Bali: The Halo Bike Tour

Chandra did some research and found that a very popular way to see Bali is via bike tour.   Our tour was run by a locally owned, family-run company called the Halo Bike Tour.   They did a great job!

The tour started with a visit to a garden/shop/faux-plantation that exhibited a lot of the valuable crops grown in Bali.  This includes coffee,  cacao, cloves, cassia, vanilla, peppercorns, ginger, galangal, and a few others I can't remember.

The star attraction of this site is the kopi luwak,  which translates into civet coffee.  The civet is a Asian cat/squirrel/monkey thing that essentially poops gold.

The kopi luwak process works as follows.  The civet is allowed to graze coffee beans on the plantation.   The most attractive beans are eaten by the civet,  enzymes within its system ferments the beans, and then it poops them out.

The beans are then removed from the poop patty and sold at a premium.  Kopi luwak is one of the most expensive coffees in the world,  I shit you not.   You are paying big money for this monkey's fine sense of smell  and his gilded digestive tract.

After we walked the grounds we were able to sit down and try a few of their products.   We paid the extra charge to try the poop coffee.  Here is Chandra with the selection.   The poop coffee got its own special mug.

We liked it but highly question the value proposition of buying an actual bag of poop coffee.  Instead we went for the roselle (hibiscus) tea,  lemon grass tea, and some vanilla beans.

Next stop on the tour was a restaurant overlooking Mount Batur,  an active volcano.   It was a pretty impressive vista.

In the background of this picture is a bigger volcano,  called Mount Agung.   It last erupted in 1963.

The Halo Bike Tour was really well done.   Our tour guide, Sindhu, was knowledgable,  friendly,  and efficient.   He was also great with the kids.

The bike tour is a comfortable,  mostly downhill ride through a few villages and rice fields.  Sindhu and Paul Eli went on a tandem bike while Esme rode on the back of Dad's bike.

The tour really let us see the villages and farming up close.   Here Sindhu is describing the rice harvesting process.

There were tons of sights on the ride.   Here we are overlooking the gathering area of one of the villages.

There were many of small temples along the way.

Action shot of Paul Eli.

The last stop of our tour was an authentic home-cooked Balinese meal.   It turns out that the wife of the owner, Yoga,  is a fabulous cook.  This meal was the best food I had on our trip to Bali.   It was simple and complex at the same time.

 After our meal we were able to walk around their family compound a bit.   It has been in their family for generations.   They are starting work to offer a bed-and-breakfast type experience.   I think that's a great idea.

 Paul Eli made friends with one of the boys.   Nice background scenery for a mini-soccer pitch, eh?

This is Yoga's family temple.   It is next to their compound.

Hope you enjoyed our little tour through Bali.   If you are ever in the neighborhood, please take a look at Halo Bike Tours!  Esme Stone Sonda approves this message.