5/21/10 (ubud)

Ubud – Pujung Kelod – Ubud

After a small hiccup with the motorbike yesterday we were feeling confident again and decided to venture out of Ubud. Suma suggested a nice drive up north, which passed through some terrace rice paddies and temples. We were quite a sight on the motorbike with Jon driving and carrying his tripod/slider bag on his back while having it balanced on my knees. I was sitting behind Jon with his camera bag on my back and my bag across my shoulders. We were well balanced and ready for our ride.

It felt good to be on the road with the wind blowing in our faces. We left the city and headed into more traditional villages. We got lots of looks from people as we drove by. We passed the terrace rice paddies and decided to continue on to see if there were more of them. We probably drove another twenty minutes and passed a turn off to a temple. There lots of women walking toward the temple dressed in traditional Balinese clothing with a tower of fruit/food offerings on their head. The tower had several different layers consisting of fruit, little yogurt drinks, and flower and coconut leave decorations. It was really pretty and I can only imagine how heavy it was for them to hold it on top of their head. The women didn’t seem to mind at all and walked gracefully on the road. We drove up and down the street to try to catch one of the women to snap a photo but didn’t disturb their routine. We met an elderly woman coming out of her house and asked if we could snap some photos. She happily agreed and as she walked away I noticed there was a cooked chicken in the back of the offering tower. I couldn’t help but snap another photo.

We drove north on the road for another fifteen minutes and later realized we were probably only fifteen to twenty minutes away from the volcanic mountain, Gunung Batur. We decided to head back to the terrace rice paddies we passed since we didn’t see any more up the road. The terrace is caused by volcanic eruptions so the fields are staggered on the side of the mountain. It looks as if there are many different levels of rice fields. We decided to stop at one of the restaurants overlooking the terrace for a drink. As we were leaving there were car loads of tourists arriving to capture a glimpse of the rice fields. 

We headed back up north before turning off on a side road. Just a few meters on the side road we passed a group of about sixty men crowding around in a circle. I thought we had passed a temple entrance since there was music playing but then we noticed there was a ring in the middle and there were no women around. We soon realized there was a cock fight going on. We had heard about the cockfights from Dewa and several other Balinese. It is supposed to be considered illegal yet it is allowed around the holidays since the temple hosts them as a way to earn money. A bit strange. They are usually held off the beaten path. We were appalled yet curious about the cock fight. We figured we would walk by and see if the locals minded our presence. It was a bit confusing as to what was happening and took us awhile to understand what seemed like chaos to us. The crowd didn’t seemed bothered by us but we really didn’t want to witness the fighting so we headed back to our bike. One of the men we talked to waved us back so we turned around to see what was going on and learned that they were just about to start the fight. He figured we would be interested in seeing it. There were men screaming and holding up money so I assumed they were placing bets but they weren’t handing the money to anyone. Then I think the fighting started but because there were so many men around we couldn’t see anything. We became uncomfortable and decided to head out.

We drove around other side roads and saw some beautiful scenery. It was different being out in the countryside and seeing the houses. By this time we had been on the bike for a good couple of hours and decided we needed a break. We headed back into town and as we were near the city center Jon made a turn that was too sharp and we hit the pavement and crashed. Luckily Jon wasn’t going very fast and there were no other people or cars around. Within seconds there were a handful of people helping us and making sure we were okay. We were a bit startled by what happened but very fortunate it wasn’t worse. One of my knees was bruised and scraped. Jon was hurt a lot worse since he got scraps and cuts on his arm and legs along with a deep bruise on his left foot. The motorbike had a few scratches on it but nothing major. We had gotten insurance but probably still had to pay for the damages.

After a few minutes and checking to make sure everything was okay we slowly rode back to our home stay. Nyoman was very concerned about us and brought us band-aids. By this time Jon’s leg and foot were hurting even more so we relaxed on our bed for a bit. We hadn’t had lunch yet and were starving so we decided to grab a bite to eat. Even after our wipe out we were unafraid and got back on the bike to head into town. We stopped in at a organic restaurant called Kafe near the Forest Monkey Road. By this time my Bali belly still was acting up so I had another order of steamed veggies and rice. Jon ordered a vegetarian burrito, which looked tasty. After our meal we were ready to call it a night and headed back to our home stay for the night.

Our day may have been overshadowed by our accident but I think we were extremely lucky that we weren’t more seriously injured considering we were at a busy intersection. We are a bit banged up and feeling sore. Jon’s cuts and bruises will take a few days to heal but all in all we still had an adventure in the morning. We really enjoyed being on our own and exploring the various villages around the Ubud area.