Ubud. It really is a Mood

More than just a fancy book title, the island’s swankiest highland village has morphed into a must visit for every visitor. New hands will go ga ga over the town’s market square and shopping. Having just an hour or so to do that, they buy up handicraft and trinkets by the bus load, before returning to their buses and day tours of the exotic Balinese countryside.

Old hands watch and ponder, from a discreet restaurant, hey we were like that once maybe 20 years ago. Me? I try to avoid the place like the plague, but then again like the book says, the place is a ‘mood’ Catch it in your right ‘mood’ and soon you’ll be an old hand, never wanting to leave, save for the odd bicycle ride into the countryside. Useful things those state of the art bicycles.

Sublime sunrises

Dinner mood just after sunset (spot our wheels)

Ubud’s market is a real market before the daily transformation. Locals hustle and bustle for their daily needs from as early a 5 am. Messy, grimy and with suspicious odours. I’ve yet to enter  their deep dark and dank below road level areas. You hear the odd gripes about rising prices and shrinking portions. Locals buying in bulk seem to do so for their businesses mostly restaurants. They’ll pass the costs on to their customers.

On one very hot morning, wife is thirsty and insists on a cooling coconut drink. I am quoted Rp 30 k for one. No point haggling, it’s almost US$4.00. We walk away and the price drops to 20 K. I cross the street to a local warung and get a cut up coconut. Rp 10 K. I’m sure the locals pay less, but the thing to note here  is she’s thirsty and water wont do.

Come sunlight and say after 9 am, the produce market changes into the tourist market. This is a good time to be there. Mess cleaned up quickly and in it’s place, neatly laid out souvenir stalls waiting for the huge white tourists buses from the south to disgorge their contents.

My mood insists that I make a last visit on the very last day of each trip. People watching at it’s best. Plus photo ops galore. Intelligent mood dictates that we find our lodgings as far away from the town center as possible, which we cleverly do. And of course having a folding bike handy really beats walking 2000 metres just to get lunch or dinner or a new bikini.

A bikini shop in the heart of Bali's artistic and cultural universe

Seen at Periplus Books, not the Ubud library, there's none

Human beings being made monkeys of, at the Ubud Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. On a bicycle get there before 0800 hrs and you save Rp 20,000 as the ticket guy isn't there yet

He's in a hungry mood

BBQed honey coated and roasted ribs @ Naughty Nuri's Warung. We couldn't get a table at 3.15 pm. Unlike the poor kid in the bus, we got to smell it !

Ibu Oka's babi guling in Ubud. 8 whole pigs are sold in a day at this one tiny stall. There are others ??

Go pig out

Or better still, go cycling

Behind this bucolic scene at the Ubud Palace's lotus pond, there are 2 dozen tourists wanting a photo of pink flowers

A more private moment in someone's garden

Happy moods are the best

yes, whatever works for you.....

I once did a tally of the days and nights I’ve spent in Ubud. It added up to 62. That was in 2000, so that figure is severely outdated. There’re lots more, hidden somewhere in my trip diaries, waiting to be counted.  For simplicity’s sake, I’ll just double that figure. East Bali and Amed is looking good these days. It’s peaceful, quiet and with a spider web of roads and trails waiting to be to be explored on a mountain bike. It could just be the next place to stay a while.

From a previous post on food, it’s also possible to dine in a different restaurant everyday for a month in Ubud, but we now know the good from the less good  (thankfully we were spared the bad ones)

We will leave the island soon, and with the impending departure, the mood is sombre as we have to deal with traffic, immigration and crowds at the air port.

http://www.ubudvillage.com/ubud.html

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

Leaving the highlands

A fully loaded tourer enjoying his 30 kms of down hills

Mrs :  ”Wow, 2 guys on touring bikes and rolling downhill at that ! Aren’t you jealous ??”

Me :    ”Do you have to rub it in ??”

Mrs :  ”What happened to your plan of cycling down hill while I drive ?”

Me :    ”You didn’t offer to drive?”

Mrs :   “You didn’t ask enough”

Me  :    ”I thought I did !”

Mrs :   “Yes but you said that the clutch was ‘low or loose’ and the hand brake’s broken and………that I navigate well since  you can’t read the small small prints on the map”

Me :     “Don’t really need a map yeh, it’s all in here (points to head)

Mrs :     “Don’t trust my driving??”

Me  :      (very softly) “Uh huh”

In retrospect we’ve done all the down hills we’ve cared to do on other trips, but as I wonder now, with a tinge of regret, how fast would a Bike Friday tikit roll before I am reminded of my mortality ? I guess we will never know…..

Lazy mammals

Not too shabby a view from our porch. Pity the sunshine was in short supply, then again it was just 7.30 am

My new big toy. The place does not have fans or air conditioning, as the sea breezes always blow in once the sun is up, our host reassured us. Boy was he right, we checked out at a very late 1.00 pm after my kite felt tired. In the next bungalow, there's a Japanese tourist sweeping the floor with a broom that comes with each room. Wonder if she'll do ours ?

Far off the beaten track lies a little gem, best reached with your own transport or much nicer on a touring bicycle, http://www.geriasemalung.com/english/index.html

We wanted to stay 2 nights, but alas, our room was booked for the second day and we had to scoot ;-( (we did stay 2 nights back in 2008)  They have a constant flow of Japanese clientele to fill their 4 rooms, as the Balinese owner’s wife is Japanese. That explains the Zen like touches in the lush garden and a black volcanic stone hot tub in a corner, and a large manga collection in their library.  GS is in Desa (village) Ababi and we passed through Desa Budakeling (an as the crow flies short cut across a few semi dry river beds)  In Malay, those names are quite funny.

Next stop. Amed by the Straits of Lombok, and a scenic and shady down hill section that goes on forever…..sigh…

The line's maxed out at 800 metres (and my camera's zoom at 210 mm)

Tirtagangga's endless rice fields

The straits of Lombok in bad weather

Turn on your speakers, courtesy of the Geria Semalung folks, http://www.geriasemalung.com/page/s_gal/cnddsa.html

So much better light in the afternoon

Heading for the highlands (prequel)

This day is before the big bridge adventure. We drove into some very familiar hills, clove, cocoa, coffee and nutmeg country. It was only 60 plus kms and that made for a very slow drive. Before that, a very late start, meaning more cycling time, a dip in the sea, then pool and an almost 2 hour lunch in the quaint town of Seririt. Every small Indonesian town must surely have a small Chinese population. Meaning the possibility of getting Chinese food. Seririt is no exception. Small mom and pop shops, a goldsmith or two, and yes a restaurant down a small lane.

My co driver (who didn’t drive at all) was a bit apprehensive at the cleanliness or lack there of, for such an establishment. Never fear I said. I think I dined here in 1991, and have already spotted at least one renovation. There’s a new signboard by the entrance. ‘Such and such a resto, since 1955′ It was here or some other street side stall with cold food and flies for company. As it turned out simple noodles and rice and some veggies were quite good and one quarter the price of eating in touristy Ubud. And yes, the grainy, unfiltered Kopi Bali was spectacular, I had seconds.

An open concept kitchen, great for seeing hands being used for everything, including tasting !

Our newish old Dutch style house in the hills of Munduk. The room was cosy (@ 980 m asl) and the garden, very lush.

Packing cloves for export in Munduk. It's a prime ingredient in some Indo cigarettes

Sunset was a non event for the camera because of a heavy downpour

Sunrise was much better

This morning will be etched in my memory forever, as it was about this time or so 7 am on Saturday 30th April that Paul Lim passed away, and I was up and about looking the the skies trying to capture a crimson sunrise. It was about 18 deg C, the mountain air crisp and refreshing. Paul and I and some friends were mountain bike touring in this very same village way back in 1995, and had to cool of our rims and brakes by dunking the wheels in a rushing stream.

Open the room door and this awaits, the Balinese Pyrenees

Hidden hamlets of north Bali

An old timer's house and car in Munduk

Looking at the scenery and potential for long walks and climbs through the rice fields, one would need at least 3 days in these hills, enjoying the cool rarefied air, but we had done that on previous trips, so a single night with the sounds of a heavy down pour (definitely a first for us) was quite adequate to get reaquainted with Munduk. We had invitations to a village wedding that was going to last 5 days, but politely declined, as we were leaving on the 1st day when only the decorations were being put up. It would have been quite spectacular if we had arrived on the 4th or 5th day.

Coffee cherries

Tanah Barak (red rock) waterfalls after heavy rains. 5 minutes in this water and hypothermia is a given

Lake Tamblingan overflowing, it's temple and surrounding villages inundated. I was knee deep in the icy waters on the village road and made those ripples

Lake Buyan at 1200 m. According to some Balinese friends, it has been raining for the past year !

Heading for the highlands

Next to Bali’s famed beaches, the hills and mountains in the centre of the island are a visual treat if one really goes of the beaten track. The usual tourist spots and view points may be amazing for the first timers but we’ve seen better on our bikes, and this time I really wanted to travel on the road that Lonely Planet 2011 plainly proclaims ‘The Road That’s Never Travelled’ (RTNT) In fact if you have a driver it’ll take some persuasion to get him to try 30 kms of mountain roads that straddles 2 big mountain ranges.

Steep and potholed

Might as well get a map and DIY, although I had second thoughts when exiting a nice smooth main road and  into deep, dark and steep potholed roller coaster country roads that threatened to wreck the car’s ageing suspension, but we had a full tank, our bikes are strapped tight and we prayed a lot. Seeing that the odd old mud splattered Honda Civic that passed by occasionally, that boosted my confidence somewhat. Some inclines were so steep, it was 1st gear all the way, slipping and sliding. sending bits of rock and debris to anyone silly enough to be too close behind us. After half a dozen or so deep ravines, we got to the village of Petang and smooth roads. I recognised the junction to the bridge and only in Bali would a bridge of such proportions be a venue for kids on motorcycles on a Saturday. Cars and bike parked by the side and hawkers selling snacks and corn on the cob.

The 'bridge'

The RTNT comes in handy as a shortcut too as I didn’t want to drive south for 40 kms and then head north another 30 kms just to get to our destination, Lake Batur. Part of the RTNT is Bali’s highest road bridge that was completed in 2007. It connects two mountain villages of no particular significance save for those wanting to drive from the Bedugul and Lake Bratan highlands to the Kintamani and Lake Batur area, and vice versa. Before that, in 2006, I remember cycling into the deepest ravine ever on the island and that took 2 hours to ride out off on the other side.  The bridge was still under construction, it’s massive foundations rising out of the jungle floor. I had started from Ubud at 7 am and did not get back till 6 pm. Another fun recce 110 kms by bicycle first, before attempting a drive through.

A sight to behold, just halfway in to Bali's deepest ravine. Sept. 2006

There's a broken road and a small concrete bridge down there, somewhere

Past Pelaga and Catur, a region of endless coffee plantations, the road joins up with the north south Kintamani route with it’s views of Mt Batur’s 3 volcanic cones and Lake Batur. It started to rain and our views were at best, cloudy and foggy. Down by the crater lake shore there’s a myriad of off road trails into the lava fields. My mission for the next morning was to rediscover one that led to the Bali Aga village of Trunyan, nestled deep under the vertical mountain walls of the crater.

Kedisan village 0700 hrs

Ooops, Can the 16 inch wheels make it ?

After 11 bone jarring kms, Trunyan village with it's new water front promenade

Trunyan is one of many Bali Aga villages spread out over Bali. Most are in remote and hard to reach spots like this, and any outsider can be spotted miles away, even other Balinese,  and especially one with a small green folding bike. The Bali Aga are the island’s original people, distinct from the modern Balinese who came over from Java centuries ago. One of their burial rites and rituals is to leave their dead corpses exposed under a holy banyan tree. Apparently there’s no smell of rotting flesh and kids play with the skulls and bones. Jungle animals aren’t even interested, This is totally abhorrent to other Balinese who have elaborate cremation and sending off ceremonies. Needless to say, Trunyan’s cemetery has been milked dry for it’s tourism ‘potential’ ie $$$.

Mention Trunyan to other Balinese folk and you get 30 minutes of negative comments.

With the new access road, many of the village boatmen who used to charge tourists exhorbitant fees, are not a happy bunch.  The tourists still arrive, as the marketing and publicity for the place can be found in many a hotel lobby. I spent a whole 15 minutes there, snapping away, and the tikit was great for quick getaways each time a villager sized me up, “Where are you from, where are you going, I bring you to see cemetery, have fresh dead body”

Another steep one. 20 years ago this was a rocky foot path, where even our mountain bikes had trouble inching forward. Gradients remain the same.

The 11 km ride back was just as strenuos, but felt a bit faster like all out and back rides do. My ageing tikit does not have a front derailluer but with a smaller 42 T front chainring, I managed to ride up most of the tops of this roller coaster lakeside road.

During many moments of quiet contemplation (I was so early many villagers were not quite up yet) I still could not believe that Paul was gone. We decided on lunch back in Ubud,  just 30 downhill kms away, where we could get wifi and catch up on any news. There were many and after 2 hours nursing a latte in AC comfort, we drove off with heavy hearts to the extreme east of Bali to Tirtagangga, a romantic name for Water of the Ganges. India was continents away, but the Balinese Hindus know how to glorify their ‘water palaces’

Mt Batur 1717 m, rarely seen from the opposite shore

0930 hrs. It's time to wake someone up and get breakfast, I am starved

Mythical pools of clear mountain water, with ornate fountains and statues where the kings harem would bathe, while the king would ponder and decide on which one would be his company for the night. Today it costs Rp 5000 a pop, to gawk at the maiden-less pools. Pay a little more and you can even swim in the ‘tourist pool’ where freshwater crabs will nibble at your feet. It’s not a bad way to spend an afternoon in the boondocks of Bali contemplating a life without wifi, cellphone coverage and being a sardine in a subway train.

The tourist pool at Tirtagangga Water Palace

A Bali road trip, almost

Having done five bike tours of Bali together, we knew which roads were a joy to ride and which were best avoided. The gravity defying potholed  ones. How would we get around then ? We paid a visit to Nyoman Merta Jaya. CEO and sole proprietor of Three Brothers Car Rental along Monkey Forest Road in Ubud. Renting a car in Bali is more like having tea with a long lost friend. Chit chat with  coffee and cake first (abt 30 mimutes) and signing on the dotted line, 1/2 minute.

Insurance you ask ? There’s none. Well the first US$500 of damage is on the renter/tourist. Anything more serious/fatal ? At all costs, do not go to the police if possible. Call Three Brothers ASAP, they have their own ‘police team’ Ha ha. So in Bali, I never drive more than 60 kmp/h not that the traffic or terrain will allow anything more.

The car is delivered the next day by Mr CEO himself, as he collects a cool million rupiah, or all of SG$145 for 7 days rental, ie. cheaper than cheap. After all we do go way back to 1990. It’s a 6 year old  Toyota ‘Avanza’  It is old for a rental car. Scratches and small dings at all four corners. It rattles now and then, but the tyres are new, and traction and braking is more vital than speed.

The spring catch for the hand brake pops out at first touch. During the next week of driving, or rather parking, a can of Coke propped up under the hand brake works too, and our jalopy doesn’t roll off any mountains. The rear door/hatch creaks to high heaven. Dogs will howl when I open it to get to our folded bikes at 6.45 am, but what a good but irritating alarm the creaking door is too.

0645 hrs. 20 deg C. Bowels cleared. Time to ride !

A green corridor at Bali Barat (West) National Park

I’ve never driven the west coast roads once, through the major, nome too clean towns of Tabanan, Negara and Gilimanuk. so what better time than now (to check if it’s ridable) It’s not quite, in fact with heavy truck and bus traffic around some quiet, but very narrow winding stretches are down right dangerous. We witnessed a few close shaves, when even cars had to get off the road, as might is right here. The annual Tour of Indonesia does a stage from end to end along this inter island highway, but they do race on closed roads. Any cyclists heading to or coming from Java will have a better time riding the flatter northern coast road with much lesser traffic.

After reaching the western tip of the island and seeing the huge East Javan volcanoes of Merapi and Ijen, we headed back inland, east along the north coast and what a difference, through a National Park that was fresh and green. It had been a very wet, ‘dry’ season last year, and this was to be our wettest trip yet. It was only 125 kms, but that covered two thirds the length of Bali.

With the longest drive done on the 1st day, Pemuteran, a little known village, was our first pit stop. Little known because it’s too far from the southern tourist beaches, so only a 100 m stretch of guesthouses serving the diving community has blossomed here in recent years.  In the middle of relative nowhere, there’s also the Matahari resort with US$200 a night villas by the sea. Our new room came with a much saner price of $35 and an almost private pool.

All the tourists have gone snorkeling or diving, so I have it pretty much to myself

Lucky us, a spanking new month old room and the last available one at that

All needs covered except the cycling part http://jubawa-pemuteran.com/

Boat building at Pemuteran, north Bali and not a taxi tout in sight

The attraction here is all below water

Bali Bali Bali

The first of 14 Balinese sunrises, stunning !

You’d think that after 20 trips to this island that I’d have no trouble writing about, but I do. There are so many alluring facets to Bali that some visitors never leave. I am not one of them as I am discerning. Lately though, paradise is showing it’s pitfalls. I thought I had mastered the art of avoiding those. Many trips on all manner of bicycles, since (gasp) 1989, also meant that any maps I brought were rarely used. Peering into a map is a sure sign of being a tourist, and a lost one at that.

And the Balinese, any Balinese who has something to sell you can spot a tourist miles away. Heck they can even eavesdrop, from 20 feet away, and try to ‘help’ you with any ‘problem’ usually a destination you need to get to, in a flash. In Ubud, (with the beach 30 kms away and touts less persistent) while we were mentioning in passing the name of a certain cafe that we had read about, some guy runs from across the street, shouting the name of that cafe and ‘can help’ in driving us there !

Others flash nice laminated A4 sized notices proclaiming ‘taxi’ ‘transport’ with nary a word, less the visitor feels vexed, though having such cards flashed in your face 20 times a day and on every street corner is going to take it’s toll. We were flashed, even as we cycled by. So having a bicycle won’t stop some persistent career cab drivers (taxi is a real misnomer as all are privately registered cars or worse, borrowed. Insurance? What insurance?)

Grandmaster moonlighting as a taxi driver

Ubud is a Mood (also a book title)

We spent many an hour with the elevated views from our room at one of the rare guesthouses that still has a rice field view, http://www.warjibungalow.com and doesn’t gouge you with US$ rates. We knew that they had a new wing, meaning new rooms from our last visit in 2008. We also knew that the ‘new wing’ of 7 rooms took almost 10 years to build. First the foundations, a stairway and some (not all) walls and a very mossy tiled roof went up. Then some men came to dig up a huge hole 10 feet deep, presumably for the septic tank and human waste.

3 years later, ‘some’ rooms were ready, others nicely painted but empty, waiting for matresses and lamps. We were in time for the grand ‘completion’ ie, positioning of beds, mattresses/linen and connecting of the lamps. Boy they do take their time on this island. As yet 3 rooms remained unfurnished. Their reservation form works though. You might get your room, IF Widya, (a svelte Balinese woman whose family owns the place amongst rmany other properties) has passed on your reservation to one of Warji’s House caretakers. (In our case, she didn’t! )

Another dawn before the sun breaks

Zoomed in view of Mt Agung, (3712 m), again from our room

A decade in the making, but it was new and spacious. 2 nights were marred by a larger than life, French mother and daughter chain smoking tag team. (next door) Seeing my disgust, they were kind enough to smoke in their room with their doors and windows boarded up, but presumably to enjoy their haze even longer

A group of Thai tourists on their first trip to Bali. I thanked them for checking out and letting us have their room. What a loss as they don’t smoke, and were a cheery bunch

The latest bugbear this trip must be the incessant traffic of motorcycles, which any can be had for a low Rp 14 million / US$1500 for a Made in China 2 wheeler. Ist payment is a measly Rp 500K / US$60. All traffic increases 15% yearly, while road capacity stay the same, with just more potholes after each rainy season.

Hey dude, where's my bike ?

Bali is being swamped with tourists. I think, 1.5 million each year. It’s bursting at the seams in the tourist enclaves, the southern beaches. Ubud is well on it’s way too, but I still have a few secret places left to reveal or revel in. That usually happens once we get out of even Ubud, and into the mountains and the northern coast.

Most were discovered from cycling, and trashing the rental car through bath tub sized potholed country roads. Long conversations with a few Balinese friends known since the early 90′s helped too. One is the director for rural road works and a keen cyclist. How very convenient. Another  is the car rental company boss turned village headman / problem solver and marriage solemniser with good ‘family’ connections with the police. Some nights were looooong on this trip.

Chucked in the garden of Warji's, I spotted a 'performance' MTB. Michael, a native of Hawaii, spends 4 months a year in Bali..... when he's tired of cycling in Hawaii. What a dilemma ! Where can I get/buy such a dire predicament ??

Urrgh ! Get back to work !

What’s another trip ?

We’re headed to Bali again. I’m trying to recall my past trips and bikes involved from memory. I’m sure of the years, not so much the months that I visited Bali, so here goes…..

What a paradise for pedaling 2006

Feb 1989    Bridgestone MB 3

May 1990 *

July / Aug 1991   Bridgestone MB 3

May 1992   Bridgestone MB 1 / 5

Aug 1992   Bridgestome MB 1 / 5

April 1993   Bridgestone MB 1

June 1995   Ti Lust MTB

Nov 1995   Ti Lust MTB

June 1996 *

Sept 1996   Ti Lust MTB

May 1998 *

Nov 1999   Ti Lust MTB / Silver MTB

At Penelokan 1717m in 1999

Aug 2000   Ti Lust MTB

April 2001   Santa Cruz Heckler

May 2002   Diamond Back MTB

Oct 2002   Ti Lust MTB

April 2003   GT Zaskar MTB / Miss Marin MTB

May 2006   KHS Alite MTB / Miss Marin MTB

Aug 2008   Sutly LHT / Miss Marin MTB

April / May 2011   BF tikit / KHS Coffee bike, really. Plus one 3 m wide stunt kite with an 800 m line !

* Denotes trips without a bicycle, what was I thinking ?

Feeding time 2003

the bridge looks familiar

PAI in the Rainy Season

There's a waterfall at the end of a 7 kms hike through this valley. We managed 500 meters before the 'belakang pusing' (about turn in Malay)

No prizes for guessing that it was wet and muddy in August ! Doesn’t really matter if you’re the indoor type, but with mountains and dirt trails all around, mountain biking or even mere morning walks through scenic countryside will surely turn into a mud fest. And not too long ago back in August and September of 2005, the  Pai valley,  parts of it being an alluvial plain were hit by devastating floods which brought down tons of mud, rock and debris from the surrounding mountains. Imagine a small stream no wider than a road turning into a force of nature, wiping out river banks, houses and cars in one fell swoop. Two actually. Long time Pai resident, Chris P. an American has a very detailed blog here, http://allaboutpai.com/flood

We visited Pai again 6 months later in early 2006 and the effects of those floods were still evident. The locals had a secluded dumping ground, in a forested area where heaps of broken and rotting wood, construction debris and the odd rusting car were kept hidden away from visitors’ eyes. Guest houses by the river that were swept away in the night, showed exposed plumbing and even toilet bowls. Amazingly no one drowned or were reported missing. No one with a Thai ID or foreign passport at least. At the fancy River Corner Resort where we stayed in 2003,  4 bungalows by the river were gone. In it’s place was a new and wide riverbank with concrete slabs, presumably a car park. www.pairivercorner.com

Remains of a bridge over troubled water

The tourist dollar that this mountain town attracts meant that rebuilding bridges across the Pai river and even new guesthouses, is a yearly or more affair. Competition is fierce amongst the trinket shops, massage places, restaurants and hotels. Ironically we did not see any of this hustle and bustle this time round.  It looked like the Pai of 2002 when 10 of us went mountain biking there. The low season has it’s rewards. Room rates discounted at 50% or more, absolutely no crowds, unlike the thousands thronging the streets at year’s end, and business owners who actually had the time to talk to you, instead of just nodding grumpily, overworked but with tills and pockets overflowing with $$$.

Our relatives who were in Pai for the first time could not see what the fuss was all about. I don’t blame them, coming from a place like Melbourne, this was the absolute Thai boondocks, 4 streets, 2 traffic lights, sleeping dogs in the streets, wooden houses and some resorts in the countryside.  In 2 hours of slow driving around we had seen the whole place / town / valley  that was drivable.  I’ve been to Pai 8 times, and with the right mountain bike and weather, a month or so would be just right to ride my tyres bald. Occasional wifi would be nice (it’s the norm now)  but, I’d be too busy exploring the valley and spider web of dirt trails that dot the hills here.

www.paibaanthairesort.com Amazing Thb 600 / US$20 low season rates

In the Shan Burmese lingo, Pai actually means, migrate or simply, GO. In the last 10 years, the changes have been so radical that some bewildered locals have packed up and left. They literally went after caving in to big city investors whose offers for their land and homes were too tempting to refuse. No doubt some left unwillingly, instant millionaires or not. The resorts here are owned by big city folk to cater to big city folk. We saw Pai’s newest resort to top them all.  The Montis is an African themed safari like place by the highway. 6 star luxury @ Thb 10,000 / US$300 a night. 2 fake straw giraffes in the lobby to greet you. Empty car park.

Mamacharis for rent in Pai

At just 500 m above sea level the Pai valley is not Aspen, Colorado but the year’s end cool season when nights can get down to 5 deg C is a big draw for Thais, clothed in winter wear, even when the noon day sun heats everything up to 32 deg C.  Cats and dogs are decked out in knitted vests. Then came the movie makers. To date 4 romantic comedies or rom-coms have been filmed in Pai, so now everyone who’s hip and in the know, can say they’ve seen the movies and been to Pai, Mae Hong Son Province. Whilst cycling the tikit in search of a jok (rice porridge breakfast)  I came across 2 Thais on their Vespas.

They too knew of the high season mayhem and decided to ride their scooters 250 kms from home in Lampang, rain or shine, (mostly rain) in search of saner room prices of Thb 300 in August. They agreed that the slower pace of life in this town was an attraction, but apart from that there was nothing else much to do. That was the whole point of the ‘old Pai’  Hand made hammocks sell well here. That and bikinis knitted by the same two grandmothers in front of their homes, since the last millenium. There’s also a sizable Muslim community in town and their grand mosque sits behind 2 rows of shop houses that they  lease out to the trinket / tourist shops. The 2 Muslim bakeries in ‘town’ also cater to a handful of non Thai residents yearning for something other than rice or noodles.

Where can I get a sign like that ?

What of the backpackers and Lonely Planet crowd who first discovered Pai?  Seasoned hands have left save for a few diehards who have matrimonial or property ties to Pai.  Ex PM Khun Thaksin’s war on drugs must have played a part too as the availability of certain special weeds dried up, or were channeled elsewhere in the Kingdom. The Burmese border is close by and my friend Paul and I have first hand encounters with the Border Police. http://chrisgrrr.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/pai-yes-migrate

See what a slice of Pai and good ol’ mountain biking can get you into ?

I guess another cappuccino wont hurt !

Yours truly watching the rice grow in Jan 2003

Chiang Mai in the Rainy Season

Lush and green Chiang Mai, from Doi Suthep 600 m above

Yes it was wet, very wet. Thank God for a raincoat, mini mudguards and good brakes which made cycling less miserable. This (photo below) being the 2nd last day of a very short 5 days in Chiang Mai and Pai, I was getting used to the daily deluge come 5 pm. I had to count my blessings as there was usually semi sunny / cloudy skies with light drizzle in the earlier part of the day. Weather stats for August, the height of the rainy season was rain for 20 days (out of 30) and a 60% chance of rain and thunderstorms each day.

If you’re looking for blue skies and getting a tan, you’re just 4 months too early or late. The best time to be in the Thai north  is between November and February. Little chance of rain with cool winter winds from neighbouring China bringing temperatures down to as low as 2 degs C in the mountains. In the valleys and cities like Chiang Mai, Thais and tourists alike will find the daily average of 20 deg C with deep blue skies most agreeable. Welcome to the north’s winter season.

Waiting out a rain storm at a cosy coffee shop where I was invited into. The Ping River will burst it’s banks with just another meter more of floodwaters

So why was I in the Thai north in the most inappropriate month of the year ?  Well the trip and expensive air fares were taken care of by Coleen’s relatives who had never been to the north, didn’t care if it was raining or not and most importantly were there for a slow paced vacation spiced up with a visit to Gems Gallery to hunt down some precious stones. What was I left to do ?  Update myself with the goings on in Chiang Mai (not much really, the roads were to put it mildly, very slick) and see whether the former hippy hangout mountain town of Pai in Mae Hong Son was worth a return visit. It was. No crowds thronging the streets and cars with Bangkok plates jamming up the roads for kms on end.  Resort rooms at half the going rate, sometimes less. Just rain and misty hillsides. A full sus mountain bike would be fun to have.

It’s better to use the green one during rush hour in a city with narrow one way streets and the rain just seconds away

Now with the Bike Friday tikit folded in the boot of the rental car, I could be ready to ride anytime. Well almost. The best times were early morning from 7- 9am when everyone else was slumbering and maybe after dinner in the dark, to ride off dinner in the cool hours of the night, in search of midnight munchies. Mike’s Burgers ! Yes, I know it’s a vicious circle. Eating and riding.

Thankfully there was only one episode when I got really drenched, riding back to the hotel after getting some goodies from a hard to find bike shop. I had forsaken the nice dry Toyota Vios for the tikit, but did not refuse my wife’s advice to pack my raincoat, very essential for keeping the camera dry. Anyway with the evening rush hour traffic building up, the tikit was the saner choice wet or dry. The bonus if you can call it that was, splashing through the quickly flooded streets of Chiang Mai in semi darkness, while everyone else were practising their clutch control in 10 kmp/h traffic.

What traffic?

This certain bike shop near Wat Gate and the Chiang Mai railway station across the Ping River is almost impossible to find. Not only was their map inaccurate, the shop front was a huge wooden house from eons ago fronted by a hardware / grocery shop. There was space for 4 pick ups and more in it. The bike goodies were at the back, visible only after the owner switched on the lights. It  was more like a store room / office in a forgotten corner of a massive warehouse. At 6 pm it looked like he was about to close and head out to dinner, but uncannily 2 other customers walked in after me and they bought a lot. We were led into another room where some more exotic (for Thailand) stuff like Brooks saddles and imported race clothing were kept. As usual I was given a further small discount from the already good prices, without even asking !

Earlier on, a kind passer by took one look at the map and decided to call the phone number printed on it, telling him to stand outside and wait for me, on the street I had cycled up and down 6 times. Somehow telling me (on a previous trip) that his shop was close to Dr Wong’s clinic on such and such a street just doesn’t cut it. I got some saddles, a road tyre, nearly extinct 8 speed cassettes  and cycling shorts  AND a lot of moisture afterwards.

If I hadn’t made dinner plans, it would have been fun splashing about a bit more in the streets that resembled shallow rivers at sunset.

Bike goodies laid out like a buffet spread, yum !

With just about 6 kms to ride across town, I carefully kept my camera in a ziplock bag under my rain jacket and went out into a heavy drizzle. My shopping in 2 white bags was dangling from the handlebars and I blended in with the evening market crowds jamming up the already crowded streets. I barely rode for 2 kms before the skies really opened up and visibility went down to a few car lengths. Just in time I turned into a small coffee shop, dripping water all over a nice sheltered wooden deck as a resident cat gave me the evil eye as in ‘I was here first, go away!’

A nice young woman came out and sort of gestured me into the airconditioned shop. Dripping wet as I was I declined and mentioned that I’ll keep kitty company outside. She smiled, went in and brought out a small towel. I am planning a return visit in better weather

Bikes from a bygone era

* Chiang Mai  has a couple of pro bike shops with the latest and the ‘bestest’ from around the world, with prices to match and where cyclists congregate to check each other’s bikes out. I generally try to avoid these, as there are dozens of such shops back home, but it was fun to find one in a hip neighbourhood of  fancy spas, pubs and bars in Nimanhaemin Soi 13.  You never know when you’ll need some help in case of a bike malfunction.

Who knows what you'll find in the narrow streets of Chiang Mai's old town

Cutesy at the Sunday Walking Street

*If you’re really interested in this back of a warehouse bike shop, just show up on Sunday mornings @ 8 am @ Thapae Gate for their Chiang Mai Cycling Club Sunday rides. The enterprising owner of  ’Lek Bikes’ will have a pick up full of bike accessories ready for sale on site. Just ask him to redo his map !