May 6th, 2009, on the day, I covered “Tropical Trekking” in BALI ADVENTURE. We take a walk around Taro village in northern Ubud, throughout 9 km course including Jangle, Farm, Temple, and Villages. At the end, cute elephants and delicious buffet lunch is waiting for us. I joined the tour to make up the lack of daily exercise!!
Shuttle car of BALI AVDENTURE has big logo, so it’s easier to find! This is my third time visiting BALI ADVENTURE, but their cars are always clean inside!!
After they pick-up me, we stopped anther hotel. But, applicants didn’t show up for a while… We were 20 min. late to the scheduled time. It’s happened sometimes! We stopped by Elephant Park, finish payment and sign the agreement form, and go to the starting point. Don’t forget to go to WC!
We start from this temple. I bring a big bag which has clothes and a small bag which has valuables for bringing to trekking. I could leave my big bag on the car.
“Let’s go!!”
Guide finds something. This plant is name “Pandanus”!! I researched when I went back home, the English name was screw pine. The plant is distributed in Southwest Asian Islands, and the leaf grows over 1 m. It had variety of use value such as making hat by dried leaf, making basket by the leaf string, and the sprout can be eaten if removing harshness.
It’s really useful! The leaf is hard and dry, and when I bend it, it seems like break easily!!
There are poisonous herbs, too.
This plant looks just a normal grass, but if we touch it, our skin reacts by coming out in a rash. Guide gives us attentions, so just avoid touching. However, if you are still worried, you had better bring long sleeve shirt and globes.
One happening during trekking. Guide carelessly touched the poisonous herb. I was upset! But, guide broke off stem of the poisonous herb and put the sap to his hand…
Surprisingly, the leaf has poison but the stem sap of the poisonous herb can be used as medicine. It’s amazing!!!
It’s no far from roadway and farm, but here is in jungle! However, the sun light comes into the forest, so it’s not dark at all. The soil is also dry. Guide, Aim, is professional trekking guide with 13 years experience!!
The left picture is Crocodile Tree which is used for tree carving, and the right picture is a big nest of white ants.
We walk on a pass in the jungle. There are so many mosquitoes!! You can also buy an insect repellent spray in convenience store of Bali, so you had better bring it. How big tree it is. I’m come from mountain area in Japan, so sometimes I walked around there. It’s totally different from Japanese mountain!!
Jungle adventure was over! Next, we go to the farm where vegetable and spice grow. Aim is digging ground…
Look, he gets yellow root. This is turmeric! Nasi Kuning’s (turmeric rice) yellow color comes from this.♪
It’s different from season; we can see many plants in the farm!
Lobster Coffee (left), Arabica Coffee (middle: this one is exported to Japan), and Cacao seed (right), etc.
Small yellow flower (left), Vanilla Beans tree (middle), and Chili Pepper (right) which is necessary for Balinese cooking!
We passed the farm and went out to roadway. This is the church in Pakusba Village. In this village, several different religious people live together. We walk on well-paved roadway. A few car passes there.
There are many holes on the wall of roadway… I wonder what are they, air-raid shelter? Safe shelter for disasters? No, they are mining holes. The special product of this village is the brick!!
The right picture is the bricks which are dried and piled up.
We go on roadway, throughout villages, then we can see the rice terrace. In Bali, people harvest rice three times in a year so there are rice just before harvesting and still young green rice.
I love this view!!ヽ(=´▽`=)ﾉ
Shortly, we arrive at Elephant Park! This time, the shuttle car was late a little and I took lots of memo on the way, so I couldn’t make Elephant Show which starts from 13:00 pm…
If you take your time on trekking, you may happen to be late, like me!
Go to eat now! This is the third try of buffet lunch in here, but they always serve delicious food such as dishes, salad, and varieties of dessert. Looks yummy!☆
I put most of the dishes on the plate. It has big volume! Enjoy your lunch and take a rest for long walking tiredness.♪
I really enjoyed today’s Tropical Trekking!! Comparing to trekking tours in other companies, I think BALI ADVENTURE is the best that the guide has great knowledge and you can see many kinds of plants on the way.
Medicine plant for bitten by insects, red sap for lipstick, turmeric and lemon grass for Balinese cooking, mahogany and crocodile tree for Balinese furniture, and so on… It was really interesting that the lecture of plants which relate to people’s daily life!! Guides speak good English. If you hear some words and name of plants that you don’t know, you may write down them on your memo. I checked unknown name of plants after I went back home, and I figured out what they are. “Oh, that plant is in the same category of ostrich fern!?” and “That one can eat!” etc. You may find new interests and it’s fun!!!
The first half jungle doesn’t have shape slope and the ground is dry, so it’s no problem to wear sport shoes. However, there are many mosquitoes and poisonous plants, so you shouldn’t wear half-pants or sandals… Guide, Aim, walked with half-pants, and he was bitten by a leech. If you worried about it, bring an insect repellent spray, mosquito medicine, and long sleeve shirt.
Aiko’s Scale Interest：★★★★★ Tiredness：★★★★☆
※This report was written based on the information when the time of visiting. Course menu and schedule might be changed without notice. In addition, the report contains individual opinion and impression, however, these are not applied for all people. Please read it just for your reference. Thank you.