We met Wayan in reception at 7:30am for a guided walk in the forest and surrounding farmland. The man whose house we visited yesterday led the walk. He told us about the traditions and set-up of families in Bali, and how many people still grow their own food.
We passed a number of different enterprises: arak making (a spirit distilled from palm sap), forest honey, rice terraces, chicken farming, and various fruits and vegetables. Many people maximise their income with whatever combination of these their land can support.
In the fields that are for family consumption, they grow maize, peanuts, pumpkin, and pretty much anything else that will grow, all mixed together in the same place. This can be right next to rice paddies that the farming cooperative has decided to irrigate – crop planning is done at the start of each month at a council meeting in the local meeting hall.
Rice remains the staple, but they now grow high-yield varieties that give 3 harvests a year rather than 1.
After the walk we head to breakfast. I was hoping for the chicken broth again, but today we were treated to chicken porridge! It was actually delicious, but the texture isn’t for everyone.
Breakfast complete, we had an hour relaxing by the pool before checkout. The water was 28°C and there weren’t many people swimming, so it was nice to relax and look out over the ocean. We read our books for a while until it was time to pack and move on to the next hotel.
Once we’d checked out, it was a 30-minute drive to the Water Palace (Tirta Gangga), which a local king built as a homage to the sacred River Ganges.
There were massive koi carp, which must get fed kilos of food by the tourists every day. It was nice to stroll around and marvel at the fish before we stopped for a cold drink at a counter.
Lunch was just a short walk down the road, and I had a Raja platter – a selection of Balinese specialities that was really delicious. The shallot and chilli salad was especially good.
After lunch it was a 45-minute drive to our hotel, a collection of huts by the beach. Each room is an individual bungalow, set around a small pool and right next to the beach. There are big four-poster beds with mosquito nets, and the back of each bungalow, where the shower and toilet are, is open to the sky. It’s a lovely place, but we broke out the insect repellent immediately!
After unpacking and a welcome drink, half of the party went snorkelling while the other half rested.
The snorkelling was right from the beach and surprisingly good. The water was clear, there weren’t many people, and there was lots of coral and brightly coloured fish. We even saw a couple of stingrays. Hopefully this is a good sign for our official snorkelling trip tomorrow!
After snorkelling we hung out by the pool with some cocktails before getting ready for dinner.
Dinner was just 100m down the road in a restaurant with live music. It had 4.8 stars on Google and had been reviewed as “the best food we’ve eaten on our trip to Bali” so expectations were high.
The food was actually pretty good. I had a bean sprout salad and a Balinese chicken curry, which was creamy and delicious. Of course, we had to try the arak we’d learnt about that morning – it was very smooth and delicate, not what I was expecting at all. We had a lovely evening before heading back to the hotel and to bed.
