Bali - Day 7- Goodbye Sudaji

Our last day in Sudaji, Zanzan told us that he would like to take us on a walk to his fathers rice field...which is now worked by another family member.  Earlier in the week, Zanzan had told us the story of how he decided he did not want to be a farmer.  When he was a young boy...old enough to work in the fields, his dad gave him the job of shovelling the manure out of the send with the cows and placing it in the rice fields.  It was hot, hard, stinky, wet, mucky work.  He told us how he swore with each shovel full..."I will not be a farmer, I will not be a farmer".  Before quitting to start the bamboo cottages and the OMunity idea in Sudaji, Zanzan did in fact go to school and worked in the hotel industry...

Of course we headed out walking....our first sight was some people harvesting cloves from the tops of the trees using a long bamboo ladder...basically a long bamboo stick with rungs along it...certainly the right tool for the job.

Climbing up

The worker thought it was great we were taking his picture so he waved!

The rice in the family field is quite a bit taller than the other rice because Zanzan's family grows the Balinese white rice which is a 6 month rice instead of the 3 month variety that most people plant.

Zanzan showed us where the water was diverted into the field which used to be farmed by his father.  At that time, his father had been the leader of the village. Zanzan was showing us how the width of the water channel had been adjusted.  When his father was the leader of the village, the water channel was wider because part of his payment (as leader) was in water.  When he was no longer leader, then the channel was made smaller again, so he had the same amount of water as everyone else.

All of my readers who understand the growing of rice may laugh at me, but growing up on the Canadian prairies did not really give me much context for rice production.  I didn't know (or I guess had never thought about it) that the water in the rice fields actually flows from one field to the next and that the rice is actually growing in moving water.  Ok, it is moving really slowly, but it is moving.  It is an amazing feat of engineering that the water runs from field to field to field.   I was suitably impressed by it all...

Back to my day...next to the rice fields that used to belong to his father, there is a little yard and hut area.  The hut holds the cows which the farmer uses to help plow the fields, but which also produce the manure that is used for fertilizer.  Zanzan said that his family's rice field has never had commercial fertilizer on it.

There was a passion fruit vine in one of the trees and Zanzan knocked down some the fruit for us.  Another thing I didn't know about passion fruit is that it is a vine that grows up into other trees, and isn't actually a tree itself.

 The fruit

 The fruit broken open to expose the juicy seeds,

 All the seeds are gone...

While we were there a woman came along with a bag full of snails that she had collected from the rice fields...escargot soup for lunch!

We walked back across the rice fields to the village.

r Sanur.  Though the distance is under 100km, the trip took more than 2 hours because of traffic and narrow roads.  Occasionally there would be a less busy area and it would seem like we were flying along, but Bob could see the speedometer, and we actually were going about 70 at those super speedy times.

Mobile KFC...a scary thought.

We arrived in Sanur safe and sound...at a Villa Chantique...for the next part of our Bali adventure.

Our bedroom.

The view from our bedroom....

Seriously...our own private villa :)

Bali - Day 6

Ok, I am so far behind it is not even funny.  I will use the excuse of having such a good time with friends in Sanur that I just had no time...that and the stomach ailment... 

Day 6 takes us back to Sudaji and the Bamboo cottage...seems like forever now, as I sit in the airport waiting for the plane to take us away from this beautiful place.

That morning we got up to our usual delicious breakfast and Zanzan told us he would like to show us the biogas project in the village and a gong maker.  As usual we were interested...

The biogas operation is small yet, with about 10 head of cattle providing the raw material for the biogas.  The plan, I believe, is to prove the viability of the operation before investing in the much more expensive infrastructure to transport the biogas over a distance. At present the operation provides gas on site.

The operation has a number of purposes:  calves are produced for farmers who wish to have a cow or two at the rice paddies; manure is collected and aged for fertilizer for the rice fields and to biogas is collected.

Biowaste collection tank.  

Manure aging area

Biogas used for cooking onsite

Curious calf...who can resist?

Along the road Zanzan showed us an unusual plant.  When the leaves are touched, or even blown on, they close up and stay closed for a period of time.  He said that if it was "touched with love" the leaves did not close, but we were unable to touch it lovingly enough.  Even the small branches drooped when touched.

Leaves before...

Leaves after.

Our next stop was a gong maker.  In the village where we stopped we met a father and son who represented one of the oldest and most well-known gong makers in the area.  The craftsmen worked with brass and made gongs and gamalans, a traditional musical instrument.

Mini gongs.

The son's shop.

The father's shop.

From the gong maker Zanzan took us to see several other craftsmen.  He told us that the village we were in (name forgotten) was known for a wide variety of trades.  Our next stop was a blacksmith who make knives for cutting rice.  Zanzan told us that each blacksmith would specialize in a certain type of tool so that people would go to different blacksmiths depending on their need.  The blacksmith "team" that we observed worked like a well-oiled machine.  It was obvious that they had worked together for awhile.  The blacksmith told us they could produce 30 pieces a day.

 The fire.

Working together.  Note the absence of any safety equipment, or even shoes...

After the blacksmith we made one more stop at another craftsman.  This family made containers out of aluminum, punching a design into metal.  They fashioned a variety of containers, boxes with and without lids, and also containers for holding pencils, and other decorative items.  They showed us some Christmas decorations they had made and we asked to buy one.  They then gave us the gift of one as well.  As I am writing this long after the fact I will also add that we saw the aluminum containers in every tourist shop we went into in Sanur and Kuta.

Some of the finished product.

Creating aluminum split rings.  They wrapped aluminum wire tightly around a large nail, then cut it.

The small children in the family thought we were pretty neat, and wanted to show off.  They were all happy to swing for us.

After our craftsman tour we went back to the cottages.  It was our last dinner, and they decorated the table in our honour with leaves and flower petals.

Bali - Day 4 & 5

Welcome back to my Bali reports. I confess that Day 5 was a bust as I succumbed to a stomach ailment...no doubt brought on by something I ate...not sure of the culprit....

Day 4 was another busy day with some great experiences.  We got up early (Bob for yoga at 6:30) and me less early. Our hosts had booked a snorkelling guide for us in Lovina, so at 9:00 we were headed on our way.

Riding on the roads here is an adventure, no other word to describe it. Zanzan drove amidst the bikes and other cars expertly but I, at least, saw danger at every turn. People zip by on motorbikes on both sides and weave in and out of traffic. Other vehicles do much the same. Passing lane - no such thing...and any rule which suggests a reasonable distance to leave for passing are studiously ignored. Signs in the road (placed in the already narrow lane) say "hati hati" which means 'watch out' or 'danger ahead'. To me the signs themselves are the biggest danger. Oddly enough I felt quite safe as everyone is driving the same. Having someone who was too timid to pass or be passed would cause more of a problem.  There were the occasional traffic jams though as we came upon a ceremony or market or something which had more than just the traffic in the street.

We passed through Singaraja which Zanzan told us is the biggest city in this area of Bali.  There was lots of traffic (of course) but also lots of bigger shops, shopping centers and motorcycle repair shops...lots of those!

We arrived at our destination and were taken right to the beach and our boat...it reminded us of the boat on Boracay...except the one in Boracay had a sail. 

Of course I was worried about a wet camera, so it stayed safely stowed throughout our snorkelling. 

The snorkelling was lots of fun in water our guide said was 2 meters deep but which we felt was deeper than that.  Of course the sights have to be remembered...but what sights there were!  At first our guide sprinkled some bread in the water and the fish came out of nowhere to grab at it. The bravest ones were little blue striped fish about half the size of my hand. There were many fish about that size and the more often we dove down close to the coral the more we saw.  There were tiny neon blue fish, bright orange, bright yellow. I saw a yellow angel fish!  I saw a larger blue and orange striped fish, small black and white, black and white and red.  So many varieties and so many colours. As in Boracay I was surprised by the saltiness of the water...floating is not an issue at all and when I needed to fix my mask I could use both my hands and just swish my feet a bit. Our hour of snorkelling was over and we were both finished. Even though the water was not more than 3 metres deep I found it hard on my ears to keep going down. Of course my own mask which fit my face would also have helped. 

Some other people arrived as we were leaving. 

A selfie on the way back

The sand on the beach at Lovina is black, the remnants of a long ago volcano. 

We arrived back at the hotel before Zanzan came to pick us up and spent the time talking with a security guard who told us he had worked for the hotel for 26 years. He told us he did not know much English, but kept teaching me new Balinese words.  I learned how to say thank you (suk sma) and then dog (anjing) and rooster (ayam). In case you are wondering about this odd choice of nouns, we were telling him about the village where we are staying where there are many dogs and roosters. He consented to having his picture taken with Bob. 

 Zanzan arrived and got us set up in appropriate clothes for a celebration. A good friend of his from high school was holding a traditional reception for his son and a niece and two nephews who had participated in the "tooth-filing" ceremony that morning. It is a Hindu "rite of passage" ceremony (look it up, it is most interesting) which is very important. Zanzan's friend admitted that families often wait until two or more members wish to complete this ceremony because the expectation is that there will be a big reception (which is expensive). The young people wear "costumes" fashioned on traditional royal costumes. The girl told us that the costume would be worn for this ceremony and her wedding...in fact, I read that this ceremony is sometimes done at the same time as a wedding.  Zanzan said that it is up to each person when they wish to have the ceremony. 

We had to dress in traditional Balinese sarongs and Bob had to wear a head covering. I had to cover my arms which is  why I am wearing a jacket...I packed for a mostly tropical vacation. 

Zanzan fixing Bobs head covering. 

Don't we look fabulous?

Bob wanted his picture taken with the beautiful girl.  

Here I am, the thorn amidst the roses. 

One of the interesting foods we ate (and I will say that I was very fussy about my choices...yet I still wound up with a fussy tummy) was snake skin fruit. On the outside it looks and feels like snakeskin !

(Spoon for scale)

On the inside it resembles a garlic clove 

Within the bigger sections is a pit/stone. The fruit is kind of like a pear in flavour. 

Very interesting to have a new fruit!

We stayed about an hour or so and had a bite to eat, signed the guest book and had our picture taken. Then it was back to Sudaji. 

It was getting grey and threatening rain when we got back but we headed out on a trek to the rice fields nonetheless. Fortunately I fell quite heavily while going down the rocky path and pronounced my legs quite unfit for the task. I determined that day 5 was going to be a day of rest and reading to give my sore muscles time  to heal. I hadn't counted on being ill. 

I am happier to be here and ill than somewhere else...if I have to be ill that is. I've been given some herbal medicine and had very little to eat.  Bob spent the day reading, swimming, walking in the village and now looking at the stars. It is our first time south of the equator so there are different stars to see.  Tomorrow he will have a night sky app to consult.  We have one more day here so I am hoping for restored health.  In good spirits and thankful for indoor plumbing :)

Bali-Day 3

Today had been very interesting! (And tiring). We started the day at 5:15 so we could join our host on a trip to the local market. It opens at 3:00am but she prefers to go around 5:30 and she does so every morning to get fresh food for the day. 

It was not a long walk but I was amazed at the number of people out and about already. Puta told us that the market is the only one for the village so even those who lived up the hill (yesterday's adventure) would come down to visit this market.

Picture a farmers market without stalls and just open tables and all kinds of produce, fruit, meat, nuts, beans and rice...it was crowded too!  We were surprised to see apples at some of the stalls and even more surprised that they were from Washington!  Apples don't grow on Bali of course.

We came back and went right to the meditation room to practice yoga with Zanzan. We watched the sun come up and practiced some yoga poses, breathing and meditation.  Then it was time for breakfast.

Afterward, Kadek, our guide arrived again to take us on another trek...this time to the Sekumpul waterfalls. www.newbali.info/.../sekumpul-waterfall/ 

These are reached by a "easy" two hour walk that is "mostly" flat...followed by about 45 minutes of up and down. We would start at 9:00 see the falls, swim and be back for lunch..my skill at easy, mostly flat walks was not taken into consideration...but I am getting ahead of myself...

To be fair, our walk did start out flat. We saw people out planting rice because it was still "cool" (all things are relative)

A little way down the path we came upon a dam which controls the water coming down from the falls. 

We walked by rice fields...

Along beside the river (note the handy bridge), 

And through the jungle.  Note the width of the path. This is used by motorcycles....this is part of the village and people live up here.

We came upon a "bigger" bridge so we tried it out   

Along the way we came upon this weir construction. The project is going to generate electricity when finished...it appeared to be a family working 

A glimpse of the falls tells us we are in the right spot!

...though I didn't really doubt it :)

As we hiked up the hill and I found the going a bit tough, we came upon a young woman carrying a small child and as if that wasn't enough of a load.. a basket loaded with goods on her head...I was humbled...but factored in my age...and still felt badly out of shape :(

After we went up and up and up, we started going down. This was much more challenging. No steps and just a tough trail to follow. Sometimes there were things to hold onto, and when there weren't our guide gave me his hand.

My feet making the next move...

Finally we could really see the falls!

We took off our shoes and waded the rest of the way. For a person who goes barefoot in the house, this was, at times, a challenging experience.  Finally we arrived and had our reward...a swim!  Of course with all the spray and my desire to keep my phone dry, the swim pictures were taken through a ziplock bag...still you should get the idea. The water was refreshing and not cold. We swam under all but the biggest waterfall.

We left after this refreshing break and went to look at another of the water falls. There are seven and the first place was falls two and three.  Bob walked into see falls number one but my bare feet wanted to stay in my shoes. 

A peekaboo view of falls number one.

Our waterfall viewing was finished and all that was left were the 300 stairs up the other side...

Some had railings and others didn't...I still don't know which is more difficult....the slope or the stairs.  And, by the way, I can't take credit for counting the stairs, I was told how many there were :)

Amazingly, right at the top we found a...

Coffee and spice shop!  We stopped for a drink and purchased some...at a good price since the owner is Puta's friend.  She grows all the beans etc right there and makes it herself. She showed us a ripe cacao fruit 

The white lumpy things are the seeds. We tried the white pulpy stuff around the bean and it was quite sweet.  Bob ate a raw bean and said it was kind of bitter.  She then showed us a vanilla plant and showed how the flowers are fertilized by hand and form the bean

Cacao coffee vanilla cloves - these are all dried in the sun. Then coffee and cacao are roasted as well. 

So, we were heading uphill (still more uphill) to meet our ride when we saw the last amazing thing for this trip...a spider web up high across the path and a spider as big as my hand...at least.  

Yep...an exciting end to the adventure...just glad the web was well above head height...