Retired Nomads - Part 3: Full Day Birding with Made Suya

April 19

Made Suya Bali Day Tours - Birding Ecotours picked us up promptly and we drove a short distance to a popular area for joggers, walkers and birders.

We hadn’t walked far on the trail before I realized I was having GI issues. We did hear and see a lot of birds, but unfortunately the trees were dense, and we really don’t have any decent photos. I’ll include a few, but mainly we got shots that were good enough to ID them (along with Made’s help in IDing them)

along the trail

the trail going into the forest

I said I needed a bathroom stop and after than I said I needed to go back to the hotel. I probably should have stayed at the hotel and Greg could’ve gone on without me, but I got myself together and rejoined them.

We drove to a couple of other areas and then stopped for lunch at a Chinese run restaurant. I ate some really good fried chicken and shared some of Greg’s rice he had with his chicken stir-fry. I was starting to feel a bit better (Pepto helped).

rice fields

restaurant in Bedugal

We continued to a botanical garden which had some forest areas. We birded for a while, and it started to rain. We managed to run to a covered area hoping to wait it out. Instead, it turned into a torrential downpour. We were at altitude, and it was starting to get cool.

bad shots through the window going through Bedugal

ladies in the parking lot of the botanical garden selling things

the rain was just starting

Finally, we put on our rain jackets and made a run for it through the soggy grass. We made it back to the main area of the gardens and headed for the car. They were selling strawberries in the parking lot and I would have loved to have bought some, but the rain prohibited that. We were up in farm country and passed many fields of various vegetables & strawberries. (too hot in most of Bali to grow them)

Made started driving in the opposite direction from the hotel and Greg asked where we were going. He said he was going to try and look for a birding spot where it wasn’t raining. We both assured him we had had a full day and were happy with what we saw, and we didn’t expect him to drive around hoping to find a dry spot. He picked us up at 6:30 and he lives 3 hours away. All we could think of was he still needed to drive home after driving the 3 hours back to our hotel.

Made (pronounced Ma day) explained the naming system of children on Bali. The firstborn child is named Wayan, Putu or Gede, the second is named Made or Kadek, the third child goes by Nyoman or Komang, and the fourth is named Ketut. If a family has more than four children, the cycle repeats itself, and the next 'Wayan' may be called Wayan Balik, which loosely translates to 'another Wayan'.

Our guide Emon had also explained this to us and why they normally go by another name, or it would get really confusing.

Back at the hotel, we thanked Made and couldn’t get our wet selves back to the room fast enough. A hot shower never felt so good.

We took a Grab into town and went back for Tapas near the Palace. We walked further down the road than we had walked before in search of some better gelato. We stopped at one and it was good, but not phenomenal. When it was time to leave, we got up to throw away our cups and the security guard there took them from us and then stopped traffic so we could cross the busy street. Wow!