Day 31 (Apr 5 2013): Bali Bike Tour

The Quick Facts:

* No classes at the school on Fridays, so we went on a bike tour of Bali with Bali Eco Cycling
* Started with breakfast in Kintamani, then got a tour of some local plants and a special coffee drink (more on that later), then road ~35km south (mostly downhill) through rice paddies and small villages; ended with a delicious lunch

The Good:

* Bali Eco Cycling does a great job, this is a first rate tour operation in Bali, I highly recommend
* The tour we did was great for families and all ages (they even offer baby seats if you’re so inclined)

The Bad:

* Nothing really, very happy with how everything turned out


After a week of tutoring at the school, Carrie and I decided to spend our weekend outside.  We devoted Friday to a cycling tour run by Bali Eco Cycling, which I can’t say enough good things about.  The company designs everything with the guests in mind, and executes flawlessly.  If you are ever in Bali, I would highly recommend – it is good for old people like me and for families with children.

The tour began with a drive to Kintamani, a town on the perimeter of the Gunung Batur region (Mount Batur, an active volcano) and Lake Batur (Bali’s largest lake).  They arranged for breakfast at a hotel built into the hillside overlooking the mountain and lakes.  This is my view from breakfast, not bad eh?

 

After breakfast, they took us to a farm to give us a quick tour of some indigenous plants.  But the star of the show was this guy:

He is a Luwak (or, technically, an Asian Palm Civet).  Apparently, in Bali, they have a thing where this guy eats red coffee cherries found in the wild, digests the cherries and the coffee beans found inside, poops out the coffee beans almost intact (the Luwak’s digestive system alters the bean but does not break it down), at which point the pooped out beans are harvested, roasted, ground into coffee, and sold to people for ~$6.00/glass.  This is not a joke.  Here are the beans post-poop:

 

And being roasted:

 

And here is the marketing for it.  Perhaps it’s because I went to a “marketing” business school, but I think their campaign could be slightly revamped to something, you know, less revolting.

 

Needless to say, neither Carrie nor I plunked down the cash to try the liquefied poop, err, “coffee”.  If I am unable to find a job when I get back to the States, I am just going to start eating random things, pooping them out, turning them into another food and selling them to strangers for a ridiculous sum:  Customer: “What’s that odor?”  Me: “That’s the rich, bold flavor that makes this brownie cost $10/square.”

Moving on, we then started our bike tour which first took us through some rice paddies.  First, this was our guide, Kobe (seen here peering out from behind Carrie; yes, we see you!):

 

Here is a pic of rice terraces from far away.  They are all cascaded in levels down the slope so that gravity forces water to adequately flow and irrigate the rice paddies (which must be covered in water at all times).

 And here is a rice plant up close (notice how much water they are standing in):

 

And here are a few levels up close.  One tier of this paddy will yield 100kg (220 lbs) of rice.  This rice is genetically modified so that the seed-to-harvest cycle is 4 months, allowing a yield per tier of 300kg per year.  Organic rice (non-genetically modified) takes 6 months for one cycle.

 

After the rice paddies, we went to a traditional Balinese village – Sulahan – where we got a tour of a “compound” that consists of anywhere from 1 – 8 families and includes housing, a collective temple, kitchen, and other common areas.  It also included animal stalls, where we got an up-close interview with this lovely lady:

 

Oy, she’s got a face only a mother could love….

 After that we stopped for some bananas under this Banyan Tree, which is pretty cool lookin' (get a haircut you hippie!)
 

 

We then continued our ride through the Bali countryside, which was all downhill except for the last 8km which is on a gradual (and eminently doable) incline.  The tour company will let you ride in a van if you do not want to do the uphill part.

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