I knew from Fiji and Samoa that there's a certain feeling I get when I "need" to be in the mountains. My expectations were also set for mountain time because I know that Bali has big, famous volcanoes. My research took me to Munduk, another 2.5 hours north of Ubud. I told you Bali was big! The first part of my time in Munduk was the beautiful journey there in a taxi where stopped by the famous temple Ulun Danu Beratan and it's beautiful (and sometimes wacky) gardens.
Our next stop would be the twin lakes of Buyan and Tamblingan:
In the mountains, I met Cindy. She was the other solo backpacker in Munduk at the same time as me. (There really weren't many other people around). She really saved me from what would have been a giant mistake.
You see, when I arrived in Munduk, I expected there to be a hiking trail map. I read on TripAdvisor that my hotel host would give me a map and show me in the right direction. Instead, what I got was an offer for a day like hike through the rice patties. While he was a friendly guy, this isn't really what I was looking for. I had researched for so long. I had tried very hard to get to other parts of Bali that taxi drivers would not take me to. Munduk was the place where taxis would take me and where I knew there mountains and waterfalls. He told me I could walk along the road and go down into the valley at intervals to see waterfalls and then walk on the road again. He couldn't have been right. There's no way that the hiking trail was really just walking along the road. I tried asking him again and the conversation failed. He just told me to go walk along the road. I was broken. I guess because there aren't too many tourists up in Munduk, someone like me can get a honeymoon suite. Here is the view from my room (and my Balinese pancake breakfast):
I was almost ready to cut my losses and leave Bali and move on to other parts of Indonesia. I figured, before I start booking new hotels and flights, why don't I go to this restaurant up the hill called "Panorama". At least then I can get a nice sunset and meditate a little. I was in the restaurant for no more than 3 minutes before I met Cindy. I heard a slight French accent. I asked her where she was from and she said Quebec. Oh boy, we have a match made in heaven. View from Panorama restaurant:
Panorama Restaurant in Munduk at sunset.
We clicked right away. She told me I could join her at her table. She was so open and friendly. She wanted to hike the next day to see the waterfalls. She asked if I would join her! I explained to her that there is no hiking trail and how I was so sad and it's just walking along the road. She then told me that my host was wrong, wrong, wrong! She has a hiking trail map from her hotel host! She had a whole route planned out and we would be able to see five waterfalls in a day and we agreed to take waterfall pics of each other.
We enjoyed a day of waterfall hiking together. We learned about each other. (I seem to click with female flight attendants). She told me about her horrors in the Gili Island with a dangerous amount of snorkelers in the waters. I told her about my urban disappointment with Ubud. It seemed that in Munduk, we both finally experienced the Bali we had been searching for.
After a whole day of hiking, Cindy and I decided that a much shorter hike the next day would suffice. Her amazing hotel host told her about a pool in the rice paddies. Could it be true?! It ends up, yes. After a short hike down the hill, we would find an oasis in the rice paddies where we would spend the following day together cooling off, eating noodles for lunch with a beer and resting our tired feet.
