The road to Munduk is yet again surprising. We didn’t think we would be in the mountains. When we arrive at our homestay after a long 2h30 hour drive, there is only one thing on our minds: we clearly need to rent a scooter tomorrow or we will be stuck here. The road is too steep for walking. In the morning, our hostess has managed to find us a scooter but only two helmets so Doo goes to the homestay next door. Fortunately there are two helmets on the counter. He takes one and asks if he can borrow it for the day. The hosts tell us we can with a smile. Have we told you that the Balinese people are the kindest and most generous people on Earth? So we just take off with the scooter. After driving uphill for about 15 minutes, a young man on a scooter drives alongside us and asks if we need some help. Doo doesn’t really understand why the man is asking that and answers that all is fine. The man shakes his head, points at our scooter and tells us we have a problem. Doo stops and we realize that our back tire is flat. Shoot!!! The scooter did seem shaky and really hard to control today but Doo thought it was just very old. The young man stops with us and asks if we need to go to the repair shop. We tell him that the scooter is rented and that we just need to return it. But we don’t have many choices… Julia refuses to go back downhill on the scooter with Côme and we’re at least 6km away from our homestay. That would be a very very long walk… In addition, there is no cell phone coverage up here in the mountains so we can’t call the homestay. The young man seems really sorry for us and offers to drive Julia and Côme on his scooter while Doo drives back alone. It seems to be the only viable solution so we accept. Doo is really worried for Julia and Côme and tells the young man to drive very carefully. We all meet each other safe and sound a few minutes later in front of the homestay. Julia will tell Doo that it was the smoothest scooter ride she’s experienced and that the man was a bit worried for him. We try to give him a bit of money for the trouble but he refuses and wish us a safe journey from now on. We take a picture with him and exchange our Instagram before we part. We’re really lucky we’ve met Sorotan. Have we told you that the Balinese people are the kindest and most generous people on Earth? They really are! Always ready to help with the most genuine smile.
We return the scooter to our hostess. She is really sorry for us and even give us back the money we have spent to fill the gas tank. Unfortunately, she says her friend doesn’t have another scooter to rent so we tell her that’s ok, we’ll try to find one on our own. On his way back with the old scooter, Doo had seen a sign saying “scooters for rent” so he goes there on foot. The walk is longer that he thought and it is really tough to walk uphill. After a good 5 minutes, there is still no sign of that sign so he goes into a small shop and asks if they know where he can find a scooter. One of the men jumps onto his scooter and tells Doo to join him. He drives back downhill, straight to the scooter shop (the sign was just visible from this side and “the shop” is just a normal house otherwise). The young woman renting the scooter is her cousin but unfortunately, she doesn’t have any other scooter to rent today (she’s actually the same woman from the first scooter). The only scooter left is her own and she needs it to go to school later that day. But the man who drove Doo tells her he will drive her to school so she ends up agreeing to rent her own scooter. By the way, have we told you that the Balinese people are the kindest and most generous people on Earth? So we can finally take off on a brand new red scooter! It feels like a Rolls-Royce. When we reach the top of the mountain, we stop to have a look at the viewpoint. It’s beautiful! We can see twin lakes down below, monkeys and other “exotic” animals. A man asks us if we want to take a picture with one of the “exotic” animals for 30 000R. We decline, but when we realize it’s only 2€ we gladly pay the experience to Côme. He is extatic!! The nice man will even offer us a picture with a second animal for the same price (take a look in the gallery).
After a lunch break, we head to a waterfall. Since we were up in the mountain, we have to go all the way down on an extremely steep and narrow gravel road. At the bottom, the waterfall is really beautiful. We are surprised to see a lot of tourists here. We will have a good laugh when we will witness the stark contrast between a big group of extraverted African American women being filmed by a drone and a small group of introverted Japanese girls taking a selfie. Doo and Côme, the adventurers, go for a “swim” but the water is freezing, so they just take a quick picture and are out. We hang out around the waterfall for a while. Once again we are impressed by the lush forest.
After the waterfall, there is still plenty of time for us to go to Munduk (until then, we were actually around that city in the countryside). There’s a famous temple on one of the lakes there. Oddly enough, Munduk is the city of strawberries (there’s even a “statue” of a strawberry at the entrance of the city). We didn’t think we would have the opportunity to eat strawberries on our journey around the world so we buy a few (Côme just loves them!). And then we head to the temple. The temple and its garden are beautiful. Côme is once again delighted because there is a pond with huge fishes you can feed. So that’s what he does, for a good moment… And then it’s getting late so we return home. The way back is completely different. The mountain is surrounded by thick clouds. On our way, we ask people if they know of a bus going back to Denpasar (that’s where we’ll return tomorrow). People tell us that there’s indeed one bus going back there, but you have to catch it before 6 o’clock in the morning. It’s the workers’ bus. So… we’ll take a driver instead. Doo didn’t even hesitate a single seconde and he manages to arrange a good fare from the man renting the scooters (the girl’s father).
In Munduk, Côme:
Did not understand: why Julia did not want him in front of the scooter on the main road.
Learnt: that the water from the waterfall is freezing.
Loved: eating strawberries and holding “exotic” animals in his hands.
Julia:
Did not understand: why there were (tasteless) strawberries around whereas they have excellent “exotic” fruits.
Learnt: that strawberries were grown in Bali.
Enjoyed: seeing the twin lakes.
Doo:
Did not understand: why the JFC in Munduk was horrible (whereas it was great in Jatiluwih).
Learnt: that balinese people were really kind and generous (have we mentioned that?).
Enjoyed: Sorotan’s help.
PS: the flea is still living…