At debrief in Vietnam, our squad was given a bit of good news — for the rest of the year, we now have an Adventure Day each week in addition to our Off Day! What that means is that our Off Days will be used to rest and catch up on errands while our Adventure Days will be reserved for fun activities to explore and experience the local culture. This was definitely welcomed news for us because I hated having to decide on whether to rest or explore on my Off Days — but now I can do both!
Oddly however, my team didn’t take many Adventure Days while in Bali. Because of the unpredictable nature of our Unsung Heroes ministry, we needed to keep ourselves available for meetings with potential contacts, which made it hard to plan our Adventure Days. But fortunately, we were able to take one full Adventure Day and also mix in some adventure into our ministry days in Bali. Here’s what we did!
UBUD
Our one full Adventure Day came during our first weekend in Bali, as we hadn’t established any potential contacts yet. Our team decided to make a day trip up to Ubud, a province located north of Kuta Beach and more towards the center of Bali. Instead of blue water beaches, we were now met with a lot of greenery — what a pleasant change!
[Monkey Forest] The first stop on our Ubud Adventure Day was at the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, a nature reserve home to almost 600 Balinese long-tailed monkeys. The forest is very well-designed and allowed us to walk thru the reserve with ease. It also houses a Hindu temple complex, where many of the monkeys would gather. We were able to roam around and see the monkeys in their natural habitat, as they were literally inches away from us at many points!
[Rice Terrace] Our second stop was the Tegallalang Rice Terrace, a series of rice paddies that slope down in a stepladder-style manner. It is one of the most popular and photographed attractions in all of Bali — and we definitely took our fair share! The paddies are still being used today to harvest rice, as we saw a few farmers during our visit. The rice terrace is indeed beautiful and we took our time taking it all in, trekking thru and seeing it from multiple vantage points. Definitely make sure to come up and take your own selfie here if you’re ever in Bali!
[Mount Batar] Our third stop took us north to see Mount Batur, an active volcano located near the town of Kintamani. It is the most active volcano in Bali and is also a popular trekking mountain among tourists. At the bottom of the volcano is Lake Batur, the largest crater lake in Bali and apparently a good source for drinking water as well. Our stop wasn’t long except to see the volcano and lake from a distance, but we were able to have a buffet lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beautiful view!
[Luwak Coffee] And the final stop of our Ubud Adventure Day took us to a luwak coffee farm. What is luwak coffee? Known as “cat poop coffee,” luwak coffee is considered to be the most expensive coffee in the world (which I didn’t know know before) because of the unusual method used to produce it. A nocturnal cat-like animal called the luwak, or palm civet, eats coffee cherries and as it digest them, an unique fermentation process occurs in the luwak’s stomach that is believed to add the special flavor associated with the coffee. The luwak poops out the coffee beans, which are then picked out by the farmers and then washed and prepared for roasting.
I knew nothing about luwak coffee before coming to Bali, but apparently it is something that Indonesia is known for so of course I had to try some. And to be honest, I thought it was just OK (maybe I had a bad batch). Regardless, I enjoyed the experience (we also tasted many different kinds of coffee and teas there) and now I can say that I’ve tasted the most expensive coffee in the world!
EAST BALI
As I shared about in my last blog, one of the ministries we visited for the Unsung Heroes program took us to a town called Amlapura in East Bali. And during our visit, the ministry contact wanted to show us some of the sites that this region has to offer. So while not technically an Adventure Day, my teammates and I were fortunate enough to see more of Balinese culture on this side of the island while doing ministry!
[Candidasa] Our first stop was on the way from Kuta Beach to Amlapura, at a coastal town called Candidasa. The area was once a quiet fishing village, but has now grown into a popular destination spot in the last few decades for locals and tourists who want to enjoy some beauty and serenity away from the craziness in Kuta Beach. There is a good amount of nice, new hotels and restaurants in Candidasa, and we were able to stop at one for some cold drinks and to soak in the view. Not a bad pit stop at all!
[Ujung Water Palace] On our second day in Amlapura, our ministry contact took us to the Ujung Water Palace. Built by the late king of that province, the site served as an imperial home and is still owned by the provincial royal family today. The property has three large pools in addition to many bridges, pillars and gardens. The architecture is a combination of Balinese and European influences, as the water palace was originally designed by a Dutch architect. Our ministry contact said it should only take 30 minutes to see the place, but it was much bigger than we thought so we spent more than an hour there taking pictures and admiring all the beautiful intricacies that the water palace had to offer!
[Natural Spring] On our third day in Amlapura, we went to visit the remote village in the mountains. But on the way, we stopped at two places for some more sightseeing — the first of which was at a natural spring. The path to get there was a bit unusual, as we had to walk by some homes and literally thru a rice field. But what we found seemed like an oasis of sorts — the natural spring was so beautiful and almost magical compared to its surroundings. Apparently the water constantly flows from the ground underneath and is always clean, as it is filtered thru the earth. Locals often come there to bath (we saw a few that morning) but sadly for us, it was just a quick stop to take photos. But next time I’m making sure to bring my bathing suit and take a dip in this natural spring!
[Amed] Our second stop that day (and last “adventure” in Amlapura) was in Amed, another coastal town in East Bali. Similar to Candidasa, this area has grown from a quiet village to a popular getaway, especially for scuba divers and freediving because of its rich and beautiful coral reefs. The beaches of Amed are also well-known because of their black volcanic sand and the many fishing boats that line its coastline. We were lucky enough to stop there and have lunch on the beach, spending an hour or so to explore the area and jump into the water. Not a bad break to have during a ministry day!
KUTA BEACH
[Sunsets] This was by no means an Adventure Day activity, but one of my favorite things about being in Bali was the sunsets on Kuta Beach. It just took one sunset and I was hooked. The way the colors interplayed with the sky and the clouds and the beach — I simply loved it and wanted to soak in as many sunsets as I could while in Kuta Beach. And neither words nor pictures really do them much justice. To see these magnificent paintings in the sky each night — you couldn’t help but know that there was and is an even more magnificent Creator who draws them. So take my word for it and make sure you get in some sunsets on the beach when you’re in Bali! Just do it!
