Full Day The Secrets of Bali

Endless examples of boundless authenticity on Bali often require special transportation, local residents turning into the unofficial ambassadors of their region and guiding you through cherished cultural aspects that have withstood the test of time. The gateway to the traditional side of western Bali is the gateway to family-honoured craftsmanship, plantations and quaint villages, welcoming every stranger as a new friend.

Your 4-wheel driven transportation waiting in front of your hotel early in the morning, English speaking guide for the day welcomes you for a day out and about through the rural western region of your Indonesian holiday destination. As soon as we leave the main road, you will enter a totally different world from what you may know along the popular beaches with handicraft and factory workers continue their way of living and working like it has been done for generations. Our first stop will be Pejaten Village, where almost half of its residents make their living in making roof tiles, the old-fashioned way. Ceramics form an important source of income of the employees working at one of the island’s best-known places for top quality ceramics. Where families work and live, markets are an essential part of getting fresh produce for the daily needs; the one of Kerambitan, albeit small, forms a visual example of how local trading thrives. We enter the plantation district; particularly the cocoa plantations near Pesagi Village are giving visitors a good insight in the labour needed to get to the final end product. It will be time for a (coffee) break at the Dalem Gadungan Temple: it is here where your guide will get into the details of how Balinese see life after death and explain the cremation procedures.

You may see now why we require to use 4WD vehicles on this day trip; little villages with often badly-maintained roads form no match for these cars as we move on along villages where children play, without a trouble in the world, and use every square meter of their playing grounds to have a good time. Moving further, the horizon will turn slightly more hilly where ample rice fields turn your view form the car to the horizon in a sea of green (season depending). With you focussing on the composition for a visual memento of western Bali, the guide will explain how a day in the life of a Balinese rice farmer looks like. Particularly the ingenious way to irrigate the lands – called Subak - is one that may surprise you. Before enjoying lunch at the home of a local family, the historical Tamba Waras Temple will end this famous morning in the Balinese country.

We thank the family for their efforts in preparing a local lunch as we move back to our vehicle and making our way slowly back to your overnight address. It will become clear that The ‘Island of the Gods’ is a colourful patchwork of mountains, hills, bordered from the sea by rugged coastlines where laid-back villages still keep traditions maintained with pride.