Here's an alternative holiday in Bali: Trekking to traditional villages and enjoying their hidden beauty.
The
morning sun gradually illuminated the hills to the east of Sambangan
village. The dense woods in the deep, foggy valley below, where the
Banyumala River flows, slowly emerged from the shadows. I quickly finished
my breakfast, because Komang, the guide who was going to take me trekking
to the villages around Sambangan, was already waiting.
Sambangan, located in Sukasada District, is only around ten kilometers south of Singaraja, the chief city of Buleleng Regency in north Bali, but few people know about its natural beauty. "Only four people before you have ever gone trekking to the Secret Garden," Komang told me. "Secret Garden" is the name he uses for a lovely, hidden pool in the headwaters of the Banyumala. I was heading there this morning to see whether it was worth seeing.
Two staff from the Shanti Hotel, where I'd spent the night, took Komang and me by motorbike to the trailhead in Cengana village, about three kilometers south. Behind the coconut trees that lined the road, with the sunlight peeking through their leaves, I could see the green, terraced rice fields so typical of Bali.
Only around ten minutes after we started walking, we came to a house on slightly higher land, with rice fields to the north. Though it was just a simple hut with a thatched roof, I would have been happy to stay longer, or even live there, because the view was so enchanting – terraced rice fields stretching far off toward the valleys in the north, combined with the green of the coconut trees, then the city of Singaraja below, still shrouded in fog, and finally the sea.
We passed some children playing with kites in the dry fields, then met some met having breakfast in a rice field they were about to weed. One thing I noticed, and found later as well, is a difference between farmers in Java and in Bali. Here I saw no women working in the fields or planting rice; this is all done by the men, while the women stay at home, gather grass, or feed the livestock.
After going up and down a few moderate hills, we encountered several houses by the side of the trekking route with cacao plants growing abundantly in their gardens. Apparently, there are two types of cacao. One is maroon colored, and the other is green, turning yellow as it matures. Komang asked permission to pick one of the yellow ones and peeled it with his knife, exposing layers of white flesh containing cacao seeds, which taste sweet when sucked.
Entering the quiet village of Pebantenan, we saw not only cacao plants, but also cloves, and coffee plants with fragrant white flowers. We stopped at a house with several chickens and a pair of pigs. The owner, a friend of Komang's, served us coffee grown in his own garden.
After passing other houses where the owners were setting rice out to dry, we entered a downhill thicket, which seemed to lead to the river down in the valley. We hadn't been going up any steep hills, so it was quite a surprise to be going downhill so far. We then saw a rocky pool below us, with green water pouring out from a crevice. We had arrived at the pond, Tibu Buana Sari.
The pond's location at the base of the valley, the serene atmosphere, and the dense forest make it an ideal place to soak and bathe. The water from this pond flows to a waterfall, called Aling-Aling, and then becomes the Banyumala River, which flows past the hotel where I was staying. The local people consider this a holy river, and use the river, and this pond, to soak, bathe, or just wash their faces. The name Banyumala means "water to purify the soul and body".
While I immersed myself and stretched out on the rocks, Komang washed his face, then prayed on a large rock by the edge of the pool.
We continued our trek, as this was only half the journey. After returning up the way we'd come, we turned left and started to enjoy the expanse of green rice fields and hills to our right. "We're heading for three waterfalls, and from there we'll cross the river to return to the hotel," Komang told me.
After passing some teak plantations, and houses made of woven bamboo whose owners were mostly old women, I saw men working in the fields, transferring rice seedlings from the seedling beds and planting them in the flooded fields.
The sun was high when we started to descend again along the ridge of a hill; far below us, we could see a waterfall, with a place for offerings on a rock in the middle of the river, and a bamboo bridge. "That's Kroya Waterfall," said Komang. "There are two more below it, Kembar and Pucuk."
These two falls only came into view as we cautiously descended to the river. Both were at our feet, with the one furthest downstream, Pucuk Falls, the highest. The water from these falls plummets into the gorge below.
I wanted to stay there longer, but the sun was now directly overhead, and it was time for us to cross the bridge and head back uphill. This last part of the trek took a lot of energy before we finally arrived back at the edge of Sambangan village. We passed through the village, now busy with people sawing wood, then came to the paved road and followed it back to the Shanti Hotel.
This trekking program is operated by the Shanti Hotel, Bar & Restaurant.
As well as the medium trek (4 hours in all), there's also a short trek
(2 hours), and yoga and meditation programs at the Banyumala River.
For more information contact:
Tel: +62 362 7001331 Fax: +62 362 23120,
E-mail: shanti_erawan@telkom.net, www.shanti-northbali.com
