Wednesday, December 20
Very rainy this morning, so I’m catching up on the blog. I have also been catching up on my drawing and painting. Here’s one I’m willing to share at this point, the villain in the traditional Balinese dance we saw a couple of days ago:
The drive to Munduk was long and twisty. On the way we stopped at a town called Jatiluwih, which is a UNESCO Heritage Site for its fantastic rice terraces. Much larger and more extensive than the last ones we saw. Mary was tickled. She really has a thing for this sight.
We were also planning to see a famous temple, a pagoda of about eight levels, sitting by a lake. However, it started raining so hard, and a heavy mist developed, so we went directly to the Munduk Munding Plantation, a coffee plantation that also raises flowers, mostly for ceremonial purposes.
On arrival, Mary and I were treated to a garland of marigolds the size of tennis balls. They were actually heavy! Also, to a coffee-based welcome drink that Mary fell in love with. It was flavored with a palm-sugar syrup heavily infused with ginger, cinnamon, and lemon grass. Delicious!
From the hotel, which is quite high in the mountains, you look out over the Bali Sea, and when the mist lifts you can see the mountains of Eastern Java. Fabulous view. However, there was more mist and rain than not.
The hotel makes good use of it location, on the side of this mountain. All the photos of the place feature its infinity pool, which juts out over the cliff. We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a villa with just as commanding a view, and our own infinity pool! What a luxury. Also, the room was festooned with marigolds for our arrival, and has multiple large vases with exotic flowers of the group called Heliconia, such as lobster claws.
So the resort is a curious mixture of opulence and small shortcomings. Our fantastic villa, which I understand the owner uses when he comes to stay, can’t be locked. The locks on the two terrace doors don’t work. Also, its safe doesn’t work; the water in the shower —in the fabulous bathroom — is barely tepid; and the roof in the main room has a slight leak. But our butler (yes, butler!) did build us a wonderful fire in the fireplace each night, and today, too, as it is so damp and chilly. In our opinion, what makes this place absolutely top-notch is the service. The staff makes us feel like royalty.
A cooking class
Despite the rain, yesterday we ventured out to a nearby resort that offered a cooking class. The results were very tasty, except maybe for the dessert — pandan-flavored banana dumplings.
Rain date
Today, though, we canceled the outing to a nearby waterfall because of the rain, and Mary has opted for a four-hour spa treatment (I’m gobsmacked!) For my part, I went to lunch, then had one of the hotel staff to show me around the plantation.
The heliconia flowers that line the paths around the compound are astonishing. I didn’t realize that the leaves of these plants alone can be two meters long, and with their stalks, the plants themselves can be easily four meters tall.
As we left the paved walkways the path got slippery. My guide almost fell twice. Since it was raining only lightly, we used our umbrellas as walking sticks. The rain has been going on for some time now, and has caused some mud slides on the grounds, some of which were quite fresh, and which we had to walk around.
They grow both robusta and arabica coffee here, and in the mist I got some evocative photos that I’m eager to try to turn into paintings. No plein air here, on these twisty mountain paths, in the rain!
We ended the walk at their coffee processing plant, where they dry the beans, sometimes with the fruit on, to make “honey” coffee, and then roast them. They also buy wild luwak droppings from the local farmers. This local weasel eats coffee fruits as a supplement to their diet, and the beans are then found in their excrement. Some people think the trip through their digestive system makes the coffee taste better. Since these luwak are wild, this plantation’s product is only sold locally. I’ll pass, thank you.
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