wildside
Pack Dog
My baby is my delightful 20 year old daughter, Roxy!
I had the privilege of visiting both my children in Indonesia for the month of July. They have both been living in Bali, the Island of the Gods, for nearly 2 years now. One evening we decided that it was a good idea to do a road trip through Bali to see some sights. The only form of transport we had were scooters.
I borrowed my nieces Scoopy (Honda), as she was on holiday back in SA and Roxy had her own Fino Classic . We pulled out a map and plotted a quick route up north to Bedugul to visit the 3 lakes and include a short hike to the Munduk Waterfall. We would then head off east towards Mount Agung, Bali’s most sacred mountain, for greater things.
Below is a very basic map and directions :-[
Unfortunately, my son Calvin didn’t want to join us as he had business to take care of (so he says :-\)….so it was just my Baby and I.
Early Thursday morning, loaded with only our backpacks, we went to fill up with fuel.
Petrol was only R6.50 a litre and our little tanks could only take up to 4 litres at a time. All along the narrow roads you will find little shanty shops selling fuel in bottles for R7 a litre. So fuel was always available.
It was with great excitement that we set off on our scooter adventure through the narrow and busy streets of Kerobokan. Roxy was leading the way as she was using the GPS on her Samsung phone . It took all my courage to negotiate the hectic traffic as one has to bob and weave in and out of the traffic in order to make some progress. Keeping up with Roxy was a bit of a challenge at times as she had mastered the art of riding with the Balinese folk and their lack of road rules.
What I found most amazing here was the absence of road rage. At times there would be such congestion but riders were patient and as soon as there was a gap they would take it. If there were no pedestrians on the sidewalk scooters would promptly use this as an access. The hooting one heard was merely to warn others that a rider was coming past or to let folk coming from a side road know that a scooter was coming along.
STREET CEREMONIES
RIDING ON THE PAVEMENTS!
Nervously I watched from behind as Roxy handled her GPS with one hand and the scooter with the other and heaven only knows her eyes weren’t always on the road!!. There were sections of very straight road but our maximum speed was only about 80 km/hr. We passed by acres of newly planted rice paddies accommodating plenty of ducks that were enjoying their early morning dip and dabble.
It felt surreal riding behind Roxy and thinking that we were actually partaking in a mother/daughter scooter adventure ride half way across the world from home….not many Moms get to boast about this. I think I had a permanent grin on my face.
There were many little villages lining the road causing traffic to become congested and it requires a lot of concentration to overtake – on the left or the right hand side….whichever is easiest, avoid oncoming traffic, dogs, pedestrians, potholes and keeping up with Roxy.
There are some interesting sights alongside the road with all the open shops displaying their colourful ware, lovely stone carvings depicting the various buddah statues, Praying ladies, furniture, wooden carvings, glassware, batik fabrics, clothing, jewelry, motorbike shops….all tempting the tourist.
I had the privilege of visiting both my children in Indonesia for the month of July. They have both been living in Bali, the Island of the Gods, for nearly 2 years now. One evening we decided that it was a good idea to do a road trip through Bali to see some sights. The only form of transport we had were scooters.
I borrowed my nieces Scoopy (Honda), as she was on holiday back in SA and Roxy had her own Fino Classic . We pulled out a map and plotted a quick route up north to Bedugul to visit the 3 lakes and include a short hike to the Munduk Waterfall. We would then head off east towards Mount Agung, Bali’s most sacred mountain, for greater things.
Below is a very basic map and directions :-[
Unfortunately, my son Calvin didn’t want to join us as he had business to take care of (so he says :-\)….so it was just my Baby and I.
Early Thursday morning, loaded with only our backpacks, we went to fill up with fuel.
Petrol was only R6.50 a litre and our little tanks could only take up to 4 litres at a time. All along the narrow roads you will find little shanty shops selling fuel in bottles for R7 a litre. So fuel was always available.
It was with great excitement that we set off on our scooter adventure through the narrow and busy streets of Kerobokan. Roxy was leading the way as she was using the GPS on her Samsung phone . It took all my courage to negotiate the hectic traffic as one has to bob and weave in and out of the traffic in order to make some progress. Keeping up with Roxy was a bit of a challenge at times as she had mastered the art of riding with the Balinese folk and their lack of road rules.
What I found most amazing here was the absence of road rage. At times there would be such congestion but riders were patient and as soon as there was a gap they would take it. If there were no pedestrians on the sidewalk scooters would promptly use this as an access. The hooting one heard was merely to warn others that a rider was coming past or to let folk coming from a side road know that a scooter was coming along.
STREET CEREMONIES
RIDING ON THE PAVEMENTS!
Nervously I watched from behind as Roxy handled her GPS with one hand and the scooter with the other and heaven only knows her eyes weren’t always on the road!!. There were sections of very straight road but our maximum speed was only about 80 km/hr. We passed by acres of newly planted rice paddies accommodating plenty of ducks that were enjoying their early morning dip and dabble.
It felt surreal riding behind Roxy and thinking that we were actually partaking in a mother/daughter scooter adventure ride half way across the world from home….not many Moms get to boast about this. I think I had a permanent grin on my face.
There were many little villages lining the road causing traffic to become congested and it requires a lot of concentration to overtake – on the left or the right hand side….whichever is easiest, avoid oncoming traffic, dogs, pedestrians, potholes and keeping up with Roxy.
There are some interesting sights alongside the road with all the open shops displaying their colourful ware, lovely stone carvings depicting the various buddah statues, Praying ladies, furniture, wooden carvings, glassware, batik fabrics, clothing, jewelry, motorbike shops….all tempting the tourist.
