Bike Tour In Ubub, Bali, A Fantastic Way To See Ubud

I started 2013 in the way I like! First to Bangkok then to Bali for some me time. =))

Bestie invited me to bunk in with her at Bali and bf promptly bought me air ticket to send me off. Whee... And it is to Ubud this round in Bali.

Since I had the daytime free to myself, I signed up for some activities to get to know Ubud, Bali a little better. And one of it was the bike tour organised by Bali Eco & Educational Cycling Tour.

It was a pleasant start with prompt replies to my emails to ensure a beginner like me can handle biking in a foreign land.

I got picked up by the tour really early at 7.15am to have breakfast with a view... of Mt Batur, an active volcano.

The whole group was of a comfortable size of only 10 people.

It was a simple meal to start the day and the view was gorgeous. If only bf was with me...

The black soil area is where the lava flowed from Mt Batur's last eruption in 2000. The friendly guide went on to tell us a bit more about this area and also the spiritual significance of the calm lake besides Mt Batur.

Next up was a short educational tour about some Balinese native spices and plants and also a brief history of how some other foreign spices like Vanilla came to being on this sunny island.

Coffee Luwak Beans On The Left Looking Prettier

We were introduced to a live civet cat that poops out the very expensive Coffee Luwak beans. We were told that the coffee beans is foreign to Bali, hence, it was by accident that the civet cat ingest these beans and poop them out. 

Shortly after, we had a break and was given a tray of samples of ginseng coffee, lemongrass tea, Balinese coffee etc.

The guide managed to find a big spider out of nowhere and showed it to us. Reminds me of uni days. 

Just as I thought that the tour felt more educational and cultural, we were driven to pick up our mountain bikes for the real cycling deal. 

It was a breeze cycling as it was mainly downhill on wide roads.

We stopped by a Balinese family house to take a look. 

The guide went on to introduce their way of life and how this family makes their living by producing bamboo products.

The next part of cycling was through the padi fields; Something I was really looking forward to.

We rode through these fields with the blue sky above. 

See how beautiful it is....

The only problem for me was that the cycling path was a tad too narrow. It was more of a psychological issue when I cannot see where the edge of the path was. I was moving slower than usual and before I knew it, I was in the waters after going over a broken concrete patch. Talk about embarrassment. Thank goodness all I got was a refreshing soak for both my feet with no injuries. 

Then came the uphill stretch where a true bike beginner like myself had to dismount and push all my way uphill. There was a guide behind the last person (yours truly) and he offered to push my bike when he saw me struggling. But I managed to get through it, and boy, what a work out it was on my first day in Bali.

We rested under a 500 years old Banyan Tree where the guides brought out bananas for snack. The whole time, there was a van following us, except for the stretch through the padi fields where it couldn't go. So, no worries if you don't have much stamina like me, which is highly unlikely. :|

At this juncture, we were asked whether we wanted to continue with a 40mins downhill cycling route or a 40 mins uphill one.

Of course I opted for the downhill route where a van would be waiting to send us uphill for lunch. We were handed cool towels at the end of our ride too. The bulk of the people opted for the challenging uphill route.

This is the view from the van with the rest working out hard under the hot sun. 1 person gave up midway and the guide took over her bike. 

Before long, we arrived at the lunch venue and the uphill cyclists streamed in one by one, totally drenched in the humid weather. 

The tour ended with a delectable lunch. I can't decide whether this lunch or the one from my cooking class is better. 

Either way, it was a fantastic way to start my holiday in Ubud, Bali. For 360,000IDR, I really like this tour. The whole program was well paced and totally enjoyable. Despite me falling into the waters, I had a really good time that day!