Undisan to Sibetan

Getting out of Ubud, we made a stop at a picturesque view of hillside rice paddy terraces. Note the work, the terraforming. Note the Chinese Tesla…?

We arrived somewhere on our way to Undisan to take a bike ride along some country roads and rice paddy pathways…

One of the stops on our bike ride – a family home in Bali…

A few of us were able to take a slightly more challenging, longer route through the countryside. We had a lovely lunch overlooking rice terraces…

The temples, and there are many, have a variety of statuary, similar but different. Communities are getting ready for “silence day” – Nyepi, and working on their versions of Ogoh Ogoh, the scary guy below. Note the varieties of offerings at the end of this batch…

We made it to the De Umah Eco Resort in Undisan, a particularly lovely place to stay, and they had bicycles, so four of us went off in search of waterfalls. A more rigorous ride, we did manage to find ’em and make it back…

Here are some pix of the De Umah Eco Resort…

The next morning we took a walk around part of Undisan, visiting a family that makes the metal ornaments for brides & grooms in a traditional Balinese wedding. (A couple of couples posed.)

Count on some temple pix everywhere, these as we walked through rice terraces, some of which had marigolds, essential in the many offerings at those temples, and everywhere.

We had a really great picnic lunch with coconut milk out in the fields. Afterwards, we had some flower tea that changed from blue to purple when you add lime…?!

Eventually, we made it to Sibetan where we had a home stay with different families. We arrived at their community center, saw their version of Ogoh-Ogoh, and went off to spend the afternoon with our respective families. Dr. Rob, an Aussie of English descent, and I were assigned to a family right next to the community center. Andi Goneng, the dad, greeted us and we had more than one conversation about his family and their village. We had bought some toys on the way, and they seemed to be a hit with the kids, who reminded me of Charlie & Veronica almost 20 years ago…

That evening we went for another non-restaurant-but great food dining experience overlooking the ocean on the east side of Bali in Pemuteran. At night you can see the lights of Penida and Lombok islands. We went back to Sibetan and watched the young folk rehearse for the Nyepi celebrations, and for some, to practice the gamelan. The next morning we had breakfast and said goodbye to Andi’s sweet family…

We took a walk through the village and spent some time at one family compound learning how to weave baskets. (It was challenging to see how the grandma was living, not to mention the pets, etc.)

Along the way our vivacious local guide – who had explained our dinner and played in the gamelan band the night before – explained a lot about the local plants, especially salat, also known as snake skin fruit, which this village is known for (and which would be horrible to harvest, the low growing fronds covered with spines & thorns)…

We went to another local spot for another delicious picnic lunch. Then, we had an arak tasting session! Arak is a local liquor (a step up from moonshine) made from palm trees and flavored with various fruits and flowers. From there, we motored on to our next destination, Mt. Batur…