Exploring Jembrana west Bali

Saturday morning came along and I wanted to take a road trip to continue exploring Bali.

Jembrana province in west Bali is the least touristy place in Bali, so after knocking out some e-mail at Globe caf� in Kerobokan I packed my bag and hit the highway at around 11.30am.

Looking at my map I saw a selection of small roads reaching north from the highway near Negara and thought I’d like to explore up in that area.

My route ( see map) took me in the direction of Tanah Lot and then through Tabanan. This road is my least favourite in the whole of Bali because it handles many trucks and buses heading to the port of Gilimanuk. I tell myself that after couple of hours the worst of it will be over and I’ll be on smaller roads. To make matters easier I wore my pollution mask which I bought for 70,000rp months ago. This helps to filter out the solid particles although the smell of fumes still gets through.

The weather lately has been wonderful, sunny days, no rain and riding along I find it very pleasant. My outfit for this trip consisted of a Nike Dry-Fit t-shirt which is very light and gives sun protection with the long sleeves, convertible pants and sandles. Mick has told me before to wear boots when going on a trip but I don’t feel the same responsive handling when I have boots on. Maybe next time I’ll shake the frogs out my tennis shoes and wear them.

The road west from Tabanan reaches Antosari and you can take a right turn up to the hills near Pupuan or keep going and head for Negara, the capitol of Jembrana. As the road turns toward the coast it passes Soka Beach where I stopped for a caffeine fix and a stretch. Riding a motorbike requires total concentration, I feel like I’m playing a video game and it’s a good idea to take a break once in a while.

Soka Beach is a small fishing area which really hasn’t been developed for tourism apart from a few local shops selling drinks. The sand is grey in color and the scenery isn’t as eye catching as other places on the island. There are some lovely paddy fields in the immediate area as you swing down toward the coast.

I parked and bought a snack from this lady who was making some kind of offerings. I’m holding a bunch for this photo.

Back on the highway saw many rivers and streams that lead down to the coast and as I was crossing a bridge stopped and observed a group of Balinese truck drivers washing themselves and their truck in a river. Who says trucking isn’t fun.

I rode on a got to Negara around 3pm. The town itself is about 3 miles (5km) in from the coast and has a very wide main street running through it. Feeling my stomach growl I headed for a handy roadside warung and ordered a nasi campur ( mixed rice) and a teh bottle. The other customers wanted to chat and we got quite well. The owner told me she was a Buddhist and of course asked me if I was married.

My bill was 5,000rp which wasn’t too much. Nasi campur is always somewhat of a surprise and this one was average. It has tempeh, chicken and other items. I said goodbye to the folks and headed out, the sun was bright buy I knew I only had 2-3 hours of daylight.

I rode up a down a couple of times and finally picked a road heading up to the hills. As soon as I got off the main road things went from �town’ to �country’ instantly. Houses lined the route and locals were hanging out ladies washing, young guys playing cards under the roadside bale and other people out for a stroll. The road carried on up a fairly steep hill and terminated at a dirt path. This was my chance for a hike. The backpack sits on the inside of the handlebars when I ride so I unstraped it and put it on. Heading up this track I started sweating immediately, it’s a humid environment and any exertion shows.

Small houses were dotted on the hillside and once in a while I’d come across a local who would stop and stare, sometimes asking �apa kabar?’ A whiring noise got louder and louder and it turned out to be a windmill on the end on a long bamboo pole. These things were all over and I couldn’t really figure out their purpose, still the view was getting better the higher I walked.

On my route were several buffalos tied to stakes, carefully walking past I came to a small shelter. �I could camp here no problem’ I thought, �but on my own it might be a bit boring and I can see the mosquitoes circling’.

Heading back down the hill I stopped and talked to locals including this father and this old lady who loved looking at her photos on the camera. Reaching the bottom of the hill I saw the bike was still there and locals were winding up their work for the day. A couple of families who were in the house where I parked came out for a chat and photo session. Everyone got their photo taken and people gathered round for a �ohhhh!!!!’ and a laugh.

Pretty decent people I thought, I’m getting more positive about Negara by the hour. I thought this place was barren but it is anything but.

Back down in the town I was thinking that I’d better look for a losman ( guest house ). Stopping at a roundabout on the main street a local drove me to one called Hotel Surya Asri on Jalan Salya. The place was 25,000rp per night, I didn’t negotiate to hard, the guy asked for 30,000rp and I just wanted a shower a place to crash. Figuring 25,000rp isn’t very much I wasn’t expecting the Ritz. A simple room with a bed, portable fan, mandi and Asian toilet was the deal here. What bothered me were the mosquitoes inside the room so I asked the manager to give me a mosquito coil. He didn’t have any so brought in a pump spray. I stood back while he nuked the room, bed, pillow and all. Great! I won’t get malaria tonight but will get toxic shock instead.

Not wanting to put my face in a chemical bath I turned the pillow over and made a point not to touch my face after the sheets.

Next up was the bathroom. There was a hole next to the drain that a family of large cockroaches used as their �Bat Cave’. I squashed one with my doormat and whacked his cousin with my sandle. The other relatives stayed away after that.

It was Saturday night and I figured it wold be fun to what was going on in rockin Negara. My hotel didn’t serve beer and walking down the main street it became obvious that beer wasn’t something in demand here. Negara does have a heavy Muslim population and this might account for it. I finally found a warung that did serve me a small Bintang�finally its starting to feel like Saturday night!

With my beer finished and optimism raised I headed off for a 30 minute walk along the main street. I made an effort to make eye contact and be polite and said hello to about 100 people.

After reaching a point that looked like it was heading into the boonies I stopped and chatted with a group off young fellows who told me about a concert that was just starting. Awesome! When I said �rockin Negara’ I was not really serious, but still this was a great chance to see how the locals have fun. I walked quickly back to Surya Asri, got my bike and followed the locals to the local soccer field where this event was going on. I didn’t realize this but a couple of bands from Denpasar had come to town and this was big news.

Parking outside along the street there were thousands of people. Traffic was chaotic and I really didn’t know if I could get a ticket. Following on to the stream of people heading around the back of the walled field I lined up and bought a ticket for 8,000rp. Quite a funny system they had going on. There were proper printed tickets with the price on and the 4 cashiers sat behind a set of railings, the crowd shoving handfuls of bills through. Fortunately having longer arms than all the locals got me a ticket fast. My ticket said � Widi Widiana’ � Lolot’N Band’. I guess Widi Widiana is pretty famous here.

There was one thing I had to take care of before I went in�.another Bintang. The stall I stopped at had large Bintangs, warm. I asked if she had cold ones and she opened up a bucket of ice. Using this method it would take about 2 hours to get a cold beer so I paid and enjoyed my warm beer. By the way the upside of getting a warm beer is that you aren’t in a hurry to drink as you’re not worried about it getting warm (the Bintang is half full).

The soccer field was full of locals in front of a stage complete with fog machine and colored lights system. The 2 acts were a famous Balinese singer and a rock band from Denpasar.

I stood next to Ketut from Negara who is in the furniture business and his girlfriend Kadek. He told me about the Buffalo Races that were happening on Sunday morning and invited me to join him.

Also among the crowd were many families with young kids and when the rock group took to the stage the front center part of the crowd did their best to emulate MTV videos of what a crowd should do. There was much arm raising, energetic dancing and a funny moment was when staff on stage started throwing containers of water to the crowd which were nailing people left and right. These also ended up being used as volleyballs and I could see them exploding at various intervals.

I stayed about 90 minutes and decided I had enough when the bathroom was calling. I said goodbye to Ketut, located my bike and rode home to the �roach motel’ .

The saggy mattress wasn’t the most comfortable but I was going to sleep well after a long day of being out and about and meeting people.