Before our fantastic rafting trip along the Ayung River, we spent a morning touring some of Bali's countryside with our guide, Jacks. We drove up from Nusa Dua through the village of Ubud and to the Batur region and toured several rural villages, starting at Pappadan.

I'd hoped to gloss over a certain part of this story but it would lead to awkward questions, so I'll just admit it from the start. This was a cycling tour, and... I can't ride a bike (I just never learned, okay?). So while the rest of the group got kitted up with helmets and gloves and set off on a leisurely 25km cycle on their fancy mountain bikes, I followed along behind in the van, or as I liked to call it, the chase vehicle.

It was a bit embarrassing to be the only non-cyclist, but riding in the van had its advantages - the potholed road meant we trundled along at a snail's pace for most of the way, making it easy for me to take pictures of the countryside. The driver obligingly slowed down even more every time I started snapping.

Children loved running alongside the van and waving back at me, although one group's happy cries turned to frustrated shrieks as we pulled away - I wasn't sure why, as I'd been smiling and waving in the most friendly manner possible. I felt terrible when the driver told me they'd wanted the pen I was holding in my other hand.

When I wasn't unwittingly taunting village children with my stationery, I was gazing out at the spectacular scenery.

The omnipresent rice paddies made for lush viewing; they were so amazingly green. Two types of rice are grown there - long-grained rice from the Philippines, which can be harvested every four months and produces 6 tonnes per hectare; and the more expensive local rice, which is harvested every six months, yields four tonnes per hectare and has a shorter grain.

The irrigation system for the rice paddies has another function - I saw a group of boys having a bath in a stream and having a fantastic time.

Animals all seem to roam free range around their owners' properties - I saw pigs, chickens and goats all pottering about by the roadside. Cows were the only animals tethered, perhaps because they're more precious.

So many of the villagers we saw seemed very houseproud, all absorbed in tidying up their fences and trimming lawn edges. I even saw one man going over his lawn with hedge clippers. I also noticed there are badminton nets outside practically every house - not really a surprise, as it's the second most popular sport in the country.

In one village Jacks took us to visit a traditional Balinese house compound. Each compound is surrounded by high walls, with a single entrance. The main gate of each house has a plaque with national census details inscribed on it. Immediately inside the entranceway is a small wall - the second gate, which keeps bad spirits out.

The compound has four main buildings, each with its own purpose. The eastern building belongs to the head of the family and is also used for weddings and other ceremonies. The northern building functions as the women's sleeping quarters.

The western building is like a lobby - it's where TV-watching and general chitchat happens, and it's also where the sons and grandfather sleep. The southern building houses the dining room and kitchen - in this case, not much more than an alcove with a few blackened cookpots and a grate for the fire.

Out the back is the yard where animals are kept and plants grown - this family had a couple of cows and a rooster sitting dejectedly under a wicker basket. We'd seen (and heard) a lot of roosters in similar cages all along the roadside. Jacks told us they were used for cockfighting.

In the front yard, an old woman was spreading rice out on tarpaulins with a rake so it dried. After leaving the house we saw rice drying everywhere, including spread out on the roadside - some of it not even on tarps, which seemed a little odd. How did they collect it afterwards? At one point our van drove right through one patch of rice which seemed rude - but on the other hand it was spread almost right across the road.

A few hours later there was a torrential rainstorm and I wondered how practiced the villagers are at dashing out to retrieve their precious rice before all that drying time goes to waste.

At the end of the tour, we were met with cool facecloths and drinks - welcome for me, but even more deserved by the cyclists.

The tour is almost all on the flat or a gentle downhill slope, with a couple of climbs, but in Bali's heat it's still a fairly good workout - or so I was told.

Amy Williams travelled to Bali courtesy of Club Med and Pacific Blue.

Check out the pictures from my trip to Bali on Flickr or find out more about Bali.

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