Eastward ho

Our road trip was getting a touch predictable as we stuck to the main roads for fear of the ‘dreaded potholed village road, I think it’s this way shortcuts’ Funny we never had this kinda problem when cycling, as well, when cycling villagers seem more friendly are more open to ‘let’s help the poor silly touris suffering on their bicycles’ Not that driving was that bad really. It was just getting to be ‘same same’ (a Thai invented phrase actually)

Heck we have two foldies in the back enjoying the bumps and views too. After a week, the car did 715 kms and my tikit did 208 kms (100ks of which, after the car was returned) The Cappu, well, does not have an odometer.

Onwards to Bali’s far east are a string of fishing villages lining the coast on the driest part of the island. A small broken road circles the half blown off top and massif of Gunung Seraya, with dizzying views of the Straits of Lombok. This is a great 50 kms road to cycle across, and yes I did it in both directions during my lifetime.

Almost a decade ago there was pretty much nothing here, except for the Vienna Beach Bungalows and restaurant, a most unBalinese operation that catered to those wanting to get away from it all. The attraction along this coast was and is like Pemuteran 140 km in the west coast, snorkelling, diving and sailing. The area is as lost as one can get in Bali without heading out on a jukung/outrigger to Lombok.

As usual we had no reservations. With new resorts popping up like mushrooms after heavy rains, we soon deduced that the going rate for a newish place, plus AC, hot showers and breakfast for 2, was about Rp 200 K (US $25) and highly negotiable in this low season.

These were in season and I had to succumb after 7.5 days

Fleeing the dreaded dark cloud of moisture

Da beach of black volcanic sand

Where we stayed, they have just 2 rooms, with No 3 under construction

The usual places to stay were becoming ‘too famous’ with rave reviews from travel websites and the all knowing Looney Planet. Sadly some were suffering the ill effects of being too well known and service and standards were not up to par with their ever increasing room rates. Well they had a good run and had a lot of my custom especially  when we show up with a group of 10 perpetually hungry mountain bikers in tow. With the popular spots in Bali, there’s always a new hotel or restaurant to try out. It all depends on how much effort you put in to find them.

With your own transport/AC car, it’s a miniscule malady. Park car and ask wife to go out and check rooms/prices. On a bike trip, wife hides in the shade while, after many many kms, hubby climbs more stairs in SPD shoes to make enquiries. Can’t win them all, I guess.

View from the balcony

Cloud watching (great alternative to slow/no wifi)

As we were 30 minutes too early for lunch at 12 noon, a kiasu S'porean coyly copied 10 jazz remixed CDs into I tunes.

Sails Restaurant along Lean Beach is the place where other hotel and restaurant bigwigs come to dine, http://restaurantamedbali.com  We spent many a daylight hour there, and one rain soaked dinner (a first for us) after which we had to drive back in the dark through flooded streets and across one river bed, which was not there a few hours ago. It was after all the ‘dry season’ of late April. In retrospect, it was better that the car got soaked than our bicycles.

3 cars = 15 diners, quick run !

Over polarized restaurant views

Boss wife and boss lady of restaurant

His

Hers (it's fishy)

His again, obviously (mucho porky)

New World Tourists (those are the bike models from Bike Friday) The couple from England were almost dehydrated

Day 8: Amed to Tulamben

Sunday May 14, 2006, 40 km (25 miles) – Total so far: 290 km (180 miles)

Today, while Coleen was rearing to go, I saw no hurry to leave one of the nicest rooms we’ve had in Bali. After all the next stop was just 40 kms away at yes, another beach in north Bali. Besides, lying spread eagled in bed, gazing at our slowly turning wooden fan, I’ve always wondered if some bright spark could come up with a mini air conditioner built into a bike helmet. It’s just a matter of time. Maybe yesterday’s circle trip was too hot.

We left at almost high noon on a ride punctuated by many look sees at new rooms along the way (thank you Anda for being full, it was very tempting indeed) and 2 ice cream stops. We were at this view point above Lipah Bay when a motor cycle screeched to a halt and we heard a resounding ‘Kerisss!!’ Who could it be then? It was Wayan, one of the girls who worked at the old Bayu and was doing the same at the new Bayu, hence the source of all the updated news. She proudly showed us her new wheels, a Yamaha scooter no less which was essential in these parts and for some reason wanted us to know that the minimum wage in Bali had risen to $65 a month. In these small villages everyone knows everyone else. So in no time we had 3 other scooters stopping right behind Wayan’s, all friends asking the same questions to which Wayan has to give the same answer of who we were, from where and other earth shattering news. She was also parked on a crest around a blind corner which was none too safe. We enjoyed our not so brief encounter with Wayan, and the promise that Made and Anik e-mail us, someday.

( It’s been some five years since we last met and this husband and wife team, plus some siblings who are doing real well in their new whitewashed, high ceiling minimalist restaurant overlooking the Straits of Lombok. No more slogging though late nights all week long, for someone else, as they did the last decade.

They have a new deal to run and operate this restaurant and bar, keeping all the profits, while paying off the loan of Rp 600 million (or US$65,000 ) it cost to build it. It’ll be theirs lock stock and barrel after 10 years. On our two nights here we saw managers from surrounding hotels, as well as parties of six to eight diners here, so they must be doing something right. They’ll be even more blessed with good stress when a luxury ‘villas only’ resort opens up on the hill behind them )

We got to Tulamben round 3 pm heading straight for the latest new fangled restaurant cum dive shop here. Tulamben is just a 200 meter row of small buildings which might not exist if not for World War 2. About a mile off shore on the sea bed lies the wreck of the USS Liberty, a merchant ship which was torpedoed in 1942 by Japanese forces based on Bali. I think the parking lot for divers on day trips from Bali’s south must be the single biggest developed piece of real estate here. We spent a lazy afternoon looking at expensive scuba gear in the dive shops and beach combing, the highlight of which was a German adult magazine basking on the rocks. We didnt understand any of the words but the artsy black and white pictures were interesting if not instructional.

 

 

Day 7: Amed and the Mt Seraya solo circle trip

Saturday May 13, 2006, 55 km (34 miles) – Total so far: 250 km (155 miles)

Bali’s far east is fast becoming the place to tour. If fishermen are making wooden toy replicas of their fishing boats and small plastic packets of sea salt are being sold by the road side the white tour busses will soon follow. Thankfully the narrow roads and steep inclines limit their numbers and to small minivans of scuba divers at that. It’s the driest part of Bali and across the deep blue straits lies the island Lombok. I must add that the largest village of Amed is just the first of six or so other villages tucked away in hidden bays strung out over 10 kms of narrow coastline. Sometimes the whole area is mistakenly referred to as Amed.

The straits form the Wallace Line, an invisible demarcation where noted British zoologist Sir Alfred Russell Wallace claims that this is where Asia ends and Australia begins. While the Indonesian government will most certainly object, Wallace was referring to flora and fauna. Larger mammals and lush greenery found in Bali are scarce in neighbouring Lombok which has many smaller marsupials common in Australia but dont count on seeing any kangaroos in Lombok. East Bali in the long dry season is a hot and parched landscape of eucalyptus shrubs and elephant grass. Some of the bone dry and barren off road trails we rode here in October were unrecognizable in May, shrouded in a canopy of green. Though we are 4 months past the wet season greenery still abounds and its quite pleasant until the sun starts beating down after 10 in the morning.

This trip to Bali seemed to be one with the unfinished business of cycling routes that were abandoned before or just cycling in a different direction. Do I need another reason? Oh yes, I was suffering like a dog riding anti clockwise fully loaded around Mt Seraya in 1991 when the ‘road’ was just a rocky dirt trail. Come 2006 it’s a smooth black top with dotted white lines, drink stops and wide sweeping bends. I figured 5 hours to ride 50 kms but many stops extended my ETA and saw me riding home in the sunset. I started quite late at 9 in the morning delayed by Bayu’s spectacular breakfast of fruit, toast, bacon and eggs over easy and lots of steaming black coffee. Coleen opted to stay in and give her bike a break from all the intense UV rays today. In fact, she had ordered breakfast at 11 am and had it at 2 pm in the afternoon. Talk about a slow day.

Starting from Bayu which is actually in Lipah Bay the road twists and turn for 18 kms before reaching the largest hamlet here, Seraya. Another road climbs even steeper before turning back to the coast. I’m sure the views at the turnoff on a day like this will be stunning. Somehow the 38 degree C temperatures put a damper on that idea and I decided to claim my reward, a 7 km downhill to another water palace right by the sea side. Totally destroyed in the 1963 eruption of Agung and subsequent earthquakes, it has been rebuilt many times and then left to flounder. With many shady trees and secluded pavilions, it makes for a real make out spot as I found out, stumbling upon or rather almost riding over two teenagers who did not quite head home after school.

Soon enough my breakfast was gone and after 30 kms I reached the town of Amlapura circling it twice before finding lunch. Nothing much seemed to be moving in the blistering heat and I had to end this matron’s siesta to get some fried noodles and a coffee. It was just one of two shops open for lunch. Bayu was just a 20 km ride away but I decided to take a short cut which by passed Tirtagangga. As short cuts go, this was shorter but steeper into the hills which did not go well with a recent lunch at all. The dirt track behind town climbed steeply for 3 kms and with my lunch defying gravity and wanting to come out the wrong way, I stopped to walk my bike and chat with two village girls heading to their riverside bath. They told me that a lycra clad foreigner on a bicycle was a rare sight. I returned the complement by saying that if they were to stroll on a Singapore street barefooted in their tightly wrapped batik sarongs with a pail of toiletries in hand, I’d fall off my bike too.

While coasting down hill on the same road in two days, I came across a blue road bike in the shade. Coleen is always surprised at me being able to spot a bicycle and the type of components it had from, say riding in a bus or train on a rainy day or cycling by at 40 kmph. I stopped to chat with Cameron from Aberdeen who was taking a ‘breather’ from climbing uphill for most of the day. Yeah, its tough going when you’re cycling uphill with Mr Marlboro for company, so I showed him the road towards Tirtagangga and its maiden-less royal pools.

 

 

Day 6: Candidasa to Amed, 2 beaches in a day and more to come

Friday May 12, 2006, 65 km (40 miles) – Total so far: 195 km (121 miles)

The little kilometer long beach strip of a village called Candidasa is as old as tourism in Bali itself. Old as in some of the businesses here date back to the seventies. Some still look like they belong in the seventies. That was in its heyday when finding a room in the high season was difficult for those who had enough of Kuta in the south. As tourism grew, someone had this grand idea of pillaging all the coral offshore to be used as building material. Soon enough without a reef, the beach became heavily eroded and in some parts right up to the one and only road here. The locals got their building boom but the white sandy beach was gone. What remains today are a dozen or so T shaped concrete breakers that deflect the thundering waves. The village has had its share of boom and bust times, mostly bust. Some big hotels have been boarded up for years. Smaller operations like the 10 room Golden Coconut seem more resilient and have rebuilt most of their beachside bungalows and we had a restful fan cooled night snoozing to the sounds of nearby waves. Like most other guesthouses here, the bath rooms are open roofed and you can enjoy a shower or two with a towering coconut tree and blue skies above.

The elusive summit of Mt Agung 3712 m, is a choice address for Balinese Gods. We will see more of it in the coming days cycling around its base

Gunung Agung can be seen along most of the ride to Amed at least before noon when the high clouds roll in. We rode by small little cross road towns nestled in the foot hills of Bali’s highest mountain for the next 30 kms. The sleepy district capital of Amlapura was all but levelled during a1963 eruption that left half the island in shambles and thousands dead. In the remoter villages ruins from that year can still be seen among the undergrowth. Before we knew it the long, slow incline we were on had climbed almost up to 300 metres from sea level. By now I think we were conditioned to cycling longer distances and as with most roads in Bali what goes up, will certainly go down.That would come after lunch. Under the shade of lush road side trees even the false flats seemed easy. We were even carrying less water as every few kms we could find a warung with a chiller of cold drinks or ice cream.

I had timed our lunch stop just outside one of East Bali’s must see attractions, meaning having to navigate through a parking lot, souvenir shops and paying to see a bunch of decorated pools at the Tirtagangga Water Palace. The Rajas or previous kings of East Bali had a penchant for building these large ornate pools presumably for their many wives and harem to cool off in. There’s another Romanesque looking one near the sea at Ujung. An extra clean tourist pool with changing rooms has icy cold water fed from a nearby mountain spring, making it is a good way to spend a long, lazy afternoon. Just watch out for its resident freshwater crab and shrimp waiting to nibble on your toes. A few guesthouses are spread out among the rice paddies if water palaces are your thing but life generally shuts down by 9.00 pm here. Life in the real Bali is an endless cycle of early to bed and early to rise. Might as well have a bicycle handy.

We spent almost two hours on lunch and chilling under the shade of the trees by the royal pools.It wasnt easy getting on our bikes with eyes half opened or closed, yawning as we rode off. It was time to descend the 300 meters we had climbed earlier and that was an eye opener. All we could do for the next 15 kms was to overtake slower cattle, cars and motorcycles along the winding road down the other side of Tirtagangga braking and stopping for a while when greeted by scenes like these.

Bali’s far eastern coast is dominated by Mount Seraya, a baby compared to Mt Agung. The narrow coast is a series of steep hilly ridges and ravines jutting out into the Straits of Lombok. In the secluded coves and bays local fishermen eke out a living from their colourful outriggers. A dozen or so hidden bays are now home to little boutique hotels which in recent years have out numbered the backpacker beach huts that initially made the area popular. As the clear blue waters here are popular scuba diving spots, I’ve seen more and more hotels like the Anda ( which means ‘Yours’ yes if only) mushroom over a span of 12 months. And the more enterprising of the fishermen here are now running snorkelling or just plain sailing trips for visitors while still bringing home small catches for the family.

We settled into an old favourite with friendlier rate www.bayucottages.com

The new owners and management at Bayu Cottages seem to have their work cut out for them. The cottages were well maintained and luxurious for this part of Bali and were full even in the rainy season. Other choices in the area were charging $60 or more. Truth be told, running a 6 room B & B in the boondocks requires an almost constant hands on presence. That presence leaves 5 rooms to rent out, and we booked the last one a month ago. I had known the past management, a young couple from Singaraja town in north Bali since 1998. They were quite laid back, since the Californian owners were teachers in Japan staying in their patch of paradise just 3 weeks a year. Made and Anik are great hosts and cooks even sitting down to dine with guests and plunging into the pool fully clothed, which depending on one’s mood might seem too intrusive. Most Balinese are naturally curious as to what lies beyond their shores and the world’s fascination with their island so long chats into the night are de rigueur here. With the demand rising for small hotels in the craggy hillsides here, Bayu was put up for sale in 05 for $315,000. We didnt meet up with Made and Anik this time but found out that they were starting a new guesthouse and restaurant up the road with a partner from New Zealand. Meanwhile our new hosts were kept very busy pumping out a clogged kitchen outlet pipe way past midnight.