Hike up Tjampuhan Hill

Tjampuhan Hill is a popular walk that runs from the farmland on the outskirts of Ubud right into the city. It’s a fairly long but not particularly strenuous walk with some great scenery. Many locals as well as tourists frequent sections of the path.

We started off in one of those typical Indonesian rural settings – a few houses and businesses interspersed by rice paddies. At this point the walk was pretty flat.

I didn’t clock us, but I think the walk took about an hour. Of course I had my trekking poles in hand. I brought them along mostly because I wasn’t sure how much of a problem I would have will hills. They were invaluable on steps, as you can see from my posts about temples in Java. But just a casual hike?

I’ve never been a big fan of walking sticks. I find carrying them draining. But I got a nice, long-swing rhythm going with the trekking poles, and found they helped keep me going. I’m ten pounds lighter now and a great deal stronger so I might not find them as helpful as I did then.

One of our tour guides was curious about them. I let her borrow them. She didn’t last any longer than I would have when I was her age – before the osteoarthritis did such a number on me. In those few steps I could already feel the increase in pain in my hips.

We passed a cafe. At first glance I noticed the huge pile of coconuts with drinking straws sticking up and thought people must have been having a pretty good time.. Then I noticed the collection of shoes on the steps. I still have no idea how that came about.

Many of the businesses we walked past offered statuary. Most were your run of the mill gods and goddesses, but some real artistry went into a few. Some of the statuary was intended as decoration or homage for the businesses rather than being offered for sale. The monkey was part of a restaurant.

The path changed as we went along. It became fancier as we went into the hills. I found this counter intuitive. Most of the time when I go hiking, the more remote you get, the cruder the paths. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I was on a forest service approved path that turned into nothing but deer trails.

Maybe it had something to do with the rich people’s neighborhood. One of our guides made quit a fuss about the rich people and their houses. I’ve encountered this attitude in places like Mexico. I never could understand it. It’s not like we were invited to cross the gully and go visit. Even if we were, it’s just some random guys home. Well, whatever.

As far as people sitting on the path goes, it seems to be a local custom. There were several groups randomly plopped down. There didn’t seem to be a particular reason. They simply sat when they wanted to – often in large, talkative groups.

The path made a decided run straight at a temple. I’m not sure if this is Tjampuhan Temple or if it was called something else. About this time I’d mostly given up on my smart pen and don’t have good notes.

We weren’t invited inside the temple. Instead we made a run right around it. Think high walls to the right, and a drop off full of wild green things leading to a river to the left. For the length of the temple wall we might have been at some exotic ruin in the depths of the jungles. At the end of the wall we came to an odd double bridge.

If we could get to the upper bridge from our path, I missed the turn. All the pedestrians took the lower bridge. As we crossed, cars rumbled past on the upper bridge to the right. When we had crossed and gone up a set of stairs, we were suddenly in Ubud. A couple blocks walk put us on a main drag. We walked to our hotel. The steepest, toughest hill of the whole walk was there in town.