It’s amazing what you can see if you just look beyond what’s in front of you. I’ve been to Bali several times now, and love the beaches as well as the art colony around Ubud, but I also knew there was more to this island than what most tourists see. So, I found a guide with an old land rover for rent, and I asked him to show me the ‘real’ Bali.

We left Kuta behind in the early morning. Despite the fact it’s low season, there is still traffic and a lot of surfers on the beach at Legian. Soon, all that is behind us as we quickly leave the developed area of south Bali behind us and head north-west into the countryside. Along the way, we pass through villages where we have to navigate around rice drying on mats in the road. We stop at a typical village temple, with it’s tall multi-tiered meru and huge meeting hall.

Eventually, we turn off the narrow ‘main’ road onto a dirt track through a forest. Although it looks wild, the area is in fact still cultivated. In the shade of the big trees and palms, cocoa and coffee are grown. Most of the palms are coconut, which seems to be grown mostly for the fibrous shells, which are used to fire big kilns we see along the way, making roof tiles as well as ceramics.

Deep into this forest, we stop and walk down to a small stream winding its way among the big volcanic rocks that form the island. The day is hot and humid, but it’s cool down by the well shaded stream, where the rocks are covered with moss. Back up by the car, the driver has set out a little picnic coffee break. We sit on mats next to an old stone pillar with a typically Balinese chair carved as its crown. The thick mat of growth on the chair makes this shrine appear abandoned, but there are offerings of young coconuts at it’s base, so someone is still appeasing the gods in this part of the wood.

Back in the Land Rover, we head out of the forest and head back downhill towards the sea. We pass many more rice terraces. Some are being planted, some are being tilled with the help of a buffalo, and some are left alone to grow. We eventually turn off the paved road onto another dirt track. We take a rather circuitous route through another rice filed, just being harvested, to a small wooden pavilion where lunch has been arranged.

We eat the Indonesian meal in the shade of the pavilion, in sight of a beautiful - and deserted - black sand beach. After lunch, we talk a short walk on the beach. The sand is very fine, and black. It shimmers in the sunlight. Near the surf, which comes in quite high waves (but breaks right on shore - sorry surfers!), the beach is littered with small stones and pebbles, but higher up it is quite smooth. The sand is baked hard by the hot sun, but breaks easily and is quite fine underneath the surface. The beach was totally deserted. We didn’t see another person while we were there, and only one or two buildings could be seen.

We then headed back for the modern world of Kuta, although there were a few more stops along the way. In all, we were well away from the crowds and touts all day. Now, that’s the way to relax!

You can see more photos of the Bali countryside in the online gallery.

Posted by michael under Just back from...