07 to 09 May 2011
My rental bicycle appears to have been made for a 12 year old and ordered directly from the Sears Wish Book back in 1972, after which it was clearly left outside in the rain for at least two decades. There is nearly as much rust as paint, the wheels wobble like weebles, there are maybe three gears to speak of, and the front brake is tighter than a violinist’s bow, ready to toss me over the handlebars the second I forget to not use it. Gina’s rental bicycle is in even worse shape with no gears at all, resulting in a few choice words at the bottom of every hill.
We are on the Bali Eco Cycling Tour for the day, having spent the past two days in Ubud doing next to nothing, partly because we were exhausted from Jetstar having delivered us into the country at 1:30 am on a flight that was not “delayed” but “re-timed” and partly because it is super hot here, stickier and steamier than Singapore, leaving us lethargic and lazy and wondering what it is people do here in this extreme heat. Then we found the bicycle tour and thought “Perfect. Something to do.” and now we are on it finding that there is a lot of doing nothing. Bus to the rice terraces, bus to breakfast, bus to the coffee plantation. Fluff fluff fluff, though to be fair, this is clearly the “Eco” part of the cycling tour. After sampling various local coffees – a treat for my addiction – it was time to ride, each of us sent into a field of broken down bicycles to pick out our wheels for the afternoon. An afternoon of cycling 25 kilometers during which, every few kilometers, we stop again to visit a family compound, visit a temple, visit a rice paddy, visit the “tallest” banyan tree in Bali, visit women making traditional offerings, and visit lunch. If those folks on the SpiceRoads Vietnam trip thought we were slow, they should see us now, hampered by tour fluff and hunk-a-junk Huffy’s. Granted, it’s never about the miles and it’s interesting to learn more about this unique and spiritual culture we are surrounded by but after two lazy days, a little more wind in the hair would be good for us too.
