Mountain Tops

1^st June Jen and I were up early, packed, breakfasted, booked a Grab car and out the door just after 7am to meet Damon, Komang his wife and Glory his 12yr old daughter (their 14yr old son was at soccer practice) at Living World Mall.  It only took us 20 mins as there was virtually no traffic this time of the day on Saturday. We knew we were half an hour early but thought we might look around all the shops at the Mall while we waited. Little did we know the shops don’t open till 10am here in Indonesia so we waited outside organising the next part of our trip to Munduk. It was then we realised we had brought our big backpacks with our overnight gear forgetting we had already decided to stay at Gayle’s and leave the following day on the 2^nd of June. Praise God we could store them in the back of Damon’s car.

We were soon on our way heading north towards Kintamani where we would first visit Damon’s family; with us in the car was her sister-in-law from Sumatra.  It was her first time to Bali so she was eager to be shown around.  There wasn’t much traffic heading north and less on the country roads leading to Komang’s farming village. Leaving the urban area we saw farm blocks of tropical orange, mandarin, coffee, other fruits, including strawberries, vegetables, flowers and even a very large vanilla farm and of course rice and corn. Some farms were small blocks carved out in terraces on the steep hillsides; coming down from Kintamani most were planted with an understory of other crops or a canopy of chokos grown across bamboo poles.  The car air conditioning was turned off so we could enjoy the clean, cool fresh mountain air.  What a contrast to the polluted, hot, humid, smelly city.

Komang’s family grew citrus, choko, coffee and a scattering of various fruits including avocado, bananas and papaya.  We were taken around the farm to pick pumpkin shoots, pumpkins and mandarins which were not quite ripe but edible. We stayed quite a while here meeting the family; her parents (in there 80’s) were still physically working the farm with other members of the family, some of whom came up only on the weekends to help as they are either studying or working in Denpasar.  Before leaving I was asked to pray for Komang’s mother.  Komang like many people in Indonesia is the only Christian in the family.

From here we headed up the steep twisting narrow roads up the base of Kintamani to the very narrow crest on the southern side of the mountain.  Here we stopped at the grand Puncak Sari Restaurant which served buffet style meals.  It was delicious with a wide choice of food and lots of green vegies. We sat outside under umbrellas overlooking the Gunung Penulisan, Batur and Gunung Abang Mountains which formed a cluster of peaks shaping the crater which cradled Lake Danau Batur. The ridge we were on was at such a high altitude the panorama view was spectacular.  While taking photos, Damon recognised some church members who we went over to chat with.  It was Priska with her fiancé’s family.  When Priska saw Jen she said “I recognise you from your visa application photo.” We laughed.

Leaving our lofty heights we descended along a different way to which we came, heading towards Ubud where Damon wanted to show us the last palace of the king of Bali. We nearly regretted coming into Ubud as there was a traffic gridlock as we approached the palace.  We had a good look around the old structure which was being renewed for a huge royal cremation on the 10^th of June.  While waiting for Damon to pick us up in the car I asked one of the official persons at the gate archway if I could take a photo and asked if he could strike up a pose.  Everywhere we go there are women and girls posing, taking a myriad of photos in various positions.  We didn’t see any men performing this ritual but the guy I asked was happy to oblige.

By the time we left Ubud’s traffic we had quite a free run till we hit the road approaching Living World Mall.  Parting ways at the foyer Jen and I went looking for an ATM; unfortunately, Jen had a bit of problem with her card as it was rejected after asking for 2,000,000 IDR; most gave you an option but then refused anything over 1,000,000 IDR.  I suggested she check her app where she found her card had been frozen.  Praise the Lord she was given the ability to unfree it although we were both rather hesitant to try again just in case the card was gobbled up by the machine! I must admit this is my biggest fear at any ATM even in Australia. I sent up a quick prayer which was answered by the rattling of the machine issuing notes.  Praise the Lord!  We thought it would be a quick trip home but the traffic was horrendous! We had to turn left away from the direction we wanted to go then back into the traffic which hardly moved.  The congestion was due to so many people wanting to visit the Mall.

A 20minute drive took us nearly an hour!  We were so pleased to be back home with a warm welcome from Gayle.  After sharing our stories and some photos, Gayle tried contacting a friend in Munduk to see if we could stay at their guest house which is within walking distance of one of the smaller of the waterfalls Munduk is renowned for. Jen had already booked one night at Karang Sari Homestay which couldn’t be cancelled but she was looking for another for our second night and this sounded perfect.  Jen had also booked a private driver to take us up, stopping at interesting spots along the way.  She had been given a contact while in Australia of a young guy, Made, who had been sponsored to study in Geelong.  Made’s friend David was agreeable to take us for a set price which seemed reasonable. Unfortunately Gayle’s friend in Munduk didn’t get back to us till after we had extended our stay at the Karang Sari.  But we kept it in mind if we were to revisit Munduk as it was easier to walk to one of the waterfalls from there.

That evening after sending some of my memorable photos of the day to both Jen and Damon, I retired for the night, it was long after my bedtime.  I still woke at 2am; this time the watchman was having a loud conversation to someone which continued on till after 3am.  The Lord answered my prayers for them to stop by sending rain which continued till nearly 6am.

I was able to get most things done before breakfast when Jen too got up.  We sat outside in the cool till Gayle rose to get ready for church. Our driver, David, arrived just on 9am to take us to Munduk.  The early morning traffic was quiet getting out of the city but when we started climbing into the mountain terrain on narrow winding roads we were stuck behind a string of traffic slowed by small trucks grinding their way up the steep, winding inclines.

Our first detour was to see one of the many waterfalls in this region.  Leke Leke Waterfall was half an hour walk down many steps to the valley where the water came tumbling down through divided rocks high above the valley floor.  First we needed to sign in and pay our $5 entry fee, where we were also offered turmeric juice which was sweet but delicious.  We met a man from Kuwait who wasn’t sure about drinking it until we explained it was of plant origin.  The gardens along the path were interesting too, with coffee, lemongrass, a variety of fruit trees and decorative flowering plants growing off the terraces.  We were not sure if our driver really wanted to stop as when we were first picked up he didn’t stop talking but after this stop he was silent, which we much preferred anyway.

Our next stop was the Bali Botanical Gardens.  Here we also needed to pay to get in plus for the car.  There was quite a queue of cars trying to get in and then trying to find parking.  We didn’t want to park near the entrance but closer to where orchid enclosure.  Many Balinese had come for family picnics just to sit or play games on the grassed areas.  It didn’t take us long to wander around both the cactus and orchid areas.  There were so few orchids in flower which was very disappointing but the cactus and succulents were interesting with many that we both recognised, some of which I am growing at home.

Leaving the gardens we continued up the ridge of the mountain taking a left fork towards Munduk.  The right went further north to the coast.  Passing the twin lakes, Buyan and Tamblingan, we carried on along another ridge which took us down into Munduk.  Here we were dropped at our accommodation which was perched on the side of the road. The building was constructed into the side of the ridge with rooms on five different levels under the reception and dining area.  We had been given a double bed as Jen had forgotten to stipulate for two singles so were asked to leave our things and come back later.  This suited us as we wanted a walk around.

We headed back up the steep road following the contour of the hill looking at what shops there were and where we might get some lunch.  We found the place which Gayle’s friend owned but the owner had gone into Denpasar and there were no vacancies so we decided we’d stay two nights where we were.  We had lunch here before continuing up the hill to try to find where the walking track to the Red Coral Waterfall was, stopping to ask at a ritzy hotel where we were given directions.  The path took us off the main road onto a track which ran beside a water channel.  We followed this to where there was a sign saying ‘Waterfall’; here the water channel fell about two meters making a small waterfall.  We thought ‘surely that’s not it’.  On our way back we met some locals who told us the waterfall was half an hour’s walk down into the valley.  We were on the right track but hadn’t gone far enough.  That would have to be for the following day.  Now it was time to head back to our accommodation.  We followed our little track back further than were we started but had to double back as it seemed to be going down into the valley to other houses, not towards the road. We eventually found our way back to our accommodation, where we were given our room key and shown to our room.  We also asked about ways to get back to Sukawati and Gatzu Barat and decided to take their driver as he was a third of the price of David’s trip. I’d go with Jen to Cheryl’s place and then take a bike from there as it was cheaper in the long run.

The WiFi at our guesthouse was near on useless from the lower levels and non-existent in our room which was on the lowest level, with access to the garden. My computer did better than my phone so I could work a bit under a pergola not far from our room.  It was here that I met Ni Katut (fourth born) who was the mother of the guy at reception. I told her how I loved her garden and she invited me on a tour.  I called Jen who joined us. Katut introduced us to her sister-in-law who lived next door and shared the garden area.  She offered us some bananas which we accepted collecting on our return from the garden.  We were taken down several levels of terracing to look at the nutmeg, clove and other fruit trees as well as taro, turmeric and later to her family home where her sister grew vanilla beans. Jen and I, who love gardening, were delighted with the tour.  This was far better than looking around the tourist souvenir shops. The weather here, although still with high humidity, was pleasant and mildly cool; there was no air conditioning or fans in our room and no need for them either.  Instead of the usual cold water showers here we had hot water showers.

Returning from our garden tour, I realised the mosquitoes had also found me as I had bites all over. Praise the Lord for mosquito nets. We slept well, I was awake by 4:30am for a quiet time before Jen got up then some Indonesian language study from the Babble app before having pancake and fruit for breakfast. I added the fruit to my oats but not the milk they provided as it was very sweet condensed milk.  I then returned to our room to make my coffee from a mixture of decaf and local coffee hoping this will reduce my caffeine addiction headaches.  I put the coffee into my keep cup which, when we walk through the village, I bought ice and milk to complete my ice coffee drink.

From here we headed back up the hill with a photo of a roughly drawn map from the foyer of our homestay.  There was a new entry point to the waterfalls, which if we had walked further coming home the first day, we would have found but because it ran through a private property with a closed but not locked gate we missed it.  Sometimes it’s good to take an alternative route, coming from the opposite direction to see things from a different perspective. We walked through the very high class accommodation which had beautiful gardens, and continued along the canal to the gate which defined the resorts boundary, then back onto the trail we had followed the previous day.  When we came to where we had finished the first day we continued down a very steep cemented path till we realised it wasn’t the right direction so back up to where it said ‘Waterfall’ which we thought pointed at the 2mt man made drop in the canal but in fact we now realised the sign pointed up a very steep climb up some muddy steps carved out of the terrace.  Here we followed a very obvious path all the way to the Bitong Waterfall ticket booth. We decided not to ascend the 80 steps as there was not enough water to be able to swim when we reached the falls. Access to the Coral Waterfall was closed due to repairs and clearing of the path in preparation for the busy school holiday season next month.

Back at the main road we crossed over and took a path in the other direction, down the other side, the south west side.  This was a cement road along which small tracks led to local homes and farms. We followed this main drive down towards the valley, crossing a few streams before heading back up to the main road again. This took us one and a half hours, arriving at noon rather hot and ready for a shower and a rest.  On the north east side of the ridge we were mostly in the shade of the tree canopy as the path was just a track but the last trek was quite warm in the sun, I hadn’t realised I had caught the sun and was quite sunburnt.  While we relaxed Jen worked on improving the map of the trails which she later donated to the homestay. The owner was very impressed with her work.

Around 2:30pm we were off again, this time we were determined to reach one of the waterfalls.  We checked the map and headed back up the hill, stopping to buy some crispy chicken for lunch. We had hoped to get some veggies at another warang (store) but it was closed.  Jen led us down a narrow cement path only wide enough to take a motorbike.  Following this winding path past homes built on the side of the hill with steep drops into the valley and terraced gardens of fruit trees lined with a living fence of happy plants, snake plants (mother-in-laws tongue) and other plants we usually have as indoor plants. I needed to stop several times to rest along this route as there were not only steep descents but also ascents as we went up and down the ridges. Some tourists passed in both directions having been to or on their way back from the waterfalls. We asked directions and whether we could swim at any of them.  We caught up with a French guy who was checking his trail app and followed him. Unfortunately Jen and he were talking too much and missed the next little dirt track which came off the one we were on and we had to back-track up a very steep part of the path.  We finally reached the first; Labuhan Waterfall which was spectacular and well worth the difficult walk. This is as far as we were willing to go and where the Frenchman left us.  Both Jen and I took a refreshing dip in the icy cold water.  It wasn’t very deep but very refreshing.  After a short rest we returned the way we had come with an ever ascending incline back up the hill to the road.  Yes, with lots more stops to catch my breath.

Before going back to the homestay, we went further down the hill to see if we could find somewhere to eat.  We found the Youth Hostel and decided to eat there for although most places catering for tourist were more expensive, their servings were nearly twice the size of the local warangs. We had a lovely bowl of chicken noodle soup full of vegies and a boiled egg. It was here we met up with the Frenchman again; he had climbed up to the very top of the waterfall and continued on to the Red Coral Waterfall which we decided we would visit if we were to return to Munduk.  Back at the homestay we had a lovely hot shower before I practised my Indonesian and Jen spoke to friends at home.  The remainder of the evening we spent relaxing before bed.

It rained overnight which got me out of bed to check our washing on the balcony.  All was well, the drying rack was under shelter.  I woke around 5am ready for our last trek after breakfast, which we had at 7:30am.  As we ate we discussed the difficulty of picking clove while watching two men precariously perched on a very tall bamboo ladder, smoking as they laboured.  We were told they get very sore feet from standing on the rungs of the ladder for hours at a time, picking.

Once again I filled my keep cup with coffee, this time from the coffee that was made for me from local grinds. I added the milk I’d bought the previous day, the purchased more ice before we headed off on our last walk. This time I put on sunblock.  Jen had updated her trekking app which helped us find the path down to the rice fields.  It was a pleasant walk although testing our already aching leg muscles.  Once again it was up and down steep slopes both ways, some along narrow cement paved track beside the canal or roads wide enough to take one way traffic. Not so many dogs warning us to stay clear or were we getting used to them?  On the road back we saw some familiar faces who greeted us with Salamat Pagi and a smile. Along the way we saw cloves drying beside the road and small rattan platters of vanilla, some of which we bought as it was so fresh.

Back to our room we showered to freshen up; it’s a sweaty job walking up and down the slopes!  We packed our bags, paid for our accommodation and bid our good byes as our backpacks were loaded into the back of the car taking us back down the mountain.  We had had some wonderful experiences during our four day Mountain Top explorations.  The Lord had opened many doors, provided in miraculous ways, kept us safe and introduced us to many of the local people.  We were both very grateful.

On our return to Sukawati we stopped for a meal before buying Jen’s favourite jelly drink which I took with me to eat at home. I ordered a Gojek bike which got me back to Gayle’s safely where I was warmly greeted by Gayle and Damon who had just had a church leaders meeting.  I unpacked, washed my clothes and relaxed.  I was looking forward to having some quieter days to allow my legs to recover.

Photos:  1. Bowing Lady Clerodendrum indicum    2. Collecting coffee beans at the farm    3. Kintamani stop    4. Leke Leke Waterfall    5. Ni Katut and Jen with the vanilla vines    6. Nutmeg ripening on trees    7. Labuhan Waterfall where we swam

Prayer & Praise Points:

Praise the Lord for providing an opportunity to visit Kintamani and Munduk, for the wonderful time with Damon and his family and for the time Jen and I had together in Munduk.

Please continue to pray for Gayle’s ongoing health needs and total healing for her eyes.

Please continue to pray for Jen and my safety as we navigate the roads here in Bali.  Pray also for ongoing good health and protection against disease and my speedy recovery from the dreaded Bali Belly.

Please continue to pray that I accomplish what the Lord has called me here to do.

Pray for Elsie and Ross Winchester as they continue their cancer treatment. Please also pray for my good friend Anthony Higgs who is needing a shoulder operation. Believe with me for the Lord’s intervention and total healing for them all.

Continue to pray with me for world peace both in the Middle East, Ukraine and Russia.  Pray for all those caught up in the suffering that both these wars have caused.  Pray that God’s peace may be known by all people especially for those who live in despair, that they will find hope in Christ Jesus.

Please keep my sisters, Tricia, Jen and Kat, in your prayers.  Pray that they will come to know the love of Jesus.