* The Pacung Indah Restaurant and Bungalows including the loo-with-a-view and some of the wondrous flowers that grow up here.

* The Bedugul Markets including that work-in-progress, Cracker's Bar and Dunny.

* Lake Buyan, one of the twin lakes, separated by a volcanic eruption, a bit uphill from Bedugul.

* A brief mention of Ngiring Ngewedang, that coffee house right up in the hills above Bedugul.

Our discovery of Pacung was really a bit by chance. I had seen postings on the Bali Travel Forum about this place up in the mid slopes of the mountains, run by a pair of Aussies, which had fabulous meals and views and sported a flying kangaroo on it's signboard. It doesn't take much to prick my curiosity and I made a note to visit one day.

When that day came we motored cross-country from Candi Dasa via Ubud, taking our time and soaking in the scenery greenery as we went. We had a pleasant driver from Candi Dasa, one of those who waits for both the opportunity and the invitation to talk and then will go on in any direction you care to lead him but seems to know when to fall silent and let you appreciate what you are saying or hearing, or seeing or doing, in silence. For about six hours our conversation ranged over things Bali including the Kris, the little houses in the rice paddies, the triumvirate of gods, the bounty of the forests (including young coconuts) and his temple duties.

It was one of the most informative and pleasant days I have spent on the island, perhaps more so because it was so unexpected.

Pacung and Bedugul are in the midst of the vegetable and fruit basket of Bali, where rice gives way to beans, tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, cucumbers and especially strawberries and tamarillo. The markets are also replete with nuts of all sorts, Bali Kopi and spices. While the market at Bedugul is a tourist oriented one with Cracker's Bar and Bog, cheap watch sellers and all (and has beautiful flowers and cute little rabbits of all colours - but they're not for pets I think),  there is one at Baturiti, on the left just up hill from Pacung that is more of a local market where you can buy a crate of cabbages, a kilo of red rice, a gold chain or a hand-made sickle for cutting grass for the cows. If one of these markets interests you then you really should stop at both to really appreciate the difference.

THE PACUNG INDAH COTTAGES & RESTAURANT.

Set just below the top of a long and deep valley, the Pacung Indah seems to overlook all of God's Bali down towards the contrasting, chaotic Kuta, Legian and even (by comparison) Sanur and Nusa Dua.

Edged by forest and market gardens, life moves to the beat of a different drum up here.

The entrance to our bungalow is through a typical Balinese gate/door, leading into a small courtyard which gives unmatched views down that valley.

The hints of splendid tropical gardens seen here are matched by the reality if you take the trouble to walk the steepish tracks down into the forested depths.

This is the courtyard with the valley in the background.

It is splendidly eerie sitting here  with a cooling drink or two as night falls, watching the clouds roll up the valley from the coast, slowly putting out the lights of the villages down the valley and eventually even the stars in the sky as it thickens. Its then time to go to dinner around in the restaurant.

This is the view down the valley with the towering tree bearing brilliant orange blossoms (shown further down) on the left.

Its also the view from the Loo-with-a-View (see below) and from the little sunroom at the front of the bungalow we had. The other bungalows are set back away from the edge of the drop into the valley and they have a typical Bali house wall around them so I don't think their view  would be as good.

It is also the view from the large restaurant and dining room at breakfast, lunch and dinner, if you get there early before the regular clouds roll over your head.

This is the view to the left from our courtyard, across a profusion of flowering plants that cascade down into the sheer void.

And this is the famous Loo-with-a-view, the window providing a scenic outlook down that valley.

It is still spectacular although on this occasion we had to look past the remnants of a crude block wall, builders rubble, a water heater, overgrowing creepers and suspended cables.

In a corner of the car park, near one of the entrances is a beautiful little fountain and fish pond with a surround of lush plants. Its a cool welcome after a hot drive.

The happy fish pond cleaner, smiling of course!

This is still Bali after all.

THE FLOWERS OF PACUNG, ALL THESE FOUND IN THE INDAH GARDENS.

Not exactly flowers, palm and bamboos are typical of tropical areas.

These at Pacung are large by home standards but only juveniles compared with some I have seen that are as thick as my thigh and perhaps 6 - 8 metres tall.

On many building sites that you will see around Bali, a feature is the use of bamboo as structural steel scaffolding to hold up poured concrete roofs in even multi level buildings.

Hibiscus are prolific in Bali and the colours range through white, pink and the deepest reds. These are a sample of those found in just one garden in Pacung.

Orchids, little and large, also come in a range of colours.

These brilliant flowers grow high up in a tree whose height dominates the valley forest below the Pacung Indah. They are far too high for me to be even remotely tempted to climb the tree, but some found on the ground under the tree very early in the morning are still in reasonable condition. We saw others, smaller but no less spectacular, bordering the road through a small village on our trip to Ubud from Pacung.

- - - and frangipanni?

You want frangipanni? 

These will blow your mind and put the little white, bushy one at home into a perpetual state of funk if you let it see photos of ones like these.

THE BEDUGUL MARKET, including that famous Cracker Crapper.

This is as much a tourist market as it is a local market, maybe even more so.

It is much cleaner than many but the trade-off is a well organised gang of watch sellers who have some sort of secret grapevine that goes over the top of the market from front to back. No matter how quickly you move from one place to another the watch seller who pops up in front of you knows how many you have already bought and how much you paid for them.

It is a flower and plant market where natives from the south come when they want new pots and plants for their gardens.

It is a market where drivers who drop you off can be found a moment later buying their own supplies of spices and nuts.

It is a market where the pristine vegetables are packed into steep mountains on each and every stall.

Above all it is a market where we gorge on strawberries when they're in season, buy nuts, including cashews and those sweet little Bali peanuts, and stock up on any spices She thinks She is a bit low on at home.

The back of the market is not to be missed. This is where you will find the best flowers and the best prices on sarongs, shirts and all sorts of clothing items.

Beware of photo albums which have banana leaf on them if you are from Oz. The nice Customs man will rip them out of your bags before you can blink.

Also at the back of the markets, tucked away in the left side corner, is latest and slowest growing tourist attraction, 'Cracker's Bar and Grill', also improperly and impolitely known by those of a lesser station in life as 'Cracker's Bar and Bog' because of the mammoth up-market and glitzy tourist relief station which had not been finished when we were there.

How like an Aussie to ensure the beer flowed first and the means of removing it from the system then followed.

LAKE BUYAN.  Everyone who travels from the south to the north coast of Bali has looked down to the left as you climb past Bedugul up the final rise to the very top of the range, and seen Lake Buyan, edged along the closest shore by a earthen graph of vegetable gardens.

What many do not realise from these brief glimpses through the forest trees and the distracting monkeys is that Buyan has a smaller mate over the hill further to the west called Tamblingan.

Buyan and Tamblingan were once a single lake until the eruption of Mount Tapak (1900 metres) on the southern shore sent a lava flow into and across the lake, forever dividing it into two, or maybe into three because there is a tiny sapphire coloured lake down in the trees between the two. I am told that the levels of the two (or three) lakes always vary together, suggesting that below the forest floor there are secret rivers that link them all.

On this trip we succumbed to my curiosity and drove down to the shore of the lake nearest to Bedugul. It turned out to be a secret little part of old Bali which I will visit again and where maybe we will enjoy a picnic lunch and a thermos of Bali Kopi from Ngiring Ngewedang, that coffee house and cafe high up on the road around the top of the lakes.

The low approaches to the edge of Lake Buyan.

There are what appear to be little fish traps in the shallow waters of the end of the lake.

A boat landing and maybe loading wharf now stands on dry land but gives a good indication of the old level of the lakes. How far the water rises during the wet season I don't know but there are embankments across the shore further left, obviously designed to protect the vegetable gardens from seasonal inundation.

At the edge of the lake there are dug-out canoes, some with a single or double outriggers. There are no signs of sails or paddles which suggests to me that the bamboos stuck in the mud may be poles for punting the boats over the shallow water to the fish traps.

A fisherman's home or a farmer's home, or maybe both, at the edge of the lake.

NGIRING NGEWEDANG.   Past Bedugul, past Lakes Bratan and Buyan and the roadside monkeys, turn sharp left and go along the top of the lakes. There are picnic tables here where you can relax and enjoy the views but don't ingest too much because a little further along you will come to a small car park serving a restaurant perched above the road. This is Ngiring Ngewedang, a family-run restaurant and coffee house which also gathers Robusta and Arabica coffee beans from the surrounding forest trees and roasts, grinds and packages them for sale. It is the only coffee that I can drink straight from the pot without the addition of milk or sugar.

Our friend and driver Made never hesitates to join us when we call in there now. He just smiles from ear to ear and leads the way in.

The indoor seating looks out across the valleys towards the south west but so often the view is obscured by cloud and drizzle. You feel enclosed in the atmosphere and order another pot of coffee.

The outdoor seating perches you above the edge of the road and if the weather is warm you will catch the faintest of cooling breezes here.

Like more info about where to shop, eat, drink, stay in this area? What to see and where to go? Click on this link to the Bedugul and Lake Bratan section of our Bali Forum Recommendations, but give it plenty of time to load as its in a very big file.

Like to go back and make another selection from our 2005 holiday pages?

- Or this link to more photos from Pacung and Bedugul taken during our 2000 holiday?

Or another day trip you can do up this way but one which gives you a different route back to your hotel in the south?

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