From Ubud we went north to the village of Munduk, which has a population of about 5,000 and welcomes tourists who are interested in hiking. We stayed among converted rice storage buildings, and enjoyed sitting on our balcony and looking out over the valley.
For the first time since we arrived in Bali there were more German than Australian tourists. We saw them on trails.
The scenery is primarily agricultural, with rice terraces that have been partially converted to grow cloves, coffee, cacao, flowers and vegetables. These are clove trees and their fruit.
The clove trees can reach a height of 35 feet, so timber bamboo is also grown here and is used to make ladders for harvesting the cloves.
We saw lots of rice terraces with fields being plowed by both cows and machines. Either way it looks muddy and difficult.
On the first day we hiked the waterfall circuit. This is Red Garden waterfall, which is an impressive 100 feet tall.
We climbed down 300 steps to Laangan waterfall. There was mist in the air that beaded up on the plants.
We hired a guide to take us on a hike though several subaks. A subak is a 1,000 year old system for managing irrigation that was created to ensure the rice plants had enough water. Originally a subak included the rice paddies that were near a central water temple, with only a priest able to allocate water.
Over the last 80 years the agriculture in this area has become more diverse, but the subaks still have an important role in doling out the water for all crops. These are blue and white sweet potato plants.
The sunsets in Munduk were magnificent! We drank cold Bintangs, an Indonesian brand beer, while we watched the changing sky.
We left the green hills and headed to the beach. We went to Kuta to start to learn to surf. Located on the south west coast of Bali, it has miles of beautiful beaches without offshore rocks or reefs, making it a safe place to learn.
Kuta was a quiet fishing village until about 1930 when the surfing tourists started to arrive. An American couple were the first to set up a hotel that promoted surfing. (They also took great photos of Balinese culture that we happened to see in Ubud.) This is a photo of our hotel pool at night.
This is our surf instructor Paul who is Australian and owns Up 2 U surf school. Behind him is the photographer who took pictures of us surfing so we could see how we were doing.
The first day of lessons was rough. The waves were the biggest of the three days and we hadn't yet learned how to Eskimo roll, so we got pounded. But we did manage to get up briefly on these 8.5 foot surfboards. Here Pete is in very shallow water.
Here he looks like he's water skiing. It's clear which body part will hit the water first!
Kristina looks like she's either dancing or doing yoga. Actually she is trying to keep from falling off! She started as a "goofy foot" which means her right foot is forward.
Day two Pete made a lot of progress and was able to stay up and ride all the way into the beach, about 10-15 seconds.
The people in the bottom photo are Australians who were also in our surfing class. It's amazing how many Australians are here!
Mostly we rode waves that had already broken called "white waves". But here Pete is on a small "green wave", which means it hasn't yet broken. Kristina is getting out of his way.
Kristina switched to left foot forward, which felt more natural. She still had crazy arm moves and was too far back on the board to stay up for more than a few seconds.
Learning to surf is hard work! We both look exhausted at the end of our second lesson. We got very sore muscles. But it was helpful to be in such warm water as we never got cold during our lessons.
Our third lesson was the best, but the photographer's battery died so he only got a few shots of Kristina. She finally got smart and wore board shorts to protect her stomach and thighs from getting more board rash. And she was finding the right spot on the board so she could stand up for longer.
Pete continued to make progress and was consistently able to stand up and ride a wave into shore. Surfing is both challenging and fun! We were reminded of this Japanese proverb and we kept trying.
Kristina took the sunset photo right after our lesson ended, then Pete captured the pink twilight reflecting in the waves.
For the first time since we arrived in Bali there were more German than Australian tourists. We saw them on trails.
The scenery is primarily agricultural, with rice terraces that have been partially converted to grow cloves, coffee, cacao, flowers and vegetables. These are clove trees and their fruit.
The clove trees can reach a height of 35 feet, so timber bamboo is also grown here and is used to make ladders for harvesting the cloves.
We saw lots of rice terraces with fields being plowed by both cows and machines. Either way it looks muddy and difficult.
On the first day we hiked the waterfall circuit. This is Red Garden waterfall, which is an impressive 100 feet tall.
We climbed down 300 steps to Laangan waterfall. There was mist in the air that beaded up on the plants.
We hired a guide to take us on a hike though several subaks. A subak is a 1,000 year old system for managing irrigation that was created to ensure the rice plants had enough water. Originally a subak included the rice paddies that were near a central water temple, with only a priest able to allocate water.
Over the last 80 years the agriculture in this area has become more diverse, but the subaks still have an important role in doling out the water for all crops. These are blue and white sweet potato plants.
The sunsets in Munduk were magnificent! We drank cold Bintangs, an Indonesian brand beer, while we watched the changing sky.
We left the green hills and headed to the beach. We went to Kuta to start to learn to surf. Located on the south west coast of Bali, it has miles of beautiful beaches without offshore rocks or reefs, making it a safe place to learn.
Kuta was a quiet fishing village until about 1930 when the surfing tourists started to arrive. An American couple were the first to set up a hotel that promoted surfing. (They also took great photos of Balinese culture that we happened to see in Ubud.) This is a photo of our hotel pool at night.
This is our surf instructor Paul who is Australian and owns Up 2 U surf school. Behind him is the photographer who took pictures of us surfing so we could see how we were doing.
The first day of lessons was rough. The waves were the biggest of the three days and we hadn't yet learned how to Eskimo roll, so we got pounded. But we did manage to get up briefly on these 8.5 foot surfboards. Here Pete is in very shallow water.
Here he looks like he's water skiing. It's clear which body part will hit the water first!
Kristina looks like she's either dancing or doing yoga. Actually she is trying to keep from falling off! She started as a "goofy foot" which means her right foot is forward.
Day two Pete made a lot of progress and was able to stay up and ride all the way into the beach, about 10-15 seconds.
The people in the bottom photo are Australians who were also in our surfing class. It's amazing how many Australians are here!
Mostly we rode waves that had already broken called "white waves". But here Pete is on a small "green wave", which means it hasn't yet broken. Kristina is getting out of his way.
Kristina switched to left foot forward, which felt more natural. She still had crazy arm moves and was too far back on the board to stay up for more than a few seconds.
Learning to surf is hard work! We both look exhausted at the end of our second lesson. We got very sore muscles. But it was helpful to be in such warm water as we never got cold during our lessons.
Our third lesson was the best, but the photographer's battery died so he only got a few shots of Kristina. She finally got smart and wore board shorts to protect her stomach and thighs from getting more board rash. And she was finding the right spot on the board so she could stand up for longer.
Pete continued to make progress and was consistently able to stand up and ride a wave into shore. Surfing is both challenging and fun! We were reminded of this Japanese proverb and we kept trying.
Kristina took the sunset photo right after our lesson ended, then Pete captured the pink twilight reflecting in the waves.
