# Biking, Bali....Beautiful!!!!



## philippec (Jun 16, 2002)

Another post long procrastinated -- a trip I took back in December to Bali for work. 

4 days of intense (read 8 am to midnight-2 am...the next day!) work in Nusa Dua followed by 3 days of R&R up in the volcanic slopes of the inner island near Ubud. As much as I dont regret having missed the beach scene in Nusa Dua (mostly large scale western beach resorts), I am really glad I planned for a few days in the hinterland. And, yes, the bicycle came along for the ride!

for some background on Bali:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bali
http://wikitravel.org/en/Bali

My work hotel was a bit out to the west from Nusa Dua and so was rather isolated. That made for some nice beach walks around between 5:30 and 7 when the weather was (slightly) bearable at a low temp of 35 degrees and 90+ % humidity. It only got warmer during the day. There were some lovely sunrises over the Pacific and beautiful views of Mt. Agung (volcano) rising above the mist.

One of the nice things the local organisers of the meeting I was attending did was to make available a fleet of loaner bikes for delegates to get between the different venues. However, I can tell you that riding a bike at noon in Bali and swimming are remarkably similar - you get tired fast and end up just as wet! Lot's of security presence as well at the venue given Bali's recent bombings and the attack that took place that week against UN offices in Algeria.

Before I get into the biking, here are some shots taken in and around Nusa Dua and my hotel -- (oh, and the Airbus was at the Singapore airport and no, sadly, I did not fly in on it!).


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## philippec (Jun 16, 2002)

*Bali #2*

Ubud is a small town on the volcanic slopes of Mt Batur. It is the cultural and artistic capital of Bali and is surrounded by small hamlets nestled on plateaus between deep gorges coming off the Volcanic Batur. Because of the topography, rice (the main crop) is grown in an intricate lattice of superposed terraces. The people I ran into were exceptionally friendly and, because the island is predominantly Hindu, statues and offerings to the Gods, and temples (one for each family compound at least) are everywhere. It is truly a paradisical place although it is poor as well. I had found a small hotel run by a local family for a good price. The hotel was in fact a series of stone bungalows overlooking a rushing stream and the rice paddies beyond. My favourite part - my bathtub that was cantelevered out over the stream and open to the jungle on 3 sides! Just north of the hotel was the aptly named Monkey forest and then, Ubud proper.

Some pictures of the hotel itself and my first ride up Balang to the northwest from Ubud.


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## philippec (Jun 16, 2002)

*Bali #3*

Well, that was a nice ride -- I think I'll walk into Ubud and grab some stuff at the market and then head off to a spa for a 2hr+ massage, yoghurt-honey-rice husk scrub and bath in a flower strewn tub ... oh, can I has another, please (I ended up getting massages every day while in Ubud). The shop window picture - if it crawled, slithered, swam or walked and can fit into a vat of hot oil, it can be found here -- yum!!


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## philippec (Jun 16, 2002)

*Bali #4*

Another day, another ride. Out at sunrise, back 3hrs later in tim e for breakfast. Nothing but nice roads, friendly people waving, a few people threshing (rice?) by the roadside, a chorus of songbirds, the sound of flowing water and the smell of incense -- oh, and the heat!


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## philippec (Jun 16, 2002)

*Bali #5*

Last day - up at sunrise again but this time I just rode around the hamlets surrounding Ubud and tried to pass as many terraced fields as possible. Right before coming into the hamlet immediately north of Ubud, I turned a sharp corner down a hill into a pack of fighting dogs - yikes! I grazed one of them and immediately they forgot their quarrels with each other and set off after me like , well, a pack of wild dogs. Nice sprint work-out! That said, I ran into plenty of other dogs (Balinese dogs are a breed apart) and had no problems. I think that all the aggressive ones have died at the wheel of the mopeds and scooters that rule the roads. Breakfast this morning was black rice pudding -- exquisite -- followed by a snack of hand-picked mango. Dinner was pretty nice too....

Hope you enjoyed the trip at least halfway as much as I enjoyed making it!!


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

That is one [email protected] fine report.

Is it o.k. to hate you?

BTW about that riding kit..........


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## philippec (Jun 16, 2002)

Hating is allowed ... bring it on!!!

That was my old team kit -- I've moved on to something *much* nicer with my new team ....


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

How did Trek put it?

"Pink, it's the new yellow!"


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## Len J (Jan 28, 2004)

Some awesome shots in there...thanks for sharing.

Len


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## HokieRider (Oct 6, 2005)

wow. amazing stuff. thanks for sharing all those.


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## I am The Edge (Jul 27, 2004)

greatness.


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

Fantastic report and glad to see you didn't stand out in the local crowd!


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## paint (Jul 25, 2005)

that's pretty dang cool. the terraced fields are amazing.


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## philippec (Jun 16, 2002)

I'll have to remember that line -- I could have used it many times this year!


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## superjohnny (May 16, 2006)

philippec your pictures are great. What kind of camera are you using and how much post-processing do you do? You have a keen eye for photography and taking good pictures. Thanks for sharing.


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## philippec (Jun 16, 2002)

I use a Sony Cybershot T7 5.1 megapixels -- the slimest of the slim! I chose it b/c it could easily fit in my jersey pocket. I do tweak the tone curve to bring out the contrast and bump up the saturation level b/c I feel that brings some "reality" back into the pixels.


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## GeoCyclist (Oct 31, 2002)

*Nice report*

Much better photos than I took while cycling in Bali a few years ago. I stayed at the hotel just down the beach from you; Sheraton N.D. I used a hotel bicycle for my cycling adventure from N.D to downtown Kuda beach. Yep! you got to watch out for all the motorbikes, especially the ones rigged to carry surfboards.
Thanks for the great post.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

Great shots.

Were you able to eat whatever you wanted to without getting sick?


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## philippec (Jun 16, 2002)

I ate whatever I wanted - roadside food, restaurants and my own hand-picked mangoes and guavas. What I wanted, however, was conditioned on what I knew had a reasonably good chance not to get me sick. Hot off the grill foods, fruit that I could peel, bottled drinks. In restaurants, I ate everything with no worries - cooked, raw, etc ... it was all good. And by that, I mean really, really good!


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