We’re up at our normal time, but today just hanging out, drinking our coffee and relaxing. No time for a walk this morning, Kadek and his older brother Putu (meaning 1st born) will be picking us up at 9 to go exploring the Balinese culture. Kadek is so excited we are here, and excited to show us his culture, he’s been talking about it to us forever! We first met this Kadek on the Getaway, he was one of our bar servers, and we just fell in love with him – his personality, his wit, his knowledge. He is the sweetest guy, so mature for his age. By the end of the cruise, it was a mutual love affair, with Kadek calling Ed “dad” and me his “American mom.” Just too sweet. We of course kept in touch, and now, by some good graces, he is actually home on vacation at the same time we are here. We are so lucky, and equally excited to see him!
We make our way up to our street to meet at Hideout – easier than ShamanaMama for turning around we have now discovered – and wait for Kadek’s arrival, fending off the sweet but persistent taxi drivers who want us to ride with them. I don’t think they really believe us when we tell them a friend is coming to pick us up – but once Kadek gets there, any suspicion is dispelled – he is so excited to see us! And we him. Too, too sweet!
Kadek introduces us to his brother Putu who is driving us all over today – Kadek only has a scooter – and we set off on our adventure. Kadek has sort of designed our day – after we texted and talked about what to do. He suggested Tirta Empul and we also asked about Penglipuran, the ancient village, so he and Putu have combined the two into a full day’s tour. Far too much fun to just hop in the van and go wherever they take us!
We start off at Penglipuran, after a pleasant 90 minute drive during which we catch up on everything Kadek has been doing over the past year we arrive at Penglipuran. This is an ancient village, dating back over 1,000 years that the villagers have vote/decided to keep absolutely traditional with no development or modernization at all. It has, of course, turned into a huge tourist attraction, of which the villagers are taking full advantage. And rightly so – if they can be self-sufficient in this way, then they can keep their traditions safe and ongoing into the future.
A collection of 80+ buildings, mostly home complexes, the village is served by one main interior road, where no motor vehicles are allowed. Probably a good thing when you see the road, actually just a footpath, filled today with hundreds upon hundreds of tourists. Oy. It is crazy crowded on the main road heading up to the temple. However, we have Kadek to lead the way, and he takes us through a few different homes, cutting through back doors that lead to complexes next to one another, explaining the different parts of the home, the traditional old kitchen and bedroom combined (very much like where he slept with his grandmother when he was growing up), the temples all in a row, placed in the exact same place in every home, the different buildings for sleeping and eating and community.
He also buys us this detox green leaf drink think – called Loloh Cem Cem, it is only made in Penglipuran (although there are other versions, this is the original), he and Putu love it (Putu has 2 of them actually) and he wants both of us to try it. One sip and I’m handing it to Ed. It is too much like drinking grass – with a little salt added – for me to enjoy. Shudder. Ed, though actually does enjoy it, which is good, because we have 2 and I’m not opening the 2nd. We’ll just take that home for him later.
Kadek takes us out back of one of the homes to show us the pigs and the chickens back there, explains the statuary and the paintings inside the ceremonial temple areas and is just, an overall great guide! Not to mention photographer! He takes a million pictures, with my phone and his – so we have tons and tons of photos to remember this day.
Oh, and he teaches us how to take selfies backwards – not using the selfie camera. He gets quite a kick out the fact that I am quite spastic with the camera and end up turning it off before I finally sort of get the hang of what he is talking about. Too funny!
We wander through an amazing bamboo field, where the temperature is about 10 degrees cooler than out on the main street, make our way all the way up to the main temple for some pictures together, then back down into the main part of town to reach the van and head out to continue our touring.
Next is a surprise stop – the Tukad Cepung Waterfall. I had seen it on the map, but hadn’t really thought too much about going there. Turns out Kadek has never been here either, so Putu is leading our tour this stop. Oh, and what a tour this is. There are stairs. And more stairs. And more stairs! Ed and I are both thinking this will be brutal coming back up – but hey – it’s an adventure right? So we keep going, down, down, down, until we finally reach the water – only to find we have to wade through rushing rapids to get to the waterfall. Total fun!
Fortunately, we both have our sandals on – but Kadek and Putu are wearing sneakers which definitely have to come off. There are a bunch of shoes sitting on a big rock at the bottom of the stairs, but I think their sneakers are too valuable to leave there (seriously, they are really nice, new Nikes), so Putu ends up carrying both his and Kadek’s as we wade along through the water.
As Kadek hobbles over the many rocks and pebbles in the riverbed, he says it is like a foot massage. Um yeah…poor baby…at one point I’m right behind him making sure I can grab on to him to keep him from falling if he hits a really hurtful rock!
But massage or not, it doesn’t stop him from being the photographer! He is so cute! As we wade through the water, come up to the big rock we have to climb across to get to the little crevice between a couple of huge boulders and the sheer rock wall we have to climb through – he keeps up the photos and the videos. We have a thoroughly documented tour!
This is totally wilderness waterfall. And so amazing once we get there, with the spray coming off the falls totally soaking us, while cooling us off. Even though there are people here, it’s not too jam packed, and everyone is really respectful of photos and space. And, before you ask, no, of course that isn’t me in the waterfall – I didn’t have a bathing suit, I don’t have that body – don’t I wish – and I’m not that adventurous! We were quite happy on our rock in front of the opening the falls – and taking fun selfies with Kadek.
Crawling back out through the crevice, we continue back past the stairs to what we are calling the baby and infant waterfalls! Three other little falls further down that open up into a lagoon of sorts. Very nice – not the main event – but a lovely little walk and great scenery before our – huff, puff – hike up out of the Falls.
Ugh. Although I say that, and to be honest, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as we thought it would be. We were at the top before we knew it. Why does it always work that way? It is always shorter coming back…someone has to explain that to me one day.
Up by the parking lot, as we wait for Putu to get the van, we stop at some weird building under construction that looks like a giant gorilla. There is a huge head with scary, growling open mouth and grasping hands on either side of the stairs. Weird, but fun for photo opps!
Andiamo 