To Tirtha Gangga: Good Karma Resthouse

September 16, 2006

"It's flat, very good", a worker at the hotel says when we asked about the road. We are making progress to the time switch, waking this morning at 5am. The worker sees us on the patio eating our cornflakes and asks if we want coffee. He brings us 2 cups of thick Bali coffee and sugar. When adding the sugar and then stirring, the fine grounds mix in. Letting it sit for awhile before drinking helps.

We are packed and on the road by 7am. At first there is a long "flat hill" that seems to go on forever, then another, then another. We decide by "flat", the staff must have been referring to the road surface, it is a very good road.

The traffic seems to lessen though still chaotic. We pass schools with children singing, it is the day they give offerings "for the books." We had a wonderful three course dinner last night with shrimp cocktail of pineapple slices, tomato slices & shrimp with a mayonnaise and ketchup sauce. Patrick took the fish satay (mahi-mahi) and it arrived on skewers on a tray with coals to keep the food warm. Rachel had a mahi-mahi wrapped in banana leaf and steamed. There was a side salad of cucumber and tomato and rice. The presentation was artful, and dessert was banana and pineapple fritters. This is what we thought about as we climbed another flat hill and lost steam. The cornflakes was not enough to sustain Rachel after 1 1/2 hours cycling. This is still the "training" part of the tour.

We stopped to eat cookies, we only had a few more kms to go. All of them uphill though. Tirtha Gangga (holy water of Ganges) is a small town, so small that we ride right through town and up the next hill. It is worth it though, on the east side of the road are awesome views of rice fields. When we just can't find the Good Karma Rest House, we ask and end up coasting back down the hill. Right in the center, behind a restaurant, a narrow concrete walk leads between the rice paddies to four nice bungalows. We get one for 80,000 Rp. The shower does not work but there is a mandi (tiled basin with a tap and a scoop bucket), a nice cold shower!

It does not take long before a guy walks up, shows his recommendation book and gives Rachel a foot massage. After that we have lunch (pizza) where we meet Gigi who shows us his book with travelers recommendations on his guided rice field walks. We haggle slightly and arrange a three hour walk for this afternoon. First, we have to visit the water palace though, a beautiful series of pools and ponds built for the once king. Very picturesque.

The walk through the rice fields is hot but very rewarding. Behind Gigi, we walk narrow paths, dikes and irrigation ditches, zigzagging through farmers fields. We see rice in all it stages, climb a hill for a view of the valley all the way back to the ocean. Finally we end up at Gigi's house where we meet his wife, two sons and father. He lives in a small compound with a cow, pig, lots of chickens, a couple of fighting roosters and lots of dogs.

We have spaghetti for dinner, and tomorrow will be our first "longer" bike day!