Eat Pray Love.

And bike!

Popular touristic destinations are known to get a boost from films shot on the spot. It happened among many other places for Thailand (“The beach”) and the Koh Phi Phi beach, for Santorini( “Summer lovers”), and of course Bali with  “Eat Pray Love”.

Most people go to Bali on a honeymoon (it is very hard to find rooms with two single beds) or on otherwise romantic holidays limited in a luxurious-yet-not-so-expensive hotel on an All inclusive basis. In a spirit of contradiction, we went in Bali to bike through the rice fields. It had not occurred to us that in Bali, the island of one million motorbikes, basically no one bikes anywhere and people take the motorbike to go to the mini market next door to buy cigarettes. Are they lazy? After having experienced the landscape and the temperature in Bali, I am not so sure. Climbing the steep hills (mountains?) of Bali proved to be sometimes a grueling experience. Often even pushing the bike uphill was difficult. Of course the bikes were charged, and of course we were lost half the time -despite the GPS- and the heat and humidity were unbearable. But all in all, it was a very positive and pleasant experience, and going downhills a sweet and very welcome and fresh compensation.  

We did not see the Bali most people see. We like to think we saw the real Bali, as the locals live it. It had a bit of everything. Amazing landscapes through the terrace fields. Biking through peaceful villages, seeing how people live, see them waive “Hello!” to us. Tasting the casual coconut, freshly cut from the tree, or some street food, served from a tricycle. But we also had loads of traffic as soon as we got on the main arteries. Reckless driving on the wrong side of the road. Pollution. And probably the worst, saw plastic litter everywhere.

Our trip included a brief stay in Java, basically up and down the mountain road to Ijen volcano. It did not look very different from Bali, with the exception that the population is overwhelmingly Muslim, as opposed to Bali, where Hindu and Buddhist religion are also very present.  

Our trip: We landed in Denpasar, immediately moved to Seminyak and started biking -except for the odd resting day or two- to Tanah Lot, then Belimbing, Seririt going north, Banjar (temple visit), Banyuwedang (ferry crossing to Java), Ijen volcano on Java, back to Bali and 1 day of rest in Pemuteran, Jatiluwih (the most famous rice fields of Bali), Ubud (the most touristic place of Bali with some very interesting cultural scene (dancing i.e.) and probably the best food on the island plus a large variety of hotels and shops, Besakih (the huge temple that you basically cannot visit as you like if you are not Balinese, despite the steep price to enter), Sidemen, Amed, Sanur and back to Denpasar airport to spend our last rupees… The bike trip was done I would say 50% through amazing, forgotten +/- mountain-bike paths, 25% through peaceful villages with no traffic but surfaced roads and 25% on main arteries with some crazy driving.

 Visa

EU citizens do not need to apply beforehand anymore. Visa upon arrival is available

 Money

Be prepared to carry and count stashes of cash, since credit cards are not accepted generally apart from touristic places. Life is very cheap. You can eat well with less than 10€ per person, and one hour of massage will set you back just 9€.

 Telephone

Yes. Buy a local SIM card before it’s too late and you end up paying a small fortune on your own SIM card.

 Language

 Indonesia has a stunning 700 languages spoken on its territory. This means that more or less 10% of ALL languages spoken on our planet are spoken in Indonesia! English may be the first foreign language spoken, but have no illusions: you will very seldom be able to communicate with the locals outside the touristic circuit, unfortunately. Dutch has been forgotten, despite 350 years of presence in the East Indies. In other words, it’s all Dutch to them nowadays…

 Hotels

They all look so nice on booking.com, don’t they? But in reality, unless you go upscale and book 5* hotels (as in the film Eat, Pray, Love), you will invariably be confronted with minor but frustrating issues almost everywhere: A/C not working (not to be underestimated), toilet stuff not working and/or missing (even toilet paper sometimes), cockroaches, no mosquito nets, noise (avoid to be booked near a mosque and be woken up at 06.00 daily), bad breakfast and food in general (you don’t always have a choice depending on where you are, or how tired you are to eat out). Hotel staff is blatantly young and Mickey-Mouse-smiling, but not efficient, despite the large number of people working in the establishments. Arm yourself with patience, and remember you are in zen country.

 Religion

Indonesia is the country with the biggest Muslim population in the world. As such, and despite the presence of other more tolerant religions (mainly Hindu and Buddhist) you need to be decent in your behavior and dressing. No topless swimming anywhere, relatively decent clothing even outside hotels (that will also help you return home with your original skin). Remember, as locals do, that no one needs to know how much you love your other half by demonstrating it publicly with signs of affection.

 Food

On a trip like ours, food may prove to be a little boring and bland, consisting in rice with eggs and/or chicken daily. On the other hand, it is just perfect for a day on the move, since it will give you enough calories but contains no fats or otherwise heavy stuff. Good coffee is missing in most places, despite the fact that it is produced locally. Luwak coffee (Kopi luwak) is also produced in Bali, among other islands of Indonesia. It is made by partially digested coffee beans eaten by an animal called Luwak in Indonesian (Asian palm civet). The actual coffee beans are then collected in the animal’s feces! As this particular coffee became famous and insanely expensive (there is only a few hundred kilos of it produced annually worldwide), intensive farming was introduced and ethical concerns raised: the animals are often kept in batteries and force-fed coffee beans. Luwak coffee, because of the fermentation it has undergone, is less bitter.

Whenever we opted for a Western specialty as a break from the Indonesian food (there is so much chicken and eggs that a person can eat), the result was much worse than the Indonesian option. Avoid pasta, pizzas and in general anything that may contain cheese or milk products.

 Driving

As long as you keep on small roads, it is fine. On main roads, and despite the fact that there are no highways as we understand in Europe, there is a lot of traffic and pollution. And a million motorbikes, which do not seem to obey to many rules (i.e. they will drive any lane as it best fits them). Driving is on the wrong side of the road, literally and metaphorically. You drive on the left. Sometimes they do as well...

No matter how careful you may be, you will often be left with only a tiny place to bike, as sometimes you will confront a truck overtaking another track and a motorbike double-overtaking both, all of them coming your direction.