Arcane Candy

Monday, July 16, 2012
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

And now for something completely different, I went on a nature hike today in the countryside around Ubud. I do believe it’s safe to say I did more walkin’ than Christopher Walken. It started out with a jaunt through the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, an incredibly scenic swath of jungle full of amazing greenery, stone walkways, carvings, temples, and, of course, scores of playful and hungry macaques. I was amped to shoot a bunch of video of stuff I had only photographed before. Then I headed South on Jalon Nyuh Bulan past a bunch of really nice family compounds, hotels, resorts, etc. There is quite a bit of construction of even more accommodation going on down this way.

After I hung a right on Jalan Raya Singakerta, I hiked on down the side of this crazy busy road, past a bunch of stalls and storefronts, crossed a big bridge high over the Sungai Wos river, and ended up in the small village of Nyuh Kuning, where a lady coaxed me to sit down in the shade at her little corner store and relax with a bottle of cold orange juice. After I admired the gamelan sitting in the bale banjar right across the lane, I proceeded North on a small paved trail past some really picturesque family compound gates and a temple or two. Then the pavement gave way to a very narrow dirt trail barely wide enough for my feet that made its way through some lovely rice fields that shimmered in the sun, where I saw a few kids flying kites.

A little bit later, I came upon a tiny farm with a small stall containing cattle and poultry and an area with odd little ramps for chickens (I guess) to walk up and over. The sound of the stream rushing by at my feet coupled with the roosters crowing and a couple of rustic, homemade wind chimes clacking away made for a very interesting and vivid aural environment, so I got out my iPod touch and captured a few field recordings, then shot some video. At this point, the trail took a 90 degree left turn, so I followed it out onto a paved road that came complete with vehicular traffic. Walking North, I passed by numerous family compounds, resorts, hotels and little shops. The whole way, I shot photos of these things and the astonishing natural beauty of the rice fields and jungle off in the distance.

Then I happened upon an overgrown bamboo hut housing an Indian restaurant called Warung Om Namaste with a young lady out front who lured me inside. A really pleasant and refreshing breeze blew through the open air cafe as I chomped on a small pile of fried rice and vegetables. I continued walking North for a spell, when i came upon a group of elderly Balinese people doing aerobics, which was a very odd sight indeed, then I headed West on Jalon Penestanan, home to a plethora of small art galleries, shops, hotels, resorts, etc. I tried really hard not to get killed as I hugged the edge of the narrow roads down and up through gorges and around sharp curves. Finally, I ended up back on Jalon Raya Ubud, where I crossed another bridge back over the stunningly beautiful Sungai Wos river gorge, which is unfortunately marred with loads of garbage scattered over its banks.

After I climbed the hill back up to town, I made my way over to shoot photos of Ubud Palace and the gate of Pura Marajan Agung in the gorgeous light of sunset. Then I had a delicious high-rise falafel sandwich for dinner, and relaxed in front of Ubud Palace, chatting with the ticket seller Nur Astika. After chomping on some mie goreng and working on photos at Bamboo Cafe, I made another field recording of a bunch of frogs croaking in a most weirdly amazing way in stereo on either side of a little bridge over a stream on Jalon Dewi Sita.

Roll over photos for captions.
Words and photos ©2012 Arcane Candy.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 16th, 2012 at 5:37 am and is filed under Tropical Heat Tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.