After leaving Beratan Lake, we made our way to the rice terraces. It took around 40 minutes along windy country roads. The rice terraces have always been on my list of places to see, so I was looking forward to this trip.
Stopping by the side of the road to take some of these breathtaking views.
We stopped for lunch overlooking the rice fields, the restaurant served a simple buffet lunch of curries and stir fried vegetables. It was so relaxing just sitting and looking over the terraces.
I had a quick tour of the outside of the restaurant and was intrigued by the different chairs and benches in use. I also took a video of a waitress trying to evict a stray dog!
“I’ll leave when I want, thanks”
After lunch we walked across the road to take a walk along the rice terraces. The different tones of green were amazing and I was stopping every few seconds to take photos. We saw mostly women in the fields, of course! It looked to be back-breaking work. We could have walked the loop but it was already late in the afternoon and we had over an hour’s journey to drive back.
I can’t imagine the exhaustion these people feel at the end of the day, still so primitive and much the same as it was many years ago.
My dear hubby is a big rice fan and we eat it nearly every day at home. I have a rice cooker so it’s always cooked perfectly. Woe betide if there is too much water and it ends up sticky! Before the rice cooker is opened, he says “did you cut the rice”. Rice has to be chopped or cut before it is served.
Jatiluwih Rice Terraces are now a protected UNESCO Heritage Site and well worth visiting. They span more than 53,000 hectares of agriculture fields mostly covered with rice terraces. The system of terracing was developed based on the Hindu religion’s beliefs of being in harmony with nature.
We had a fabulous day visiting the temple first and then the rice terraces, it was well worth the drive.
