Come and join me on my trip.
1300 meters or 4265 feet above sea level is where I spent my weekend. Some of the time we were part of the clouds and some of the time they barely floated above us. Yet other times they slowly rolled in on the town of Bedugul below us.
This excursion was to visit a friend of mine who had just listed his villa on Airbnb. There are a few villas in his area listed currently on Airbnb but they are mostly older wooden cottages or as we call them Joglo’s.
Bedugul is located in Bali but you would think it is in Vancouver Canada. First of all, Bedugul is an incredible place for farming and organic farming in Bali. 1 kilogram of Bok choy is .20 in Canadian dollars or .15 cents in US currency. That is if you buy vegetables directly from the farmers.
The crops.
In Bedugul, one can find raspberries, strawberries, Bok choy, lettuce, peppers, broccoli, oranges, onions, bananas, and numerous herbs alongside them and many other crops that I am sure I missed.
The amazing part is… While Bali is normally 25-33 degrees Celsius or 77 or 92 Fahrenheit, here in Bedugul the temperature range is it is 14 to 25 degrees Celsius or 57.5-77 Fahrenheit.
This makes Bedugul an incredible place to shop for all one’s needs while staying here or to take to other parts of Bali. The moisture and temperature in the area make it an ideal spot to set up farms.
The most amazing part was that we were in the center of an extinct volcano and two lakes, one on either side of us.
The Villa.
The villa we stayed in is available on Airbnb, just follow the link for more photos. They are certainly worth the extra click. In the afternoon we did not see the two large mountains before us. They were covered in clouds.
However, as the sun set to the right of us in the west, we could see the bases. Not until sunrise did we see the incredible size of the two mountains directly before us. The villa has space for up to 12 people and offers complete privacy with its five bedrooms.
This is where my friend spent the first COVID lockdowns. He had the luxury of trekking through the mountains and taking advantage of the secluded villa. If you are ever in Bedugul and plan to stay a night or two, do check it out, take advantage of the hot tub and enjoy the amazing views.
The Bali Jungle.
While I mentioned Bedugul earlier, I didn’t mention the golf course that is set inside this amazing volcano crater. I am not a golfer, I don’t mind watching it. As we left our cozy villa in the morning, my friend said he would show us a few amazing villas on our walk.
Our walk turned out to be an hour of trekking through the jungle. This was not a tropical jungle. This location is 1300 meters or 4265 feet above sea level. Thus the tropical vegetation changed quite a bit and I could have found myself in northern Ontario or Vancouver Canada.
There shouldn’t be…
You learn something new every day. My friend brought along some bug spray, when I asked if there will be mosquitoes he calmly said, “There shouldn’t be.” I kinda thought to myself he is the local guy here, he should know.
We trekked through farm fields and then ended up at the edge of the forest. We were greeted by amazing views of the lake and the mountains. A total unobstructed view of the lake that was the mouth of the extinct volcano.
There was not much time to admire the scenery as we went deep into the jungle and went even higher than our initial elevation. This is where things got a little interesting.
There are leeches in a forest?
Well, I didn’t know this… So when my friend stopped and pulled one off of his sandal, I was very happy I was wearing shoes. The bottoms and the soles of our shoes were filled with 12 millimeters or half-inch leeches.
This is where the mosquito spray came into use. Nope not for the mosquitoes, we never encountered a single one. Instead, the spray was used for the leeches. See, I learned that. I also learned that these little suckers, pun intended lined the floor of the forest, waiting for people like us to feed on. I was lucky since I had shoes, or so I thought…
These little suckers were crawling into my shoes through the tiny little ventilation areas in the nylon mesh. We had to pull hard to get them out. We sprayed our ankles and shoes. Luckily we were all wearing pants.
Worth the walk.
Near the end of our walk, we popped out at the Handara golf course. This place is also inside the massive crater. Totally worth checking out the golf course if you are in the area. This is not your typical golf course. You would need to be Superman to hit the ball past any of the surrounding volcano edges.
The beautifully manicured lawns of the golf course are surrounded by jungle and some interesting inhabitants such as snakes and monkeys.
We didn’t see any wildlife other than birds, yet I am sure the wildlife watched us as we passed by. That fact was a little disturbing since very large snakes are present in the area. Large as in ones that would be as long as a two-lane road is wide. Needless to say, we were tired and headed back home for lunch. This weekend was full, with many amazing views, travel photos, and more Bali exploration that I am used to.
Bali Indonesia, travel blog, amazing scenery,
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Zsolt Zsemba 
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