Travel article: Sidemen

After the most beautiful beaches of Bali, we discover rice fields and village life in Sidemen.

We are immediately immersed in a zen atmosphere, everyone smiles and greets us.

We were afraid of the mass tourism atmosphere in Bali and we think we found in Sidemen the authentic Bali, the Bali with ancient traditions,a really nice Bali.

Our family-run hostel sits at the end of a garden and offers an outdoor shower (shared with pretty lizards), we feel so good here!

The only issue? The roosters who sing during the day and especially all night, they do not stop!

It is again with a scooter that we discover the region.

We ride random roads and paths, stopping in some villages, seeing teenagers leaving school for the day, sympathizing with some of them. The river here serves as showers and the children really have a great time there. 

The rice terraces of an intense green surround us as well as the many small temples. The offerings and ceremonies punctuate again the life of the inhabitants. In the background, the volcano Agung, always head in the clouds.

What to say about Balinese? Always a smile on the face, trying to communicate with us, having fun, spending time playing dominoes. Fortunately they are as nice as we are stupid otherwise we should have pushed the scooter for long minutes when we read the gauge and we ran out of gas. (Little anecdote, we read the needle upside down and even thought for a moment that the level of gas had increased ...!)

And cooking is always a delight. The tofu curry grilled is a marvel and the Lilit Skewers, the meat cooked around the bamboo, a delight!

We also discovered a very beautiful temple, the Besakih temple dating from the 14th century. Commonly called Mother Temple, it is the most sacred temple in Bali. About a hundred structures were installed at the feet of Mount Agung which by the force of its eruptions destroyed it several times. Some buildings are by the way made of volcanic rocks. A long staircase leads to the main gate looking like watchtowers. In this regard, in front of each temple or door is a statue that keeps the place.

We take the height to have an overview, each structure has many details, the roofs are made of palm trees, it's really fine art.

That’s it for our few days in Sidemen, a small village lost in the rice fields. The sweetness of life will be missed during our next stop, much more touristy ...

Some recommendations:

# We stayed at Kanda Homestay, wonderful guesthouse for 212,000 rupiah per night.

# from Nusa Penida, boat to Kusamba for 100,000. 20 minutes. Then no public transport ... We negotiated hard with a driver, 200,000 for 30 kilometers (we probably lost the negotiation with regard to the price per kilometer ...!)

# in Sidemen, rent a scooter to roam the rice fields. 70,000 a day. Turning around Sidemen is really very beautiful.

# Besakih Temple: 60,000 entry per person.

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