Tegalalang Rice Terraces and Bike Tour

January 17

I decided to spend my last day in Ubud, or rather half of it, actively. I booked a bike tour. In the morning, while waiting at the reception for the bus, I was already starting to regret it. It was 8 a.m. and already incredibly hot. I wondered how I was going to survive the 25-30 km bike ride. The bus was supposed to take us to the starting point, and before that, we were supposed to stop at the rice terraces.

In Bali, rice is a staple of the diet, just like potatoes here. Rice is also offered daily as an offering to the gods. Personally, I really like nasi goreng, or fried rice, or nasi goreng sayur, or fried rice with vegetables, but after three months in Asia, I was already dreaming of our Polish potatoes. Rice teas are also popular, which may not be the most delicious, but are supposedly healthy. Rice fields can be found everywhere in Bali, but Ubud is famous for them, especially Tegalalang, which is less than an hour's drive from Ubud.

I wasn't disappointed. The terraces are impressive, it's just a shame you couldn't walk between them. It's a typical tourist spot, with a viewing platform. Five minutes and it was over. 

Some time later we reached our destination, it was a mountain Batur, where we had breakfast. This bike tour is a bit of a cheat; you ride mostly downhill. 🙂 It was wonderful. We rode through small villages, saw how people live, a real life, unspoiled by tourists. We passed rice fields, saw farmers planting rice, and at the end, we went for lunch. To my delight, it was served in a real Balinese home. The only downside to this tour was the difficulty in taking photos; the pace was quite fast, so I only took photos during short stops.

If anyone is going, I recommend it. Bali Breeze Tours, I paid the total for about 70 złoty. Another company quoted me... 70 USD, or about 265 złoty. A tip: it's worth using a mini travel agency—a stand, often on the street, scattered throughout Ubud. You can negotiate the price a bit, especially if you buy more than one trip. Besides, I paid less through an agent than I would have paid directly with the company. Their business card lists the price as 400,000 IDR, or about 115 złoty.