Jatiluwih - Bedugul

Excursion N°5 - A half-day tour for temples and rice paddies

Remarks

• Costing only covers the return fare by car
• This does not include the services of a guide, meals, and site entrance fees (except for guests who book the 7 days / 6 nights discovery package)
• For each excursion, we provide a sarong to visit temples
• Please consult us in advance if a French or English guide is required

Programme

A half-day tour starting at 09.00 or 13.00

Jatiluwih rice fields
listed world heritage site by UNESCO

From Batukaru, a picturesque road goes to Jatiluwih and its rice fields. This region is now a listed world heritage site on the famous UNESCO list. The reason are not only the beauty of the rice paddies, but as well the use of traditional agriculture methods (like buffalo to plough), the dedication to the traditional rice, and all the religion festivities around agriculture activities. The traditional rice is very different from the common rice in Bali. The plant can reach 1 m high. The ears are cut one by one during the cropping season. From the transplanting of the rice to the cropping, 7 to 8 months are needed, to compare to the 4 months with regular rice. In Jatiluwih, farmers cultivate white, red and black rice. They are mostly used for ritual meals, or for offering to the gods. Red rice is appreciated, when cooked with sugar, as a local dessert. From the road, you can see the life of the farmer if you are there in the period of cropping of transplanting. You can go in the rice field, to observe the irrigation systems. Walk on the narrow tracks, but be careful not to destroy them.

Ulun Danu Temple at Bratan lake, Bedugul

This temple shares with that of Tanah Lot the glory of being the most photographed site in Bali. Few visitors in fact stop at the temple itself, along the lake, although they rush to the pagoda isolated on a small island, some metres from the waterside. The meru arises from an island symbolising the tortoise supporting the world. Four frogs adorn the corners of the island.

This temple is dedicated to the goddess of the lake waters, Dewi Danu. This is indeed one of the major water temples of the island, which, along with that of Batur, remains at the summit of the irrigation system and prodigious wealth by grace of the gods. At a certain angle, the eye may take in the Hindu temple of Bratan, a Buddhist stupa and the dome of a Mosque, illustrating a significant Balinese specificity, that of pacific multi-religious coexistence by the grace of the gods.

The mountain region in the vicinity of Bedugul abounds with fruit and vegetable plantations unable to take the lowland heat. Here at over 1000 metres in altitude, the climate suits cultivating strawberries, coffee, salad, tomatoes and any number of other vegetables. The king of fruit in these mountains is the mangosteen, something like a small hard apple, dark red to black. When split open its loge reveals one of the most flavourful fruits of the planet. Its white pulp (one of the quarters will contain the kernel) is known to all lovers of exotic fruit visiting Bali, although this fruit remains unknown in the West. These heights are also favoured territory for passion fruit. The Bedugul market abounds with these fruit alongside a variety of souvenirs including false Rolex watches, all under Muslim control, traders both amusing and frightfully astute in business. Haggling and negotiation remain the order of the day!