I haven't had the opportunity to get a good impression of Bali. It's been a stopover for me. This is my fourth night here, over four times through. Mostly, I've seen the airport and a couple of overnight hotel rooms.
Today, Anita's rest day between arriving from Canada and us going to Malaysian Borneo, we had a chance to get a different impression. Initially, we thought of going to Waterbom, a highly rated water park. We checked the website, and most slides had a duration if 12 to 22 seconds. We were pretty sure the lineups would be longer than 22 minutes, so it was time to look for an alternative activity.
The Bali Botanical Park came up the winner. Established in 1956, it's 185 hectares have had a lot of time to come into their own. There's a research facility. It looked promising. The hotel concierge assured us the driver would have a knowledge of plants, and would be an adequate tour guide. We would not need anyone beyond our driver.
I'm pretty sure you can all hear me say "Huh" in that judgemental way I have. It didn't matter if we had a skilled guide. Although I've found a skilled guide greatly enriches an experience, we were still likely to have a wonderful time.
I knew the Bali Botanical Park was about two and a half hours from our neck of the woods (nearish the airport), so that meant we would actually see some of the Island, outside of this tourist area. It took about an hour and a half to be away from shops lining the roads, and the further out we got, the less touristy they got. We went along Landscapers Row, where the shops were either garden centres with plants for sale or they were accessory shops, selling stone works, decorative fountains or other things to enhance your yard.
We passed by a variety of traditional buildings inside high fences. They could have been temples; they could have been monasteries. I'll never know.
When we got to the farmlands, we started to climb. Through the farmlands, we passed by rice, sugar cane, some corn, some landscape cloth waiting for chillies to grow.
The Bali Botanical Gardens are on a hillside at an elevation ranging from 1250 metres to 1550 metres. Gone was the sticky humid 30 degree air. We were somewhere around a balmy 22.
As I said, the site is big, and although individual gardens are designed for walking, the overall site is not. Our driver pulled up beside the cactus house, suggesting we start there. It's a lovely building, with more bromeliads than cactus. Beside the cactus house was a fine grove of trees on one side and a couple of ponds on the other. There were splashes and other intriguing sound coming from the ponds, so we tried to discover their sources. The only wildlife I saw was a leggy bird that vaguely resembled a Guinea hen and some carp in the pond.
Next, we crossed the street to the orchid garden. I know I'm going to sound like a snob, but it lacked the spectacle of the Singapore Botanical Gardens' Orchid Garden. The Bali garden is in a magnificent setting, on a hillside overlooking a lake. But the staff seem few and far between. Admission was 17,000 Rupiah each, or about $1.70. They simply aren't charging enough to pay maintenance staff. The only worker we saw this Friday afternoon was the woman at the admission gate.
If I hadn't been to the Singapore garden, I would have thought the Bali Garden was lovely. It was nice to be away from crowds. It was wonderful being in the greenery. The beds were beautiful, particularly the bed of amaryllis. I've never seen them planted outdoors, or in great numbers.
So, apart from the cactus house, the water garden and the orchid garden, we walked around the medicinal plants garden, the rhododendrons and made an attempt at the Begonia House (locked doors). We drove through the bamboos and the palms. By that time, the on-again off-again rain was taking its toll, as was Anita's adjustment to a new time zone.
By now you've noticed that I often happen upon something really remarkable. Today's happenstance was a celebration by a small community on the way back to our hotel. It started by noticing a lot of pedestrians in traditional clothing walking in the same direction that we were travelling in. Women often seemed to have a basket of food on their heads. As is often the case, the women and men didn't seem to be walking together, although their destination was common.
We passed men carrying some large figures, and then saw. People sitting on the road. Between the ones going in our direction and the ones coming towards us, there were baskets and baskets of beautifully prepared food. Offerings of some sort. And then it was over, and traffic flowed again. Half an hour later, it was dark and we were in heavy rain.
****Just a quick note on autocorrect. I just read through the post, and found many words changed. Hopefully my fixes will stay. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the guessing game of what I actually typed. You're probably very familiar with that game by now, if you've been following along on my journey.
Photos:
First stop, the Cactus House:
This bloom was a rose shaped charmer
Lots of bromiliads
Beside the Cactus House, the water gardens
Across from the Cactus House, the Orchid House. That's when it started to pour:
By the Begonia House, there was a lovely pergola dripping with blossoms
The House was closed, but there was a spectacular large bloom on the building's border. Anita's hand is in the photo for scale.
There was also a bed of amaryllis. I've never seen a whole bed of them before!
Before leaving the park, we stopped by the banyan tree
There was one spot with slow traffic on the way home, along with an ever increasing number of pedestrians all going in one direction.
Beautiful.
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