Ride around the Canggu coast in Bali

Saturday I spent at Global Xtreme internet café in Kerobokan doing some typing.

The place was fairly busy but with decent connection speed at 6,000rp per hour I wasn’t complaining.

My lunch was a fish burger with chips at Globe Café around the corner from Global. Globe does some good snack food and alright dinners. If you live I Kerobokan or Umalas its worth checking out.

Heading out of Globe and back onto Jl. Raya Kerobokan I got a wild hair and decide to go for a ride in the direction of Canggu. This area is coastal and is NW of Seminyak. It also leads into Tanah Lot and Tabanan and is a huge rice producing area. Getting to Canggu from Kerobokan takes about 15-20 minutes depending on where exactly in Canggu you want to go. I like cruising around slowly and checking out what everyone is doing.

I stopped by the side of this paddy field to watch the people planting rice, one person was moving along slowly while her friend handed her a new bundle. In another field I saw a man raking the mud flat and another person watering the paddy wall to keep it moist. Its got to be hotter than hell working in that stagnant water with the sun being reflected back up at you.

Canggu is fast developing into an expat haven as well as a place that caters to short term tourists who prefer villa accommodation to a hotel. My friend Miguel moved out here 3 years ago because he likes to surf and told me he could look out of his back window and not see any other houses. Them one day somebody started building one which ruined his dream. Of course he knew there were other houses around but the fact that he couldn’t see one right in his view made it a pleasing illusion.

Riding down on of the small backcountry roads between Canggu and Tanah Lot I passed a watermelon harvest. I made as much of a spectacle for the local kids as they did for me.

Riding on and coming to a beach I parked in a grassy field marked for motorbikes. This young lady was taking it easy under a tree and I snapped her photo and strolled down to check out the surf. While I was there a cremation ceremony passed, complete with ladies bearing offerings, a cremation tower and a gamelan orchestra.

In Bali cremations are a big deal with the body being buried for years beforehand in some cases. Cremation ceremonies are expensive and a son must save thousands of dollars for his father’s cremation ceremony. The reason so much importance is placed in the cremation ceremony is that the Balinese believe humans inhabit their Earthly body then return to the 5 elements of solid, liquid, energy, radiance and ether. The whole family plus relatives and the person’s village help in preparing for the cremation and great expense is put into securing priests, the slaughtering of animals and other decorative tasks.

The cremation tower like the one here has many roofs like the ‘meru’ (tiered thatched roofs in temples) and represents the Balinese universe which is supported by a giant turtle ( the Bedawang).

What usually happens are the bones or body of the dead person are carried underneath the cremation tower. At the cremation site after holy water has been sprinkled and prayers been said the body or bones are transferred to the effigy of animal, like the one I saw last weekend while riding in the mountains.

This shop owner watched in case a member of the ceremony was in need of a drink but no one came her way. The cremation party trotted off down the beach to perform the necessary religious duties. Its great here Bali, on a quiet afternoon you get to see the locals doing their work, rest and play as well as spiritual events.

I rode home and said hello to Wayan who was busy splashing water over the plants and herself.

Heard today that Josh Grillo who was out in Bali last year will be here next Saturday. That’s all the encouragement I need to get the rest of my bbq items (plates, cutlery etc.) and start cooking.