Thursday, April 24, 2014 - Discover Bali by bicycle

Another early departure - but so worth it. Had an incredible day!

Had brekky on the way - this is the view from the terrace 

(as counterbalance the food was disappointing) ;P

Our starting point: The bikes and we were brought by car and 

off we went to a great down-hill-cycling tour with banyantreebiketours.

Details of the temple:

The most classic photo setup:

Our guide told us that the Indonesian Government had encouraged farmers to plant genetically modified rice seeds provided by the company Monsant. A lot of farmers followed this recommendation with drastic outcome. Before the farmers were mostly self sufficient. They would plant a local rice type unique to Indonesia. From the harvested rice they would also nurse the seedlings needed for the next harvest. With the GMO rice this is not possible one can only plant and harvest it once. Also it is very frail and prone to all kind of insects. So one has to purchase certain fertilizer and insecticide also provided by Monsant. The prices for these rise every year. The income received by the farmers does not. Additionally the poison is destroying the environment...

So peaceful...

Had a great group - very relaxed - enjoyed the beauty of the island together.

Realised how much I miss cycling as I do it in Germany every day and
in Bangladesh not at all.

So green and lush!

Yes this is actually our bike trail...

Driving right through the rice paddies on a narrow trail.

This is apparently a field of patchouli. The heavy and strong scent of patchouli has been used for centuries in perfumes and, more recently, in incense, insect repellents, and alternative medicines.

Monkey woods:

So each village has their own king and this is the domicile of one of those kings 

which we were by chance allowed to discover.

This is actually a funeral we were "lucky" enough to come across. After some rites the villagers carried the shrine with the body of the deceased three times around the god statue above before heading on towards the graveyard. This is the member of a rich family as this kind of  funeral shrine costs up to 5000 USD. According to our guide the funeral is the most important event in the life of a Balinese thus one spends as much on it as one can. Also the price of the shrine does not reflect the costs of the material it is made of but the craftsmanship of the artists who made it - usually several people will craft different parts of the shrine.

Weather GMO or 'old' rice - this is for sure handled the traditional way. ;)

After finishing our bicycle tour our guide offered us to walk to the tour operation headquarters - where we would have lunch - along the road or as an adventure hike across the rice paddies. As we did not know we went for the paddies...

... it started of lovely...

... until we came to the river...

... which we had to cross (first via a "bridge")...

(Here our lovely guide showing how much fun this is. He was adorable - before we knew about the bridge I joked with a comrade by saying we would swim across - whereupon our guide said proud and earnestly "Oh no, we have a bridge!" :) )

... as well as by jumping from stone to stone...

We all hope this would turn out to be our lunch heaven - which it was not...

Had a great Balinese lunch rewarding us for all the hardships.

Before dropping us our guide was so kind as to bring us to several craft shops upon my request:

Well apart from enthuse about the community oriented society of Bali our guide talked also about the dark sides of Tourism like prostitution or the strict Hindu caste system which for example also rules which names parents can choose from for their children. (Which is per cast for example four different names for the first born.) Our guide said this leads to a kind of situation were all he needs to know is ones name to rank a person in regards to someones social status.

Ended the day with a nice massage and overpriced wooden souvenir's.