Prior to the trip we were supplied with “things to do” from Kasey, owner of Villa Satori and Dianne Lange, from Incline Village, Nv. Then, Marilyn, Lindaand. A friend of Cindy’s son (who lives in Bali, gave her some info) planned our adventure. What a great trip as Joanie & I just had to show up!
Touring the country side always makes me feel like I am always dodging a bullet between avoiding all the motor bikes and pot holes on this road. (Side Bar): the motor bike is the main mode of transportation. They are like thousands of gnats buzzing around towns. Meant for 1-2 people but seeing great balancing acts with 2 adults with 1 or 2 children; 1 person carrying 50 lb. sack on his lap with 2 more sacks tied on the back and that’s just the start. It is more amazing then the VW Clown Car with endless clowns exiting the car.
Our first stop was to Manis wood carvers in Mas. We were there the other day but a few of us wanted us to buy a few more fine wood carvings. Then on to the “Setia Darma House of Masks and Puppets” featuring masks and puppets from different provinces in Indonesia. This wonderful compound consisted of 5 buildings which held a vast selection from, shadow puppets, stick puppets, hand puppets, large head masks and full body costume puppets that would need 2 people to wear it ( like the long dragon costume that you see in Chinatown celebrations).
Hold on to hats for this one, folks…. Gede took us to a coffee/tea plantation/mongoose farm. Not your ordinary Starbucks ! If you ever saw the movie, “The Bucket List”, you would have remembered the scene where Morgan Freeman buys the very expensive coffee called Lewak coffee AKA poop coffee And/or mongoose poop coffee for Jack Nickleson, which he wouldn’t drink!
We were told that they feed the coffee beans to the mongoose and the next day they would collect the poop and process it to create this coffee. Do you ever wonder how someone first discovered this? Do you think someone was so drunk one night and woke up the next morning starving in a mongoose cage?
We saw a chicken eating the poop from under the mongoose’s cage. Does this mean if we eat the chicken we could have our coffee at the same time?
Of course in the middle of this green lush plantation there was a covered patio which served samples of their herbal teas, coffee and Balinese Sake. But wait there is more… You can buy a cup of Poop coffee for $5.00. Linda and Cindy were the brave ones and they let us try it. I must say, it was delicious. They also served us small samples of 3 different chocolates. Dark chocolate with orange, milk chocolate and vanilla. All so good.
Linda was told that we should see the Four Season’s Hotel in Sayan (near Ubad, where we are staying) and have lunch and a tour of the place. What a magnificent architectural feat. Just imagine a green lush paradise oasis on 17 acres built into the hills which meets the Ayung River. After Gede dropped us off at valet area, we walked over a long contemporary bridge which connects the side of hill to the hotel. The view from the bridge is spectacular as you can see the steep tropical ravine and up to the cascading houses on the surrounding hills.
