0 Munduk village offers tranquil year-end holidays

If you plan to spend your last days of 2012 having a quiet and tranquil moment in Bali, please don’t go to the crowded, glittering and noisy areas of Kuta or Seminyak, where thousands of holidaymakers will welcome the new year with bright, colorful fireworks, loud music and sexy dances. A two-hour trip up the hilly, narrow and foggy road to Munduk village, located on the way from Bedugul to Singaraja in north Bali, will provide you with a much more serene holiday sensation. 

Tucked in the middle of coffee, clove and cacao plantations, the village has been growing into its role as a holiday hub for visitors who want to taste real Balinese life, far from the more commercialized tourist destinations in the southern part of Bali. Developed as a community-based tourist site over the last few years, Munduk is now famed among a small number of tourists, mostly frequent visitors to the island. Instead of staying at glamorous five-star hotels, visitors to Munduk love to spend their nights in modest home stays. 

Some visitors are also willing to stay with the locals in their own homes. Melly, a receptionist at Melanting Cottage in Munduk village, said that the majority of her guests came from European countries, France in particular. Every cottage in Melanting was built in the middle of coffee and spice plantations. “Guests will be able to spend their holiday walking through the plantations,” Melly said. Blessed with beautiful, green nature and a cool climate, Munduk is one of Buleleng’s most prosperous villages producing abundant coffee, cloves and cacao, as well as rice. 

A drive to Munduk is really challenging. One route is from Pancasari village in Bedugul, home to three gorgeous lakes — Bedugul, Bunyan and Tamblingan, going up to Gobleg village. In the afternoon, the road may be quite dark as it is often foggy. On the way to Munduk village, you will pass breathtaking views of Tamblingan Lake far below the narrow, winding road and can take a coffee break at any of the nearby cafes. Nature lovers may enjoy spending the nights camping near the stunning Bunyan and Tamblingan Lakes. 

Buleleng’s newly elected regent, Agus Suradnyana, has vowed to keep Buleleng villages free from large-scale tourist developments. “Buleleng regency will only develop community-based and spiritual tourism facilities in the areas from Munduk to Pulaki and Pemuteran,” Suradnyana said. Buleleng is still rich in forest, lakes, coast, plantations and rice fields. “The spiritual vibes of the areas are so obvious and we do not want to change the atmosphere only to get more tourists and investors,” the regent stated. 

Buleleng, he boasted, had 160 kilometers, or 27 percent, of the island’s coastline. “The regency has extraordinary marine resources, underwater assets, diving and fishing centers that can be developed into quality tourism facilities,” he said. Development of tourism would be different from that implemented in southern Bali, he said. Buleleng has 476 small and medium hotels with 21,133 rooms. “Buleleng is the unspoiled Bali,” Suradnyana stated.

source : bali daily