12 May 2011

Munduk Trekking

Our little Balinese guide from yesterday is waiting for us at Reception.  He may be small in stature – at least one and a half heads shorter than Gina – but his smile is bigger than us both.  We’ve opted for a longer trek today, doubling-down on the length from two hours to four.  It’s questionable whether this is a good move, given the toll that the humidity tends to take on us, but we are eager to explore the rice paddy fields in the distance so off we trek.

The interesting thing about trekking around here is that it’s both remote and not.  You’re out in the jungle on some narrow path, seemingly miles away from everything, when you then find that you’ve basically been walking up someone’s driveway, the only access to their settlement being the trail you just hiked in upon.  In a different sort of way it reminds us of biking in Germany, where you’re toodling along some forested dirt path and then voila, you’ve exited directly into a Bavarian beer garden.  Different yet the same.

The trek treats us to more varied scenery and topography today.  There is mountain spring water flowing along small culverts and hidden “local” coffee plantations among the clove and avocado trees.  We descend through terraced rice paddies and climb a mountainside to reach the tallest Banyan tree in all of Bali.  A few days ago we were treated to another “tallest” Banyan tree in all of Bali on the bicycle tour.  I don’t know how many “tallest” Banyan trees there are in Bali, but this one is certainly bigger than the one from a few days ago.  We take a rest – i.e., we eat a snack while our guide smokes a cigarette – before descending to the river and then climbing back up into Munduk village.  By now we are tuckered and covered in sweat and grime while our guide, having hiked the trail in nothing but flip flops, seems little worse for wear.  We send him home a few rupiahs richer while we return to our bungalow, a few more good memories to deposit in the bank.