We start our hike from Luah Village, a small village which sits under a
mountainside by vast rice paddies where Mount Agung looms majestically in
the distance. We walk through the village on a well traveled dirt road
before following the trail along the irrigation tunnel along the dike of the
rice paddies. Along the way we see the local farmers working in the fields,
who take a moment in their busy day to say hello to us. We walk down to the
Unda River where the water is very nice but not quite deep enough for a
swim. Sitting on a huge volcanic rock, we enjoy the panorama around us. We
then continue our trip through the rice paddies and reach a small village
where we meet a group of school kids who are very excited to be
photographed. They cluster around us, laughing and smiling, eager to pose
for us. We follow the village road through the rice paddies into a
beautiful valley with a big river in the distance. There we observe some
farmers harvesting their crops, carrying their produce to a man waiting with
his truck on the side of the road.
We continue our walk and meet a man leading his cows to bathe in a nearby
stream. The cows look very happy to be given a bath and really enjoy the
fresh mountain water. They are very well taken care of as they are
considered to be holy animals here in Bali. The farmers use them for
ploughing the paddy fields, and they are given a special ceremony on a holy
day called Tumpek Kandang. It is a ceremony specially carried out for the
domestic animals such as pigs, chickens, cows, etc. It is more like a
birthday ceremony for them. We have our Balinese birthday every 210 days
according to the Balinese calendar, which is called Otonan ceremony.
Walking up the hill we arrive at the village of Sangkan Gunung which lies
on the top of the little mountain. The view over the great valley is
gorgeous and as a bonus we have a wonderful view of the sea, river valley
and a glimpse of the green rice paddies. Along the way I share some
knowledge of the local vegetation. They grow lots of clove trees, coffee,
snake fruits and many other fruit trees. We also see some pigs in the
backyards of the villager's compounds, free range chickens, caged fighting
roosters along the side of the road and of course all the ubiquitous dogs
that hang about the village. We walk along with some village women who are
going to get water from the local spring. They carry large water buckets and
of course a bundle of laundry as well. We stop at a public bath by the side
of the road but politely avert our eyes so as not to appear rude. Some
village kids approach us to try to practice their English. It seems okay to
be there and watch them doing their laundry even while they bathe in the
natural fountain.
We say goodbye to those village kids and continue our walk to the next
village where we are very fortunate to come upon a big ceremony. Men, women
and kids are dressed nicely for the temple. Women carrying elaborate
towering offerings on their heads gracefully walk to the village temple.
it's a very festive moment and everyone looks very happy with wonderful
smiles. Kids approach us saying " Hello, hello," and greet us with friendly
waves . We sit for a while and observe the activities before getting into
the car which returns us to our nice accommodation set amongst the rice
paddies. We end our perfect day with a cup of fresh coffee while enjoying
the peaceful view of the green rice paddies.