My hike in Yeh Gangga Bali

Sunday I rode from Seminyak to Yeh Gangga beach, just north of Tanah Lot. Yeh Gangga means water from the Ganges. Looking a map of the area (close up map) you will notice the main road that goes from Denpasar to Tabanan, and onto the port of Gilimanuk, in west Bali. All the small local roads that run south from this main road, in a spiders web of naviagation, somehow head towards the beach.

I hate that main road as it is possible the most poluted in the whole of Bali, with large trucks heading back and forth from Java. With that in mind I took the route through Kerobokan, to Canggu, Tanah Lot, turning right at the Beraban junction before Tanah Lot and navigating a higgledy piggledy route towards Yeh Gangga. This route is largely untravelled by tourists. I saw virtually no tourists, or tourist infrastructure. Roads were often narrow and bunpy, though there was no trouble getting my bike down there, and car would also have no problem. Along the way were lovely little instances of a the ‘Bali Scene’, farmers harvesting crops, narrow palm tree-lined roads, with people loading trucks with fruit, people bathing in the small creeks that ran at the raodside. Really, a lovely place for a slow cruise.

Finally getting to Yeh Gangga beach I parked my bike and bought a drink at a beachside warung. The lady agree to look after my helmet, and I swaped it for my Aussie Akubra hat, stashed inside my backpack. The route I intended to take was one recommended in The Natural Guide, an alternative guide book to Bali. The book gave what sounded like precise directions for a 10km circular walk, starting with a 3 km beach walk, followed by a 2 km section of pathways, through the fields and ending with a leasurely stroll along quite local roads.

‘Awesome’, I thought ‘This isn’t going to be difficult at all, I’ll take my time and be back in 3 hours. Walking along the dark sand beach, I saw fresh water pouring out of a rice field, down to the beach, the pounding surf only 30 meters away. There were no bathers, surfers or many other peopel at all on this beach. It was rather windswept and I get the impression from the few people I did see, that not many foriegners come here.

My instructions said to keep walking and take a path behind the temple on the cliff, heading west. Spotting the temple, I hiked around the back excitedly looking for the hidden path. All I could find was a rice field, with paddy walls going in all direction, I choise the rear wall and headed west, which terminated into a 50 meter wide river estuary. The temperature in the rice field must of been 100f. Frustrated I returned tto the beach and headed west, crossing other estuaries that were not too deep and bushwaking a bit more in the hope of finding a pathway. My instructions said that if I missed the ‘hidden path’ I should continue west to the main road, which circles round, terminating at a beach just north of Yeh Gangga.

By the time my bushwhacking, estuary hopping, rice field hiking, was finished and I had made it to the main road, I was somewhat tired. A couple of kilometers up the orad I stopped for a banana and and egg, at a small raodside shop. The locals looked at photos of Ika and Jevon and popped the usual questons at me (‘where is your wife from?’ ‘what job does she do?’).

They also told me Yeh Gangga was 15kms away. I’m thinking, ‘that just doesn’t sound like fun.’ Carrying on the intense sunlight and heat made sweat pour out of me and I felt slightly ridiculous. so many times had I explored small villages and country lanes on my motorbike, distances unimportant. Now my bike was miles away and I did not fancy hours of walking. Asking locals if they wre into being an ‘ojek’ (motorbike taxi) they both declined, saying Yeh Gangga was too far. Onbe did offer to take me back to the beach I came from though, it being the shortest way back. Along the way I spotted 2 Balinese guys, on a motorbike, the driver wearing a helmet, that was an exact copy of mine. The fact that locals in this area don’t wear helmets, made think that it could possibly be my helmet.

Arriving at the beach again, the tide was fully out, which made it way easier to walk on. Crossing estuaries and rounds headlands no problem. Along the way I encounters locals sorting stones on the beach. The type of stone used in the zen design, rounded dark grey stones of a similar size, were being sorted meticulously. Strolling thorugh a group of about 12, who were crouched over in the middle of the beach, not one of them noticed me, so involved were they in their job. After an hour or so I was getting near to Yeh Gangga and saw groups of young Balinese enjoying the beach in the late aftenoon. Couples would sit and hold hands at the edge of the beach, groups of girls would stroll together, while boys, paired up on motorbikes would fly up and down doing wheelies. I was worried about becoming a target of their attention (let’s buzz the buke) and although they zipped by, it was more to impress, that to scare.

Arriving at the warung, I found my bike and helmet still there. Gratefully I downed another Pocari Sweat and thanked the lady. The reason I did not get to do the hike the way it was laid out was that I turned off at the wrong temple. It was a temple on a cliff, but there was more than one. Maybe I should improve my map reading in future. Still what is adventure about if not taking a chance and stepping into the unknown.

My thoughts about the logistics of this type of trip, were that if I leave my bike somewhere again and do this, I should arrange with a guest house, to get someone with a cell phone who can pick me up, if I need it. The area around Yeh Gangga is lovely, though and people are very friendly.