Bali Road Trip & 3 Right Turns

Laurie & I continue to head West along the North coast of Bali on the motorbike. Traveling light, most everything we need for the road trip is packed underneath the seat on the motorbike, a Honda PCX 160cc. We also have a tiny daypack which Laurie wears, and a small nylon bag hanging from a hook between my knees. The weather is a typical day in Bali in the low 80’s.

The first right turn. About half and hour out, I spot a sign and entrance on the right side of the road. It said something like “God’s Secret Hideaway”. As you can imagine, I had to investigate. It’s not everyday that one gets a chance to visit God’s Secret Hideway, right? I hit the brakes and turned right, leading us down a rough asphalt way through the forest. We quickly came upon 2 guards at a checkpoint. I assumed this was a resort in the jungle, and probably a pretty fancy one since they had 2 guards. I also assumed they had a restaurant. After greeting them, “Selamat Pagi”, (good morning in Indonesian) I asked if the restaurant was open. They replied yes, and lifted the gate to let us in. We followed signs for close to a mile until we arrived at the resort. I parked the bike and we headed to find the restaurant for coffee.

We had just stumbled upon THE MENJANGAN RESORT, WEST BALI NATIONAL PARK. A simple, unplanned right hand turn. We entered The Bali Tower Restaurant, a 4 story coconut or bamboo wooden structure, with spiral staircases, and traditional thatched roofs. We confirmed they had an espresso machine and placed our order. I waited for the coffee while Laurie climbed the stairs all the way to the top level. I engaged our server, named Yogi, in conversation to find out as much as I could about his background and the resort. I recommend if you want to learn more about the resort you can click on the link at the beginning of the paragraph. The coffee and the conversation were great.

We hopped back on the bike and headed back through the jungle road, sections of which were newly paved, and others that were really rough. Back on the main road we continued toward the Northwest tip of the island of Bali. At this point I want to say how grateful I am to have an awesome navigator, Laurie. She is on the back of the bike with navigation pulled up, telling me how far until the next turn, etc. I cannot imagine doing it solo. Riding a motorbike in Asia is a practice in extreme mindfulness. There is absolutely no wiggle room for not paying full attention. If the driver’s eyes are distracted, even for 1 or 2 seconds, it could spell big trouble. The roads in developed areas are mind-boggling busy, but drivers are polite. It’s slow going. When you get out in country you can go faster, maybe 38 MPH tops, as there’s an occasional oncoming truck in your lane, passing someone. The motorbike trips here in Bali have been a dream come true ever since setting eyes on a large map of Bali back in 2019 in Gibsons Bookstore, Concord NH.

The estimated travel times from point A to point B are never really accurate here. We usually plan for double the time for traffic and stops. Being on the bike is also uncomfortable for old folks like me. The strain of constantly braking really works the forearms. And the constant revving/easing of the throttle does a number on the right wrist. Hamstrings, back and glutes get tired, tight and sore, so there are lots of breaks. It must have been about mid day and I was feeling like taking a break to stretch. By now we had reached the Western tip of the island and were headed East along the Southern coast. To my right I could see the ocean out of the corner of my eyes.

The second right turn. On a whim I signaled and turned right, down the next paved road. I had no idea where we were going but the ocean was just a few hundred yards away. A short break would be great right now. We came across a small temple complex on our left. It looked quiet, maybe even closed. I pulled in and stopped the bike at the far end of the parking lot. We hopped off and stretched. After a few minutes we noticed a man in the distance by the temple hop on a motorbike and heading toward us. I assumed we were in some sort of trouble. He instructed us to follow him, with our bike, to his office. He’d did have a blue vest on and was somehow associated with the temple. He spoke perfect English and was even able to make us laugh with his humor. He told us we had to pay $100,000 IDR ($6.71 USD) for entrance to the temple, even though we had no intention of entering the temple. We just wanted to use the parking lot to stretch. We humored him, paid the fee, and he guided us through the temple complex giving us the explanations of everything in the complex. He wanted us to take a nap, he mentioned it twice. We declined and thanked him and headed back to the bike, back on the road, headed home, still many hours away.

The third right turn. We rode down the South coast for a few more hours. Sometimes through busy cities, other times down stretches of open road. I recalled a recommendation from the owner of The Sage restaurant from the day before – Balian Beach. We plugged it into our maps and not knowing what to expect, planned to stop there for another break. We ended up missing the turn, but I was so tired and needed a break. We u-turned at the next safest place to do so and putted down the alley-like way to the beach. There was a resort and restaurant right at the beach. The day was overcast so we decided to have lunch at the resort. I chose a Balinese dish called Nasi Campur (pronounced champoor – pictured below). Our vegetarian version included rice, salad, tempeh, 2 stir fry’s with sprouts and greens, and a fried egg/potato dumpling. The break at the beach resort was refreshing. If you’re a surfer this is a great place to ride – with left breaking waves. After lunch we were back on the bike for the final leg back home to our bungalow.

Back at the bungalow, looking at the map, I was already finalizing our next bike trip for Sunday to Sideman (Sid-a-men). This is a place we stumbled across last trip I was beautiful to we are planing to return and overnight there. Stay tuned for Sideman and more adventures.