September 26th, 2009, I joined Jungle Trekking in AYUNG RIVER! It already have passed 4 months from last trekking; I’m so excited to move my body. Walking in the higher land jangle of Budugul, after that, canoeing in Danau Bratan… so I expected sort of cool tour, BUT… Aiko and T-Manager challenged the tour!
Head Straight for Budugul!
Leaving by APV car of AYUNG RIVER! We accompany to HIRO-chna’s customer, Mr. and Mrs. N.
On the way to Budugul, we stop by AYUNG RIVER office in Carangsari.
In here, we finish sign the agreement form, payment, and go to WC, and we meet the trekking guide. There is nothing at the starting place in Budugul, so please prepare well in here.
Behind the reception, there is the restaurant and they offer coffee, tea, mineral water, and banana chips. I missed breakfast this morning, so thank you for food. It’s great view of Ayung Valley from the restaurant! The middle of the pictures is Ayung River. Rafting also starts from this office.
I have happy meeting in here!!
←He is the trekking guide, Dewa.
He was my guide before, when I joined Jati Luwih Cycling! （He is in this Report）
At that time, I could have really fun cycling because of his nice hospitality… Thank you very much at that time!
This time, Mr. and Mrs. N, Aiko and T-Manager, 4 of us join. One guide supports 2 persons, so with guides Dewa and Riko, 6 of us as a team. Guides in AYUNG RIVER can speak fluent English.
6 persons ride on APV, we are ahead to Budugul in tight space of the car! It takes about 45 min. driving.
The car stopped in front of the market. “What?” “I will buy some fruit!” Dewa said. Okay, let’s go with him.
It’s about 10:00 am. The busiest time was over, but there are clothes and bags of daily staffs, offerings, and many fruit, etc. We can feel atmosphere of market. It’s near from Budugul so fruit must be taste good! On the picture, I’m holding Sirsak on the right hand and Water Melon on the left hand.☆
We stopped again. We take pictures in this great view point. According to Riko, We will trek around the place where the white circle on the picture! It still looks far from here.
Here we are, starting point!
From this empty grass field, we start. Guides give us one bottle of mineral water each. Today is clear sky and strong sunshine. Please protect your skin!
We go into the plastic greenhouse. We can see the typical tropical plants in here. The picture above is “Monkey Tail Tree,” and according to my research, it belongs to Cactaceae, Rhipsalis; it’s the rare plant.
←The left picture is the kind of Orchid.
The color is really unique, mixed light-pink, orange and dark-pink spots.
We leave the plastic greenhouse and walk on narrow road in the farm. Guides give us lecture on the way.
Taro. Leaves for pig feeding.
Young coffee beans. Beans changed color to reddish-brown, it’s time to harvest.
“Selamat siang! (Hello!)” We visit Balinese house. In Bali, the building arrangement such as places of the family temple, parents’ room, children’s room and kitchen.
There are also vivid color flowers in the garden. What I love in Bali is flower! I take lots of pictures.
Finally, go into the Jungle…
We left the house, and go into the forest… The trees from entering area are teaks.
It is really strong sunshine outside, but once we enter the forest, we can feel cool air. We walk in the forest which is bright by the lighting from branch crevice. We step on dried fallen leaves.
We almost reach the turning point! Yes, in Jungle Trekking, there are some different routes depend on applicants’ condition or weather on the day. So, we can choose which route we trek.
“Which one, do you want? Difficult or easy?” guide asked. Mr. and Mrs. N says “Difficult one!” Of course, I will follow them!!
Age 40 over T-Manager try the easy route.
Right after going into the route, suddenly the road becomes shape slope. Wow, it’s really hard!! I have to use my calf muscle. When I turned back, I already climbed up to such a high place. It was too sudden shape slope, so I lose my breath and blood pressure is down. I have an attack of anemia a little.
I take a rest with hard breath, then, I can see that still powerful, T-Manager & Dewa team. We get together in here. In the forest, there is Lacquer tree which has poison and if you touch it, you react by coming in a rash. Guides give us attentions.
We walk on the easy read for a while. It’s the promenade with fallen leaves surrounded by 10 m tall trees. Oh, I feel so good!! Lots of minus ion!!
← It’s the big nest of ants on the tree.
It’s super BIG.
↓After we get together and walk for 20 min, we take a break. We try fruit that we bought the market. Orange, apple, and grapes, etc. look little dusty, but taste is all sweet!! Bali is coming into the rainy season, and we can have lots of tasty fruit. （*＾▽＾*）
Turning point again. Powerful Mr. and Mrs. N choose the challenge course. I remember the shape slope… Yeah, I’m coming!
T-Manager goes the easy course with Dewa. On the picture, challenge course team is going into the bush.
From now …
I was almost dying! Climbing up, up, up and down, up, up, up, and down, and it goes on. If I try to explain the hardness, you climb up stairs with skipping one step. My heart was beating too fast.
My physical strength is below average, but I would say, this course is the upper middle class or the lower high class!!
←There is the big Ficus religiosa. This is the sacred tree in Hindu Temples. I take a picture with Riko near the root! I make nice smile on the picture, but my pulse is really fast.
After Ficus religiosa, there is the Tarzan tree. It’s hard course, but there are some fun spots. Tarzan tree is really strong so I can hang down!
←For 30 min. from the second turning point, we arrived at a small temple. It’s temple but there are only 2 small shrines. The small spring is nearby.
We drink water and eat oranges to charge energy into our body. By the way, Riko was biten by a leech twice. You shouldn’t ware half-pants!
I believe Riko’s word, “We will finish in 30 min.” and start walking again.
They found something! →Rubber seed. The sap is white and sticky.
In this unexplored jungle, mushroom is also BIG. If you are lucky, you can see “kupukupu barong” which is rare, big butterfly.
Walking in ferry bush. I’m too tired to take pictures. The shape slope again. In challenge course, it’s easily happening to fall down.
If we can see this Tarzan swing, we almost reach the goal!
I cannot smile anymore.
Finally, we arrived at Bali Botanical Gardens. Oh, I miss the well-paved road!!。゜゜(´□｀｡)°゜。 ！！
Peak Tiredness
Walking for 5 min. in the botanical gardens, we come to the great view place. It’s beautiful dark-blue Danau Bratan! Easy course, T-Manager team already arrived there 15 min. before than us, and they basked in the sun here.
“I don’t want to move anymore!!”
I just want to sleep on the grasses…my tiredness is peak.
We get together again, and we ride on the shuttle car to Danau (lake) Bratan. We park at the restaurant where we eat lunch later, and we go to the canoe port in front of the restaurant. The fixed number of the canoe is 4, so Mr. and Mrs. N, T-Manager and I ride on boad.
The ferryman rows a canoe, so we are easy. Cool wind, sun is strong, and feel good! He brought us close to Ulun Danau Bratan Temple.
Gentle moving of canoe makes me fall asleep. I can see fresh view of highlands, and I praise myself that I overcame hard trekking. Well, I’m hungry now, so let’s go back!!
I’m hungry.
I only ate banana chips at AYUNG RIVER office in the morning. We have lunch at Mentari Restaurant! There are Balinese interiors in the restaurant. Enjoy varieties of buffet lunch dishes!!
First, I put dishes on the plate and take pictures. Sorry for Mr. and Mrs. N, we were busy during lunch time!
The taste of dishes is normal level, but I was really really hungry so I thought they were tasty! There are traditional Indonesian food and Balinese food, plus, dessert which I love. I recommend Pisang Goreng (Fried Banana) with lots of custard cream and Bubur Injin (Rice Pudding) made by black rice and coconut milk!
We left the restaurant about 3:00 pm, say good bye to Dewa and Riko at the office in Carangsari village, and we arrived at our office around 5:30 pm. Thank you for Mr. and Mrs. N, guides, and driver to give us big help for the covering!!
Before I cover this trekking tour, I thought that the hardest trekking tour is Jangle Trekking in PADDY ADVENTURE… But, I realized that there is harder one than that. If you read my report from the top, you already know it. Jangle Trekking, challenge course in AYUNG RIVER is not hiking but mountain climbing!! In the forest, there are dying old trees, big fern plants, and so on: it’s wild nature. They have limited applicants’ age from 5 to 65 year-old, but personally I felt that from 15 to 40 year-old might be suitable for challenge course. The best wearing are trekking shoes, long sleeve shirt, and long pants.
However, canoeing and lunch after the hard trekking is awesome! You must feel full of accomplishment. If you seek something big in Bali or challenge nature of Bali, you should try. For your reference, they prepare the retire course to go back to the shuttle car by walking on roadway.
Aiko’s Scale Nature：★★★★★ Tiredness：★★★★★
【Easy Course/ T-Manager’s Impression】 They call “Easy Course” but there are three levels in the course: hard, normal, and easy, so you can choose depend on your condition. I chose normal level in Easy Course, but it was still hard for me. Especially on the narrow road, I was fighting with pressure that I may fall down into the valley if I step off. There were shape slopes even they were short. You can enjoy trekking if you choose the course depend on your age and physical strength, so please join the trekking tour. By the way, the easiest level is walking on the roadway…
※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.