KyuPugh: Bicycle Tour in Ubud

I'm actually pretty afraid of bicycles. I'm afraid to get hit by cyclists, and I'm afraid when cycling to get hit by cars or to hit pedestrians. Consequently, renting the bikes in Gili T was the first time in over a decade that I'd ridden a bike. That was pretty scary at first, because I was having trouble with the wobbling and feeling like I was going to run into someone, but it wasn't too crowded, so I got used to it.

The bicycle tour we went on in Ubud was different, though. It was described in a pamphlet at a "gentle downhill cycle," but man, it was terrifying. Apparently wheels go fast even on a slight incline. I was braking for pretty much the whole tour. I was like petrified on the bike, man.

The first stop on the tour, which was actually before we got the bikes and were being driven around, was to a coffee tasting on a plantation. At this place, they sold the famous kopi luwak, the coffee that gets eaten first as berries by this animal below, an Asian palm civet, then gets pooped out as allegedly better-tasting coffee beans. So people sift through the droppings and find the beans, wash them, and brew them as normal, resulting in what is allegedly a milder, better-smelling coffee. It's very expensive. I didn't buy any, though. I was tempted to buy some flavored regular coffee, but then I remembered I don't have a coffee maker in Japan, so I didn't bother.

Here are some workers grinding coffee beans.

Besides coffee and tea, the plantation also grows the stuff they use to flavor it, including peppers for some reason, pineapples, bananas, vanilla, and some other stuff that I didn't recognize.

After walking around for a few, we got shown to this little hut to taste an array of coffees and teas, and even hot chocolate. Most of them were quite good.

Nice views around there, too.

The next stop on our tour was breakfast. I was having this internal debate for a millisecond as to whether we should eat our free breakfast at the hotel also, or just wait to eat the breakfast on the tour. We ended up figuring it would be better to eat an early breakfast at the hotel and then eat second breakfast on the tour, which would come about two hours later. I was glad we made that decision, because the tour breakfast was just one thick pancake. That would have been totally insufficient.

Here's me and mom at the breakfestaurant.

After breakfast we finally got our bikes. At first we were on a sort of busy road as we made our way into the villagy areas, which contributed to my terror.

After a bit, we stopped at a traditional Balinese home for an outdoor tour. This type of home is a compound in which there are several houses, which seem like they're probably just one room each, or maybe two. There is a house for the grandparents, one for the parents and children under five, and one for children five and up, and there is also a building for the kitchen and a family shrine. All these parts of the compound are supposed to be in specific locations in the north, south, east, and west, but I don't remember which goes where, and then I just read that the mountain range running across the island (east/west) and the ocean serve as north/south orientation for the Balinese, so those in the north vs. the south have different meanings for north and south, so just forget it, man.

Anyway, the house was pretty cool.

This is the Australian couple that were on the tour with us.

This family had a bunch of animals, including pigs and chickens.

Here's another picture you can tell my mom took.

Apparently in Indonesia, this fruit is called Japan, because the Japanese brought it down there. I had no idea what it would be called in English. The Australians said they have it down there and told us the name, but I forgot. Sorry.