Bali 2013 - Day 9

Today is Jake's big day.  He's been looking forward to doing a trail ride for weeks.  He had picked out one he wanted to do - Bali Rides - but their day ride is 900,000 IDR (about $90 US) and it just isn't in our budget.  So Made booked him with Bali Eco Tours for only 360,000.  The cost for the ride includes breakfast, all equipment, snacks & drinks along the way, and a buffet lunch at the end.  It wasn't exactly what he wanted (it is mostly downhill), but he went and had a good time - and he absolutely refused to take a camera, so we have no pictures to share.

They picked him up out on the road around 8:00 and squeezed him in between the driver and the guide in the front.  The rest of the group he was riding with were Dutch.  They were driven up to Kintamani where they had breakfast overlooking the volcano, then they went to a coffee and spice plantation.  Here they saw the famous luwak, learned about ginseng, ginger and turmeric, and sampled some coffees.  I had sent him off with 100,000 for emergencies, and apparently kopi luwak is an emergency.  Jake decided since he was here, and it was offered, that he'd like to try the famously expensive coffee.  For 60,000 he got a small pot of freshly brewed coffee, which is expensive for a cup of coffee, but relatively cheap for luwak coffee.

After the plantation, they drove to the bicycle depot to begin the ride.  They rode down the mountain (slowly, according to Jake), stopped at a family compound to learn about how the traditional Balinese home is laid out, and stopped at a 500 year old banyan tree.  Here they learned a bit about the banyan and its religious and cultural importance, and had a snack of bananas.  Back on the bicycles, they rode further down the mountain to stop at a ricefield and learn about the rice cycle and harvesting process.  After this, the riders were offered an uphill extension of the ride, which Jake and one or two others took advantage of.  Then the whole group met up for lunch and the return trip to their hotels.

While he was off having all this fun, the rest of us did a bit of shopping, made a new friend (and caught up with an old one), and headed to town for our manicures.  Well, we couldn't remember where we had seen the OPI shop, so we couldn't exactly get transport.  Even women we asked along the way didn't know what we were talking about, so how could we expect a driver to know?  So, we walked.  And walked . . . and walked.  We walked from Jl. Penestanan, down the hill, across the old bridge and uphill into town.  We walked all the way down Jl. Monkey Forest to Jl. Hanoman to Jl. Dewi Sita.  At this point, it was almost time for Jake to be back, so we gave up and were pushing for home.  We were also hot, tired, hungry, thirsty, and grumpy.  And we hadn't gotten our manicures.  Then, there it was!  We crossed the street and climbed the steps and walked in to the frigid air of the shop.  I picked up a menu so we could decide if we wanted to come back later.  Manicure: 60,000 - no polish!  Polish is an additional 60,000.  And remember we were going to pick up some OPI polish cheap to take home?  NOT!  Polish ranged from 195,000 to 225,000 per bottle - more than double what it costs at home.  But hey, we got lots of exercise.


We got back to the bungalows just shortly after Jake did.  We all laid around and recovered from our day.  Since we had all expended so much energy, we agreed that dinner someplace close was in order.  We opted for Lala & Lili, which is less than 10 minutes walk down the jungle path.  The food was good, the prices were decent, but the service was a bit slow, even by Bali standards.