina. We drove straight to Puri Bagus Hotel for a night stay. It is a nice resort by the beach.

The Gate of Pura Mekori, Mid-west Bali.

Lovina – Amed Beach, East Bali.

We departed from Puri Bagus Hotel after breakfast at around 9.30 am, running a bit late as we have planned on leaving at 9 am that morning. We drove out from the hotel, heading west back to down town of Lovina again as we missed the hot spring the previous day and reschedule it for today. We made a left turn by the crossroads where it has a big sign of Hot Spring. We drove through the smaller road to the village of Banjar and made a short stop by the local morning market at the village where there were dozens of women selling fruits, offerings, vegetables and tropical spices.

We continued to Banjar Hot spring after the market, paid Rupiah 3,000 per person to enter the hot spring where you can go for a great swim. The hot water is being piped into the swimming pool from a nearby natural hot spring by a little temple on the upper side of the swimming area. There are 3 different size of pool and the biggest one in the middle is very much for swimming and the other 2 are for shower. The last bottom one is the tallest fountain which is the warmest amongst the entire fountain. It feels great when you let the water hit your back, it felt like getting such a great massages. On the apposite side of the small river, they have a natural Jacuzzi from a different source of the hot spring where you have to pay a little extra to have yourself in this pool and they also have a massage’s services for about 50,000 Rupiah for 1 hour. A little restaurant is also available above the main pools area where we can have simple Balinese foods. We enjoyed our swim for about 2 hours before continuing our trip to the nearby Buddhist monastery.

We drove through little villages again, up the hill where the monastery sits on the hill overlooking the north Bali Sea. On the top of the hill above the main monastery, there is quit a huge Buddhist Stupa built which is look like a miniature of Borobudur. The view is lovely from around the Stupa where you can see green rice terraces at the bottom of the valley, the view of the small river running through the valley, view of the mountain side as well as view over the Sea.

We left the Buddhist temple and drove back to the main street towards Singaraja, the northern capital, passing down town Lovina again. We were just driving through the town of Singaraja without making any stop here as it was seemed to be a bit busy. We kept driving east, passing Singaraja and made a stop at Sangsit Village, but a crossroad in the market area, there’s a sign on the right side of the street to Pura Beji which is the local Subak temple. The temple is so beautiful with its fantastic carvings all over the gates and the shrines in the inner courtyard. old frangipani grows in the temple courtyards. The temple was firstly built in the 15th-century for worshipping the goddess of rice, Dewi Sri.

After Pura Beji, we drove east following the coastal roads with the view over the ocean, passing the Air Sanih, Ponjok Batu and made a stop for lunch at Tembok Village, in a great resort by the beach named Poinciana. It looks like a very nice resort but it is quit in the middle of nowhere, but would be great to skip or getting away from busy tourist’s area. Lunch was very good and spent about Rp. 150,000 for 2 people with drink and main course.
We left Poinciana and back on the road heading to Amed with a short stop at Tulamben which is known for its diving and snorkeling resort. We intended to go for snorkeling at the wrecked but the wave was quit rough and it was quit late in the afternoon where we wouldn’t be able to have a good vision underwater. We sat by the beach for 10 minutes before driving back to the main street, down to Amed. We started entering Amed when the sun was setting behind the great volcano of Mount Agung. We drove along the road by the coastal line and enjoying such a great view along the beach with its colorful fishermen Jukungs that are parked along the shores. There are hundreds of them. We finally got to Villa Santai that we did book in advance as we were worried of not having a room there. It is a small resort by the beach but quit nice.

The traditional Outriggers along Amed Beach, Eastern Bali.

Amed – Ubud.

We went out on a traditional outrigger for fishing with the local fisherman that we have arranged via the hotel the night before. It was exciting to be on a little motor Jukung, that’s what they name the traditional boat. It has a little motor as well as a sail. They only use the sail when they are having enough wind. We went quit far out to the sea and caught some fish. We did the fishing on the boat for about two hours before heading back to the hotel. We got back to the hotel and gave all the fish to the fisherman to bring home for his family.

We got ready to leave the hotel for our trip to Ubud. We checked out from Villa Santai and be back on the road again, driving south along the coastline of Amed. It is a great view over the coastline with hundreds of Jukungs which are parked off the shores. On the right are simple houses of the local villagers on the mountain’s side, quit steep which is surely making the people having great exercise every single day.

When we got to the south eastern corner of Bali Island, we could see the view over the Indian Ocean and also the sister’s islands of Nusa Penida and Lembongan in a distance. The other excitement was driving over an old bridge that’s crossing a dried river, the bridge was making such a terrible noise when the car driving over it, it was really scary. We thought that the car would just got stuck if it was just one of the wood got broken a part. We were very lucky that the car got over it and we could breathe again.

We passed all the small villages and finally got to Taman Sukasada, it is one of the water palaces for the former king of Karangasem. There was an entrance fee that we had to pay to enter the palace and it was Rp. 10,000 per person. And additional of Rp. 2000 parking fee had to be paid when leaving the area. The water palace is surrounded with huge lotus ponds with some little fish in it. There were a few buildings that are spread around the area of the water palace. It has a great view over the ocean from most part of the palace. It also decorates with some stone sculptures around the garden and some water features. The most part of the palace was recently rebuilt as it was damaged by the eruption of Mount Agung in 1963, but we could still witness some of the original part of the building. There was an old man that kept following us around and was trying to be our guide but we were just ignoring him even if he kept following us when we were walking around the water palace.

We left the water palace and driving pass the mosque nearby the Palace, took the left turn by the bridge crossing the river and was coming out at the T-Junction at Jasri. We kept driving following the main road and made another stop at Candidasa just for a quick look. They were working on building Dike on the beach to stop the erosions which has been hitting the shore for years. We drove on and heading to Padang Bai, the port for a ferry to get to Lombok or Nusa Penida island. We drove in through the road by the white sand beach nearby the port and stopped at Topi Inn for a great lunch. There were dozens of fishermen boats that are parked on the white sand beach there and we saw some divers were just coming back from their dive trip at the Blue Lagoon.

After lunch, we drove out from Padang Bai and back on the main road heading to Kusamba, the black volcanic sand. We drove straight to Ubud via Klungkung, Gianyar and made a stop at Teges Village, east of Ubud to have a look at a wood carving village. We stopped by Budiasa Shop which displays dozens of huge fabulous wooden sculptures. The whole building there were filled up with different sizes of Wood Carvings. There was a man at the shop that helped us to look around and informing us about the artworks and also giving info on the prices. It was around 5 PM at the time so there was nobody working at the workshop. We left the shop without purchasing anything but the man gave us a business card. We went straight to the Greenfield Bungalows at Pengosekan Village. It is a nice accommodation that has such a great view over the rice paddies.

Sunset View by Lovina Beach, Northern Bali.

Lemukih Hike, Northern Bali

Lemukih is a small village on the northern slope of Bali Central Mountain. It is a small village, which is known for its rice farm, coffee, clove and various kind of tropical fruit cultivation and lies on the altitude of 638 m above the sea level, it is offering a cool mountain air. Lemukih came from a word of Lembu akeh means many cows, as what the story that we have heard from the local people that the village founders found lots of cows around the forest there when they first arrived at the area.We start our walk at around 11:00 AM following the dirt trails that have been used by the local farmers for centuries. The path goes through the local farming area where there are various kinds of crops grows well in a very fertile soil. Along the way we have seen only few simple houses of the farmers who are looking after the farm. We kept observing and recognizing various vegetation that we saw along the way while enjoying the stunning view of the mountain, lush river valley, spectacular rice terraces and lovely waterfall. We kept putting our step on the dirt trails, jumping over the irrigation streams where the clear water run continuously to the rice paddies which terracing down the river valley.

The coconut trees grow sparsely along the dike of the rice terraces adding more beauty for the view.We met a local farmer who was keeping his rice paddies from the birds, we took a rest there while enjoying the great scenery around the paddy filed and was asking him if it's possible for us to have a young coconut as he got so many coconut trees growing around his field. He was nodding and smiling then he walked to his little hut in the middle of the paddy field to get his sickle. He looked around to see one of the trees that have the best young coconut. I was lying on flat basalt on the side of the path while enjoying my clove cigarette. Gusti and my other friend Nyoman was waiting around the coconut tree where the old man is getting us couple young coconut. It was a great resting time for us with the fresh young coconut juice, it was so refreshing and giving us some more energy to continue our walk.After finishing our young coconut juice and giving a little tip for the old man, we then continue to walk along the dike of the yellow rice paddies down to a stream that leads us to a waterfall. We sit around for a few minutes and having some fruits that we got from a friend in the village before we started our walk. It was really wonderful to sit on the riverside and hearing the sound of the waterfall besides us. Suddenly the rain comes and we ran to a little house on the hillside facing to a lush river valley. The house was empty and we sit on a gazebo around the corner of the house, which has the view over the river valley. We were sitting there for about 15 minutes to wait for the rain stop. We could just sit right out there forever because of the spectacular view over the valley and the mountain in a distance.We continued to follow the little path which was leading us to another wonderful waterfall, and the path was ended there and we had to walk back and try to find another path along the paddy field and we got to the top of the hill we saw a great view over the northern sea and it was so clear after the rain. We kept following the path and walking through few houses of the farmers and finally came out to the main street of the village. Gusti then got a ride on a motorbike to get the car at the starting point and collecting us back. We drove back to our local friend's house where we were provided with some meal and lots of coffee. It was around 6:30 PM, I was sitting on the veranda of the house and looking up to the mountain that is so close from the house, slowly it came to a silhouette as the sun was setting behind the mountain. What a perfect day in a peaceful little village, Bali is actually still having its hidden beauty.

Sang Nyoman Arsana-Driver

I was born in Kedewatan Village, Ubud on February 2nd, 1981. I have just graduated from Senior High School, could not afford to enter the University so I decided to look for a job. I am a family man with 2 years old daughter.

I started my tour's venture with taking people for hiking around Ubud where I mostly got my clients from some of the big hotel resort around my village. It was a great way to practice my English. I was then invited by Wayan Sueta to be his co-driver for some hiking tours where he did need another driver to arrange his pick up at the end of the hike, so It gave me such an opportunity to brush up my English as well as learning about the roads of Bali.

My motto is to bring people as closer as to the real Bali experience, showing them the best part of Bali.

Hiking in Sidemen

The hidden beauty of Sidemen village-East Bali.

Sidemen is well known for its traditional hand weaving of endek and songket. Songket gold is the emblem of kings as representatives of the sun. Endek is most widely produced cloth in Bali, it is a form of the single Ikat process in which the pattern is made by resist dying the threads of the warp or the weft. Endek is a weft ikat technique. Sidemen was also a base for Swiss Ethnologist Urs Ramseyer, and besides that a German artist Walter Spies lived in the 1930s. Later, a Swiss painter Theo Meier nearly as famous as Spies for his influence in the Balinese art also lived in the same area.

The natural beauty of this village is having a spectacular background of the great volcano Mount Agung, which is the most sacred volcano to the Balinese, and Lovely Mountain change around where there is various local vegetation grows. In a good weather, we can enjoy the spectacular view of mount Agung that seems to be so close to the eyes. It is truly another hidden beauty of Bali to be explored and appreciated by those who love nature and admiring God's creation.

There are two different hikes that I want to share with you around this village and both are different in type of trails and beauty.


Puri Duangga Mountain hike

We start our walk from the market of Sidemen where the local people are selling their home grown crops such as coconut, coffee, clove, and various kind of local fruits. Walking up the steep hill path behind the village through the local farming land where they grow coffee, vanilla, snake fruit, clove, bananas and other local vegetation. The rich soil is so obviously seen from how the corps growing well, and it is because of the great volcano that looks so magnificent from the top of the Duangga's mountain. The great eruption of mount Agung in the 1963 must had given lots of fertility for the soil apart from the terrible damages to the island. We made a few stops along the way while enjoying the spectacular view over the great volcano, green rice paddies, the local villages and the great Indian Ocean. As we were walking through the snake fruit farm which gets lots of sharp thorn all over the tree, we were very cautious and sometimes had to bend down to avoid our body being scratched by the torn.

We got to a little shrine and our local friend was putting a little offering to pray for safety of our hike to the top as it is considered to be a sacred mountain by the local. We were resting there a bit where suddenly our friend pointed us a group of monkeys that were jumping over the bush on the other side of the hill. They are believed to be the guard of the holy temple on the summit of the mountain. Unfortunately we can not be close to them like the one at the Monkey forest where we can even feed them.

Our hike continued through the snake fruit farm to get to the top of Duangga Hill and rest again by a small temple on its summit while enjoying the great panorama over the ocean. The Mount Rinjani in Lombok was hugged by the white clouds like pure white cotton and the island of Nusa Penida was clearly seen in a distance. We took a rest for about 15 minutes before continuing our hike to the other top of the mountain where we could view Candidasa beach and Mount Agung clearly. We rest around the temple for another 15 minutes and then continuing our hike down the northern side of the mountain thorough the local farmhouses. We met local farmer where we bought some snake fruit right from the tree, it was really fresh and giving us some more energy to follow the dirt track down. The local people were easily walking up and down the tracks with burden on the head and what a great balance and strength that they have. Their great balance to carry stuff on the head following a very steep hill path amazed my clients. Along the way we saw women were patching water from the hillside mountain spring for drinking and cooking water. We reached to the bamboo forest and walking through it for about 20 minutes before we got to the main road of Iseh village where our driver was waiting for us. The village of Iseh once was chosen as a place to live by the German painter "Walter Spies" in the 1930s. It is a beautiful village with spectacular rice terrace view, river, and Mount Agung. We sat under the bamboo forest and enjoying our cold drink. It was fantastic hike even it was a bit taking up our energy and we have no complaining about it.


Luah village hike

We start our hike from Luah Village, a small village sits under a mountainside and by vast rice paddies where Mount Agung was the background view on the other side. We were walking through the village dirt road before following the trail along the irrigation tunnel, along the dike of the rice paddies. Along the way we saw the local farmers busy working on the field, taking care their farm but still got a chance to say hello to us. We walk down to the Unda River where water was very nice but it was not deep enough for a swim. We sat on a huge volcanic rock and enjoying the panorama around us. We then continued our trip through the rice paddies and reach a small village where we saw a bunch of school kids was very excited to be photographed. They were very happy and making their various action for the picture. We followed the village road that goes through the rice paddies in a very beautiful valley with the big river in a distance. We saw some farmers were harvesting the vegetable and carrying them to a guy that was waiting with his truck on the side of the road. We watched them for a while trying to observe what they were doing. We have seen that they were not that happy as this guy who was a middle guy paid cheaply for their vegetable. It seems that it was not fair with the amount of the work that they have to spend to grow the vegetable, but what can they do. The middle guy was scaling those vegetables and putting some kind of tag on every bundle with the weight. After getting the payment, each farmer was leaving the place and walking back to their farm.

We continued our walk and met a guy who led their cows to the stream and gave them a bath. The cows look very happy to be given a bath and really enjoying the fresh mountain water. They are very well taken care as they are considered to be a holy animal here in Bali. The farmers are using them for plaughing the paddy field, and they are given a special ceremony on a holy day called Tumpek Kandang. It is a ceremony specially carried out for the domestic animals like Pig, chicken, cow, etc. It is more like a birthday ceremony for them. We have our Balinese birthday every 210 days according to the Balinese calendar, which is called Otonan ceremony.

Walking up hill we got to a village of Sangkan Gunung that lies on the top of the little mountain and the view was very gorgeous over the great valley and we could see the tracks that we walked before. It was a wonderful view of the sea, river valley and over the green rice paddies. Along the way I was sharing a little bit of the local vegetation that grows around the village. They grow lots of Clove trees, Coffee, Snake fruits, and many other fruit trees. We also saw some pigs on the backyards of the people compound, free running chickens, fighting roosters along the side of the road in cute cages and of course all the dogs that were hanging around along the village road. We walk along with some women from the village who were going to patch water from the local spring and they all were carrying a big bucket for the water and of course a bundle of laundry, too. We stopped at a public bath that was on the side of the road but not to be rude to watch them having a bath but there were some village's kids there who were trying to practice their English. It was seemed okay to be there and watch them doing their laundry and even while they were bathing in the natural fountain.

We said good bye to those village kids and continuing our walk to the next village where we were very fortunate to see a big ceremony there. Men and Women and Kids were dressed nicely for the temple. Women were carrying beautiful towering offerings on their head and gracefully walking to the village temple. It was a very festive moment for the village and all looked very happy with their wonderful smile. Kids were saying " Hello, hello…." And waving hand to us. We sat around for a while and observing the activities before getting into the car that bring us back to our nice accommodation that set amongst the rice paddies. What a perfect day to be ended with a cup of coffee while enjoying the view of the green rice paddies.