Levi and I decided that we needed to visit Bali... We had heard so much about it, so we decided to take a long weekend and go for it... Here is our adventure....
Heading out of Manila
Patiently waiting for Boarding Call
Our first welcome to Bali
This is where we stayed... It was deluxe..!!
There were 2 beautiful swimming pools..
The view from our deck
Good Morning...
Heading out to explore..
The beaches in Bali...
Wonderful Indonesian Beer
The proper Balinese greeting
And of course, the improper greeting... haha...
This is why Bali is so well known as a Surfer's Paradise... Constant overhead sets...
Enjoying the late afternoon at Ku De Ta...
Yes, we do love our cigars...
As the sun begins to set, the waves keep on breaking....
And they are still out there surfing...
Tapas for Dinner
The evening ambiance at Ku De Ta...
Back for a late swim...
All in all, a great first day....
Day 2
Today was all about diving... As many of you know, we are committed divers and try to get in the water wherever we are... Bali was no exception...
Bali Scuba was great..!!!
The first dive was the wreck of the USS Liberty
This is a Black Ghost Pipefish
Swimming towards the wreck...
Going inside...
Pretty dramatic...
This sea fan was about 8 feet accross
A school of jacks
Nudibranch
Sea Star
Sunny (our divemaster) and Levi
Levi and a sunburned Steve
Ready for shore entry..
The happy diving couple...
A six foot great barracuda....
I couldn't get Levi to go any closer... I wonder why..???!!!
Maybe he is hungry...!!!
Cleaner Shrimp
How about a Manicure..!!!
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OR
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Maybe some teeth cleaning...!!!
Resident Moray Eel
Underwater Ornaments
Levi's favorite - Lionfish
Anemone Fish
More Anemone Fish
Some Batfish
And so the day ended....
Day 3
Today is about Balinese cooking... Levi and I had signed up for a Balinese cooking class and we were excited to learn how to cook everything from scratch... There are NO pre-made ingredients in Balinese cooking... Even the coconut oil used in cooking is made from scratch...
This is Agus, our drive for two days... He was a great guy, very knowledgeable, spoke very good English and was a heck of a lot of fun to be around....
This is a traditional Balinese fast food joint... They only serve one thing, roast pig... With the sides... One of which is a "red" salad... The red comes from the raw blood that is used.... I passed on that, thanks...
Sang's family was to be our host for the day... We started out in a local Balinese market to learn about all of the ingredients that we would be using today...
Another member of his family, Chef Dewah, was to be our teacher...
Back to the market.....
There were 5 couples that participated in the cooking class... From Australia, the UK, France and Levi and I from the Philippines...
90% of the Balinese people are Hindu... They leave these gifts (small woven baskets of flowers, a token of the event being commemorated, some holy water and a burning stick of incense) all over... They are in front of every shop, restaurant, and business in Bali... Before anyone may eat any meal, it must first be gifted to the god(s)...
Here Sang is showing us some greens that we will be using in our salad today... These are very similar to fiddleheads in the States... Here in the Philippines they are called pako...
Various greens and grasses...
Snakeskin Fruit - Called Salak in Balinese...
Very crisp and crunchy...
Kafir Limes
Fresh vanilla pods
After the market, we were invited to the family compound to learn how to cook all of the ingredients that we saw at the market...
First, a fresh cup of ginger tea....
Next was an opportunity to see how the coconut cooking oil was made and then we learned the Balinese way of steaming rice... This was an hour and half process...
Here are all our ingredients that we will use today in preparing our lunch... The menu is:
Cram Cam Gedang Mekuah - Green Papaya Soup
Kare Ayam - Chicken Curry
Sate Lilit Ayam - Chicken Satay
Jukut Urab - Mixed Vegetable Salad
Sambal Ulek - Tomato & Chili Paste
Nasi Sela - Sweet Potato Rice
Dadar Gulung - Balinese Crepe
Everything is prepared from scratch... There are NO processed ingredients used... Coconut is used in almost every dish (oil, grated or milk)
We were then trusted to play with sharp utensils... Hmmm, a sharp knife, what to do with this...???
Chop-chop of course..!!!
Chef Dewah led us along the way...
Levi doing her thing..!!!
Making chicken satay...
The finished product...
Busy, busy...
Making the salad...
And finally, dessert...
Dadar Gulung - the finished product.
Wow, after all that hard work, it was time to enjoy the fruits of our labor...
Mmmmmmm, doesn't all that look good....
And so ends day 3, a most enjoyable experience....
Our Last Day
Today is filled with sightseeing and good food... Our wonderful driver, Agus, did a great job making sure we were informed and entertained all day long.....
First of all, breakfast on The Deck.....
Our first stop of the day was the most famous temple in Bali... Tanah Lot...
This is the small temple at Tanah Lot... Pretty dramatic sitting out there on the small peninsula...
Views of the coast...
The small temple... We were not allowed to enter any of the temples here... They are only entered for ceremonial purposes by those of the faith...
And here is Agus once again, being his usual happy self..!!!
This is the main temple at Tanah Lot...
Beautifully landscaped grounds
Agus and Levi
Tanah Lot..!!
We thought that we would be really cute and get this dramatic picture right next to the water's edge...
As you can see by Levi's expression, we got a little wet...
Now off to our next destination: the bird market in Denpasar... This is something that I wanted to see, though it certainly was not PETA approved... There is a lot of illegal animals traded here, but as in many countries here in Southeast Asia, the law turns a bit of a blind eye to it all....
It was as expected, not a nice place for the animals that are being traded: bad conditions, unhealthy animals, etc....
Well, enough of that... Now on to Uluwatu... This home to one of the largest surfing communities in Bali as well as a temple location and some of the "nasty" monkeys... They will steal anything from you...
This monkey has just stolen a baby's shoe (one of their favorite things I was told) from right off his foot while the baby was still in his mother's arm... Damn, those monkeys are fast....
Levi would not get any closer than that... haha...
We were required to wear a sarong to cover our legs when visiting the temple...
This is the temple at Uluwatu... Pretty dramatic... set right on the edge of a 200' cliff....
Another favorite item for the monkeys to steal was water bottles... They just love the fresh drinking water...
After leaving Uluwatu, the last thing to do before we left Bali was to have a fresh seafood meal at the water's edge in Jimbaran Bay...
We had fresh grouper, crab, prawns and oysters... All grilled with Balinese sauce... The spicy food was washed down with a couple of Bintangs....
Then it was time to say goodbye to Bali... We will be back..!!!
