It was my second day in Bali. Woke up and prepared myself at about 7:00am in the morning for a two-hour drive to the mountains. My family and I were planning to go for a cycling tour in a few of the villages there. As we went up the mountains, our sightseeing landscapes were basically a bunch of paddy fields after another.
We started our cycling tour at the peak of Mount. Kintamani, also known as Kintamani Volcano. At the peak, we were greeted by a breathtaking view.
The temperature at Denpasar, the “main” city in Bali was about 30 degrees Celsius. At our current location, it was about 15 degrees, kinda a shock to me, but luckily we didn’t need jackets since the Sun was keeping us warm.
Anyways we had our delicious breakfast in this little restaurant. Simple fried rice, and some tea. Afterwards, we immediately started our biking journey!
Our first stop was at a Primary School. It was a holiday so there weren’t any students there. There were a couple of teachers there though. Awkwardly staring at us outside their staff rooms, each holding a cup of tea, as we trespassed the school’s boundaries. The Primary School had about 2 small blocks; one for the staff rooms, and one for the student block, which only consisted of about four classrooms. The tour guide told us that a normal school curriculum had about 3 recess times (haha I wished I had that in my school), and students are allowed to go home to have their lunch (I got even more jealous).
The tour guide also told us that before school starts, normally, the students would pray – according to their beliefs. In a typical Balinese community, there are Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists living together in harmony. Normally, the Hindus would pray in a nearby temple, which was a stone throw’s away from the school.
Well there was a small village nearby and I did a very brief look-around.
Afterwards, we continued cycling downhill passing a couple more villages. It’s interesting how there’s a temple every few minutes.
Along the pathways, as we were going downhill, we could find villagers carrying on with their own normal lives. And on top of that, the villagers whom we passed by were friendly too! Almost very single villager waved their hands frantically in the air, and shouted “Hello” with their wide smiles. It was as if they knew us personally.
Our next stop was a paddy field. The farmers there let us give a taste of what is like beating the rice grains.
Afterwards, we visited a Balinese home which was under-construction. We explored the different parts of a Balinese home; which included the kitchen, bedroom, guest area, and a family praying area.
We ended our tour at another village. There was a busy market in the village with loads of villagers shouting out offers for what they were selling. We closed with a dance by a bunch of young Balinese girls and had some authentic Balinese cuisine.
Hope to revisit here again. 🙂
