Riding in the mountains with Chris and Ika in west Bali

Saturday night we arrived in Medewi around 10.30pm and looked around for a hotel.

I checked out a couple including one charging in US dollars close to the beach. The main road runs parallel to the beach about 200 meters inland and the hotel we stayed at was called the Mai Malu guest house on Jl. Pantai Medewi. The rooms cost 70,000rp and were very basic with small bathroom, cold water and fan. I saw there were air gaps above the door and was worried about mosquitoes but there weren’t any.

One of the first things I check with these ‘adjoining bathroom’ places is that the bathroom has ventilation. If it doesn’t the bathroom will ventilate through your bedroom and who wants to sleep in a toilet.

The Mai Malu had a small restaurant downstairs serving a combination of Indonesian and western favourites.

Medewi is in Jembrana, the most westerly district of Bali and is a famous surf break. The long left-hander works best on mid-high tide with a 2 meter swell. This particular morning we saw 5 ft waves coming in pretty consistently.

Breakfast was included in our room rate and it consisted of a pancake (crepe) and a drink.

The reason we were in Medewi in the first place was to check out the Sunday morning buffalo races (mekepung) in Negara. I have stayed in Negara before and it’s nothing to write home about. The drive from Medewi to Negara is almost 30kms but the road is straight and fast. We arrived at in Negara and figured out where the side street leading to the races was (head towards the coast at a sign that says ‘Perancak’). Further down the road we figured out there was going to be no buffalo races that day and the big race would be in another 2 weeks. Buffalo races occur Sunday mornings between July and October.

We turned around and headed back towards Kuta planning a trip up to the mountains. A couple of miles further east the crooks….I mean the cops pulled us over and told us we ‘made a wrong turn ….big problem and must come to station’. I don’t see how I could of made a wrong turn on a 2 way road that I have already driven down but these 2 ‘Tourist Police’ were definitely making the most of their chance to hit foreigners up for money. I gave them 30,000rp and after 15 minutes of posturing they let us go.

I was pissed that government employees hang out to harass people for money but that’s Indonesia. In the US the cops harass you with intimidation, over here it’s all about cash.

A couple of miles east of Medewi we came to the turnoff at a town called Pulukan close to Pekutatan. This route heads directly up into the mountains and is a beautiful drive. We passed small villages and watched locals going about their Sunday morning activities.

Stopping at a roadside warung in the mountains we observed a large group of young guys helping to build a new temple. It was located right next to a large banyan tree. They obviously couldn’t decide whether to chop down the tree or build the road around it so a compromise was the solution.

While sipping a cold drink Ika surprised me with a story about eating pork. I assumed as she is Muslim that pork was off the menu but she said she can tell the difference between pork and chicken whereas her brother and sister can’t. “How do you know?” I asked. “My mum and dad like pork and one time during Ramadan she cooked it and gave it to us without telling us. Dad was laughing at brother and sister’s surprise when she told them.” Definitely an easy going attitude to the religion and somewhat indicative of the brand of Islam in Indonesia.

Our route led us up to Pupuan, on the way riding a ridge line through small villages and giving us simultaneous views left and right.

The Peroja we were in had plenty of power to haul the 3 of us around the windy roads and my speed never exceeded 30 mph. I chose Sanda Bukit Villas as our lunch stop. This place is set in a old coffee plantation high in the hills and is a super chill. Equipped with very nice rooms, large elegant restaurant and pool the best room went for 650,000rp. The staff told me domestic tourists or foreigners with ‘kitas’ pay 450,000rp for it. I like the lounge area that the rooms have with recliners overlooking the mountains.

For lunch I had smoked marlin for 30,000rp which was very tasty. Plenty of finely prepared dishes on offer. Chris thought his dessert was pretty decent.

Sanda Bukit Villas seems super tranquil and I highly recommend it for a mountain trip stop off. While we were there we were the only diners.

Our ‘mountain loop’ ended at Antosari where it suddenly joins the busy main road again. The slow cruise took through the mountains took about 3 hours including our lunch stop and I recommend this route to anyone wishing to get away from the crowds and other foreigners.

From Antosari we passed through Tabanan, Kediri, Beraban and Kerobokan before reaching my house in Seminyak an hour later.

The Kuta / Seminyak area is high density tourism which can cloud our view of what Bali is about. Rent a car and take a drive in the mountains to rediscover what Bali is actually like.

• Trip to Jembrana west Bali
• In search of a house
• Surfing in Uluwatu Bali on Sept. 3rd 2004
• More photos from Ubud
• Great waves on Sept 1st in Bali

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