Bali Cycle Tour

Our cyclist tour guide made an apparently impulsive decision and steered sharply left off the bumpy trail and into an obscure, rain forested property. His charges consisted of two dozen mostly plump and mostly pale vacationers and we obediently followed his lead by coasting into a ragged semi circle. As we straddled our unfamiliar mountain bikes, the leader darted off toward a hut that may or may not have been the home of an acquaintance and reappeared carrying a ghastly black spider the size of his hand. The spider dangled like a yo-yo, dropping and then skilfully crawling back into his new master's fingers using long and multi-jointed legs. Just as we in the crowd began to feel comfortable watching from a distance, the guide placed the spider on his face, and let the arachnid dip those legs into his mouth. Next he offered the spider to anyone who stepped forward. I backed off, but when an Australian toddler showed interest, I figured I better at least give it a hold to save face. At the very least I figured it would make a decent picture.

Not sure if he just randomly found this spider or if it was a nearby friend's pet.

Apparently not poisonous.

This guy was much more calm holding it than I was.

I look like I am about to soil myself. The Australian kid is not impressed.

At that age, I would have run away.

We almost missed out on this cycle tour of the Balinese countryside. For once, Sami's meticulous planning had backfired. She had e-mailed the travel company too far in advance and they forgot about us. We woke up early for a 7:00 a.m. pick-up, and when no one showed, we made a series of calls to the company and debated on whether or not to scrap the entire plan. Sami was two months pregnant at the time, and had to rally to find the energy to leave the pool. When a van showed up at 11:00 we begrudgingly boarded out of obligation.

Our fellow tourists, who had been picked up earlier from different parts of the island, were all at breakfast- an expense included as part of the itinerary. We were asked to join them, but we had already eaten, and knew that arriving late would only force the rest to wait for us, and slow the operation down. So we drove straight to the bikes waiting in a field somewhere between paradise and the middle of nowhere. We had time before the breakfast eaters were bussed to the spot, so I rode off and took pictures of the countryside. The land reminded me a lot of our four-wheeling tour in Cambodia, which will always be one of my favorite travel memories from our time in Asia. I suppose it was greener out here than there, quilted with brown glistening rice paddies and inhabited by the occasional family hut on the side of the chewed-up, blacktop trail.

It is a very cool experience to ride off alone in an unfamiliar place. When you are in the middle of a group of tourists, it just isn't the same.

Rice farmland in a village in Bali.

After the rest of the crew arrived, picked out their bikes and worked out the breaking and shifting system, we were led inside a nearby family compound. There we learned just how sustainable the villagers live growing everything from cocoa and other spices, to keeping bees for honey. We also learned that they are quite fond of cockfighting, and keep prime contenders locked in wicker cages. An old man let two go after each other in a demonstration. Apparently, the spikes on their heels were padded for safety, otherwise, we were told one of the fighters would have been killed in the melee.

No need for a farmer's market. All the food they need they grow or raise, including Wilbur here.

What the old guy on the left lacks in teeth, he more than makes up for with enthusiasm over cockfighting.

To start, they each hold one fighter down and face each other.

Here is a break in the action. They don't really size each other up as much as blindly go at each other, but they do tire and try to regain their wind at some point.

This may have been the kill shot had safety precautions not been taken.

Cocoa for chocolate I believe.

After the village tour and episode with the spider, we spent most of our remaining tour riding on the brutally bumpy road, sightseeing and taking pictures. We became close with a few friendly co-riders including the mom of an Olympic athlete and a man from Singapore who, refreshingly, spoke highly of the U.S. and its people. Sami and I both agreed that this day was the highlight of our time in Bali. We will always look for a bike or ATV tour if we visit a new place because it is a great way to cover a ton of scenery (and in this case, get a little exercise).

We were also pleasantly surprised to be refunded more than half of our money because we missed the first few hours of the trip. The owner of the company was a very nice person who told us that he used to work on a cruise ship out of Miami and used to dream of starting his own travel company in his home country. Count us among those glad he made that decision.