Waterfalls!!!

Today we went to see some waterfalls!! I booked a tour, which normally in other countries would be a group on a bus, but in Bali it is just a guy in a car who shows up and drives you privately! Kind of neat. Like having a chauffeur for the day who knows everything about the area and suggests great things!

We went to three waterfalls fairly near Ubud. The furthest one was about a 90 min drive away. They were absolutely stunning, as well as the walks/hundreds of stairs thru the forests to get to them - and of course, they were fairly warm compared to Oregon’s falls. And even when not warm water, the air was so warm when you got out it felt great.

He also took us to a great restaurant overlooking some rice paddies. We had traditional Bali food, drinks and desserts. Pretty wonderful food!

Our driver also made a stop at the Kopi Luwak coffee plantation!! If you’ve ever watched the movie “The Bucketlist” you would know about it - or if you make a habit of drinking the most expensive coffee in the world! We saw how it is “made” and then sampled it and 14 other different coffee and teas.

If you’ve never heard of Kopi Luwak, well, Jack Nicholson describes it perfectly in the movie. If you want a quick laugh, watch the scene of a Morgan Freeman explaining it to Jack Nicholson, who loves the coffee but has no idea how it’s made.

It basically is “poop coffee”. These wild tree cats eat these beans, digest them, poop them out - the stool is processed and the beans are separated out, cleaned and then roasted! Apparently the digestive process adds to the flavor and aroma!! The price per pound can run $100-600 and a cup (outside of Bali) apparently $35! Here, it costs about $12 a cup. So … since it was very cheap on the tour, we tried it and it actually was very smooth and that was coming from someone who doesn’t drink coffee.

At this plantation the cats are not kept in captivity. They stay in the jungle and they collect the poop from below their trees. They did have one in the plantation to show us, but they said it returns to the jungle in the evening to join the rest. Very interesting.

3.6 miles, 44 flightsRead more