Bali – Rice Rice, Baby

From Thailand, our next destination was Indonesia, with our main goal to glimpse a sight of the world’s largest reptiles, the prehistoric Komodo Dragons which can only be found in the Komodo National Park (more on this here). As Komodo is not the simplest place to get to, we had the option of stopping in Jakarta or Bali – we took the second option and headed to the Island of Gods.

Although fairly small (5780 km², fact lovers) Bali has a lot to offer, and it’s obvious why it is such a popular destination for tourists, with huge swells surf lovers, miles of beaches (gleaming white in the south and mystically black from volcanic sources in the north), terraced rice fields, trekking in the volcanic mountains and lots, really a lot of temples. The very spiritual Balinese have a unique take on Hinduism, mixed in with influences of Buddhism, ancestor worship and a strong link to nature. “Bali is not one place, but many” said our driver sagely one day as we drove through the countryside.

As we came direct from some beautiful beaches in Krabi and having observed that the kids like a little variety in their adventures, we avoided the busy beaches and resorts in the south of the island and stayed in a little villa on the edge of paddy fields in the Payangan area. Payangan is half an hour’s drive north of Ubud which is known as the cultural capital of Bali and home to many artists and artesans in traditional crafts.

Rice fields

Lying along the subduction zone of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate under the Eurasian plate, the whole of Indonesia is littered with active volcanoes, with Bali no exception. The island has a mix of steep land made of volcanic rocks, and fertile soils from the ash deposits. Fir over a thousand years, farmers have painstakingly carved out fields from the hillsides in order to farm the land, most famously seen in the terraced rice paddys in the central parts of the island, irrigated by the traditional subak system. These certainly are a dramatic sight, as man cultivates crops in unexpected locations with the jungle encroaching all around. The rise of social media, aspirational travel and the ever present influencers has created a whole new market of tourism here, and the terraced fields are now not so much for farming rice as for farming likes on photos. We called in at the most famous rice terraces in Tegallalang for a quick look, but didn’t pay the entrance price to be able to walk about with crowds of tourists and take photos of ourselves on flower covered swings. Instead, we spent a very pleasant morning wandering around the rice fields close to where we stayed, where the locals were going about their everyday farming, cropping the rice with sickles, and driving overloaded scooters around narrow, steep paths. Jumping across the irrigation channels was a highlight for the kids, with Rafe getting a little overambitious on one occasion and going in knee deep.

Sanggaloka farm

Another tourist farming initiative, we stumbled across this place while out for a walk. The prospect of a kids playpark, activities and a mini zoo enticed us in. Set on a steep hillside with stunning views across the valley and waterfalls with swimming pools at the base, it was a lovely spot to spend a morning. It, of course, also has a fancy swing with a view set up, and various selfie spots for the influencer poses, but we were mostly interested in the range of fresh produce they were growing and having a good run about for the kids. We also got to splash about in the freshwater pools and waterfalls – very refreshing, and something that is becoming a favourite pastime on this trip.

Mount Batur Geopark

Bali has four active volcanoes, the largest being Mt Agung, but Mt Batur is the one designated as a UNESCO Geopark. It is comprised of a caldera, a caldera lake (lake Batur) and a stratovolcano rising 700m above the lake.  Perched high on the caldera edge, the viewpoint at Penelokan has glorious views of the mountain and lake. We also visited the Ulun Danu Batur temple precipitously placed on the ridge. The small, yet excellent Geopark museum was an interesting (and free!) visit, with a scale model of the volcano, lots of rocks and sections on the wildlife and cultural history of the area.  Down on the banks of Lake Batur are a couple of little resorts which have pools fed by the natural hot water warmed by the Batur volcano. On recommendation from our driver, we went to Batur Natural Hot Spring which was a lot of fun.  For the kids this was mainly due to the water slide – which they would happily have slid down until the end of time. Elsewhere in the park were spa baths of varying temperatures and depths and statues spraying water into them. You can (and we did) get neck massages while lounging in the water.  The busiest time is early morning, when a wave of visitors arrive after trekking the volcano at dawn. We arrived around mid-day and had the place pretty much to ourselves.

Coffee and civets

We arrived at the coffee plantation at Segara Windhu with no expectations and it turned out to be an unexpected highlight of Bali for us. The plantation grows both robusta and arabica coffee varieties and a wide range of aromatic shrubs for herbal teas, but is most famous for the somewhat contentious product of Kopi Luwak, the coffee which is preprocessed by being eaten by an Asian Palm Civet (called a Luwak in Indonesian), deposited in the animals scat, then collected and processed. Yums. The plantation is set in a dramatic location on a steep mountainside with the coffee tasting area set up to optimise the jungle views. Obviously they also have an instagram photo opportunity swing set up as on every hillside in Bali. The revenue model was great- the entrance, guided tour and twelve cup coffee and tea tasting tray was all free, with an opportunity to exit through the gift shop and purchase goods on the way out. The guided tour was excellent and we all enjoyed learning about the coffees, and in particular the cute Civets. Rafe enjoyed tasting the coffees, we now know that his favourite coffee is Bali Arabica and in the evenings he will take a rosella herbal.

We didn’t try the Kopi Luwak, partly due to price, but also due to the ethics. When the coffee was first ‘discovered’, the Civets would eat coffee beans as part of a varied diet, and their poo would be collected in the wild, with the prized coffee beans removed for processing. As the product grew in popularity, the Civets are now caught and kept in captivity, and during the coffee bean harvest time are fed exclusively on coffee beans. The animals are usually kept for around three years before being released into the wild. The ones we saw seemed to be pretty happy and well cared for, but… still…. it seems like an unnecessary process…

Anyway, the plantation was overall an enjoyable way to while away an hour or so with some whole team learning and activities.

How we did it

We took a budget flight on Air Asia from Bangkok Don Mueang (DMK) to Bali Denpassar (DPS). From there it was a 1.5 hour drive to where we stayed at Pawana villas. To get around, we walked in the local area and hired a car and driver to reach the more distant locations. This is easier and no more expensive than hiring a car, and came with free local knowledge and tips on what to visit.