In the Mountains of Bali

“Now Everyone Can Fly” read the large Air Asia poster in the departure hall. “Yes, but should they?” asked Soma primly as we waited in the queue behind a lady who had inexplicably got to the gate without either possessing a boarding card or knowing that she needed one.

It was early morning in late April and we found ourselves at Terminal 3 waiting for the first flight of the day to Denpasar, ahead of an exciting long weekend of exploring the cultural side of Bali. Terminal 3 is my favourite- new, shiny and efficient with fast moving queues, it is so much easier than the older terminals. It is also the home of Air Asia, a young upstart low cost airline operating across much of South East Asia. On the plus side it is cheap, reliable and friendly. On the downside it is owned by the chap who runs Queens Park Rangers. With Wolves in immediate danger of being relegated to Division 3, a reminder of a failing English football club wasn’t wholly welcome.

Some traditional Balinese dancers at Tanah Lot

However, after two hours in the air, we landed in Denpasar and, with minimum fuss found ourselves in our hired car, heading north.
Now Bali is probably on a fair number of bucket lists, the name evoking mental images of pristine, empty beaches. However, the reality is quite different these days. The Bali most people experience is now a party central, a southern hemisphere Ibiza whose capital, Kota, is jam packed with Australian holidaymakers. A family consisting of two small boys, a rather cultural Indian lady and an accountant isn’t always given to hard partying, so our route, once safely in our Kijang took us out of Kota and into open countryside as quickly as humanly possible.

Driving through Kota took some time but before long, the busy city began to thin out. The roads started to narrow, rice fields began to appear and we at last began to feel like we were in the real Bali. Looking out of the car, the first thing I noticed was a profusion of bamboo poles with lantern- like structure dangling from the end- these adorned each side of every road as far as the eye could see. Our driver explained that these were penjors- structures which symbolize the holy Mount Agung. Every time a religious festival comes up- most weeks in Bali- a penjor is put up outside each home in honour of the mountain god. Hundreds of these, waving in the wind as far as the eye could see, definitely brought a sense of other- worldliness to Bali.

The impressive Hindu temple of Tanah Lot

After about an hour, we arrived at Tanah Lot, perhaps the most famous religious site on Bali. Tanah Lot is a spectacular temple situated just off the Bali coast. In a way, it looks like a smaller, more Hindu version of St Michael’s Mount. Provided the tide is right, it is accessible by foot, but for much of the time it sits a few hundred metres offshore. It is both religiously significant and incredibly photogenic- both good reasons to visit. Even the boys, normally immune to the charms of temples, had to stand and admire- we stayed an hour until the sun drove us back to our car!
After another temple, an hour or so further north, it was time for lunch. After a little debate we opted for the local speciality. “Do you eat pork?” he asked “Damned right” is the rough translation of Soma’s response. We headed to a favoured spot of our driver to enjoy our first taste of Bali’s speciality- Babi Guling (or suckling pig as we’d call it). Now this, accompanied by some barbecue ribs has to be one of the best lunches we’ve had in Indonesia. An hour later we squeezed ourselves back into the car, containing more pork than the average pig and set off for our final temple of the day.

The beautifukl floating temple at Ulun Danu

Ulun Danu is especially impressive. As with Tanah Lot, it is not huge and has no major significance outside of Bali. However, it is a truly spectacular sight. Built some way into Lake Bratan, which itself is surrounded by some very impressive peaks, it looks almost like a floating temple. Unfortunately, this is also a bit of a tourist attraction and getting a decent photo without someone wandering through my shot proved tricky. In fact, the best way to get a clear shot was to hire one of the pedalos. Yes, this is not a typo- this, holy temple has pedalo rides around it! Well, once we’d overcome the snobbery factor, we got in and started pedaling. Actually, this was quite a pleasant way to visit. On the water, things were a little less hectic and it was nice to see the small temple in a slightly more tranquil state of mind.

Afterwards, we got back into the car for our final trip of the day. Temples were done, we were finally heading to our main destination- the small village in the mountains known as Munduk.

Our cottage in Munduk

Munduk is a very small village way up in the mountains and getting there took around an hour of driving on steep, winding roads. Our home for the next two nights was a very scenic place called the Melanting Cottages. This is Balinese owned, not a multinational chain and has a very personal, friendly feel. Our cottage was a family room consisting of a veranda, a small entrance room and two bedrooms, each kitted out with mosquito nets. By the time we’d settled in everyone was tired- it had been a long day after all. We had dinner in the restaurant and went to bed.

Penjors waving in the wind on the main street of Munduk

Saturday morning we were up bright and early- we had a busy day ahead of us. Yesterday was temples, today was villages, forests and waterfalls. First up was a short walk into the village to look at the famous local market. Sadly for us, things got a bit inverted. The walk was a lot longer than we thought and the market was about the size of the boys’ bedroom! Still, it was very pleasant walking in the cool of the morning watching the hundreds of penjors flapping in the wind. The market took a little finding, being set back from the street but I guess for what it was- a small local market much like one you’d find in Wolverhampton, it was nice enough. Anyway, as with much travel, the delight isn’t always in the destination but in the getting there- or in this case the getting back. Having tramped a long way downhill, the boys were less than thrilled at the prospect of an uphill repeat so, for the first time in their lives, they had the boy of riding pillion on an ojek- for those who don’t know Indonesia, this is a motorbike taxi! Not the safest I know, but riding at top speed up a mountain pass, even for ten minutes was something the boys still claim was the best part of the holiday.

The boys posing with one of the Ojek riders

The main attraction of the day was a large waterfall somewhere close to Munduk. To get there needed about two hours of walking through beautiful shaded forest. We started out walking through what seemed to be a spice plantation where it appeared we could find more or less every spice needed for my mulled wine. 

Rohan crosses the raging torrent on our way to the waterfall

Kieran tucking into a cocoa bean he found on the way

From spice to rice as the forest opened out into the classic stepped rice padis, then once more into the forest. After a steep downwards climb, punctuated only by a few stray dogs and Rohan’s consequent attempts to climb onto my head we finally found ourselves looking at the most powerful, impressive waterfall I’ve ever seen. 

Walking along the edge of a stepped padi field

This waterfall was in full bloom- the spray was covering us even several hundred metres away. By fifty metres it was like being out in the monsoon! We stayed a while then climbed upwards to the top of the next peak where all of us, and especially an exhausted Rohan stopped for a break.

Completing the circle back to the cottages seemed a lot harder. Partly this was because we were out in the open and the sun was up but mostly, I suspect because Rohan had given up the ghost and demanded a piggy back. We got back to the cottages after three hard hours ready for lunch, a massage, a sleep then dinner.
We started the journey back to Jakarta right after breakfast the next day. Everything in a fast forward reverse of Friday- drive, plane, drive and by Sunday afternoon we were safely back home.

The four of us in front of a huge waterfall- well worth the hike!

I’m really glad we did this trip. Firstly, we got to see a side of Bali not everyone manages to see. To be honest, the beaches and bars are nice but other parts of Indonesia do both much better. The spirituality and tranquility beyond the coast on the island is something you don’t find elsewhere. More importantly, though, I can at last avoid the humiliation in later years of being the only guy who lived in Indonesia but never got time to visit Bali.