Payangan’s Magical Hills

One of the most magical ways to enjoy Payangan’s hills is on foot, and there is something to be said for getting back to nature and hiking in the green woods that surround these beautiful hills. Whether you stroll along the only street of neighboring banjar (local community) Marga Tengah with its sturdy traditional mud-walls surrounding each dwelling or into the picturesque bamboo jungles beyond, where the pace of life slows to a leisurely gait, the experience is invigorating and full of surprises.

When you need to breathe fresh doses of morning air and stretch your aching limbs, you may take a leisurely walk following the narrow trail from Villa Wastra towards the banjar of Penyabangan, where time stood still and where people live the traditional Balinese life of the 1960s. The only exception is the noise of some motor bikes and the barking of some mud dogs that dominate the rustic air of village life. It is like a sun salutation of the tropical kind, a chance to revel in the glory of nature that comes with the sweet smiles received from children playing among the cocoa, coffee plants and banana trees, and the gracious Balinese women carrying grass stalks food for their cows, that you will pass on the trail.

Midway down the narrow lane, the road takes a turn to the right and wanders down the steep hill towards a wooden hanging bridge, connecting two hills at its base, and constructed by military personnel some 15 years ago. The “Military enters the Village” was a program at the time intended to bring the common people closer to the military.

After crossing the bridge, a stroll on a paved trail lined on one side with long hanging forest ferns, brings you uphill to a large banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) belonging to the banjar of Pilan. This tropical fig tree’s shoots that grow from its branches took root and formed new trunks over an area of more than 75 meters wide. There is a touch of something distinctly mystic about this tree, which can only be completely understood and appreciated if you have seen this immense phenomenon with your own eyes. The leaves are so green and shiny and its canopy is so dense, a sort of half light reigns in this unique realm of nature where the great silence is broken by many peculiar insect and bird sounds.

According to the Balinese who live close to nature, the forest is a marvel, once established it is self-renewing, like a self-repairing machine. All it needs is plentiful sunlight, carbon dioxide by day, oxygen by night, nutrients and water. Undisturbed it is everlasting, and this may endure for millennia.

Walking in the early morning mist does something to the soul. The glossy morning light in a fresh blue light always slaps you with a grateful and happy “it’s great to be here” feeling.
(to be continued)