Klub Kokos

News - Road Improvements

December 2001 Newsletter

Road Improvements
Ceremonies
School News
Staff/Guest News
Featured Recipe
(Gulai Ayam - Spicy Madurese Chicken)

Over the past six years since we have had accommodation available at KLUB KOKOS, our guests would have seen the access road into our 'off the beaten track' area of rural Bali in various states of disrepair. When we first moved to this area in 1990 there was no road through the village of Payogan to reach our village of Bangkiang Sidem. Instead, if we needed to drive here we had to travel almost 20km from Ubud to the north through the village of Keliki and south again to reach Bangkiang Sidem. In 1993 the government built a bridge across the river near Payogan, giving closer road access to Ubud (7.5 km) but apart from a little bitumen on either side of the bridge on the steep slopes leading down the valley, the remainder of the road link into Bangkiang Sidem remained only a dirt track, becoming impassable in wet weather.

Roadway leading up to the T-junction at Bangkiang Sidem

The antique steamroller used for the job

After large rocks are spread over the surface of the road & compacted with the steamroller, the tar is heated on the side of the road in drums, using a blow torch to get it hot enough to spread.

A gang of mainly women were used to spread the rocks, finer gravel and sand on the road surface, while this man had the dangerous job of sprinkling the boiling tar over the road using a large watering can.

In 1998, after endless fruitless attempts to see any action from the local government to continue with the job of sealing the road from Payogan through to Bangkiang Sidem, and to the village of Sebali to the north, we decided as a community to look for donations to cover the cost of the hundreds of trucks of limestone needed to be spread on the road to make it accessible in all weather. This was finally accomplished by mid-1998, and it was truly luxurious being able to safely travel over a smoothly steamrollered road of solid limestone.

However, anyone who has been to Bali would be fully aware of the steep terrain in some areas, including the access road to Bangkiang Sidem. You would also be aware of the torrential rains that fall, especially during the wet season from November to March. So it wasn't long before ruts were being gouged out of the roads where water rushed passed. The follow-up of a bitumen surface still wasn't forthcoming from the government, who were still fighting the general economic crisis in Indonesia.

Then with increased heavy traffic on the bitumen road area around the bridge breaking up this section of road, for the past year or so it has become increasingly difficult for cars to make their way down the valley and over the bridge.

Finally the good news! Earlier this year we made a further drive to gain financial support to bituminise the section of road between the temple at Payogan and the T-junction leading to Bangkiang Sidem. With around Rp.70,000,000,- (approximately US$7,000) from donations, as well as some materials and the use of a steamroller donated by the local government, we managed to seal the 1.3km of road that was making access to this area so difficult. Although it is not a 'four-lane highway', it is certainly a big improvement, especially for those of you who enjoy driving yourselves while you are staying with us at KLUB KOKOS.

This highly labour-intensive way of building a road will certainly not be as strong as the way the more main roads are built using hot-mix equipment, but it's meant that it has been financially possible to build such a long stretch of road at such little cost. I hope that those of you who are soon to come to visit us at KLUB KOKOS will appreciate the community's struggle just to make it possible to drive here. We're 'off the beaten track', but the track is not quite so beaten now!

[next - Ceremonies in Bangkiang Sidem & Ubud]

This page was last updated on December 6, 2001