Food in Bali!

Before I went, I did my research and was told that Balinese food is like art.  Each dish is curated not just gastronomically but aesthethically too.  This is the first meal we had.  The taste was so-so, but doesn't it just look gorgeous?!

Nasi campur

Gado gado

Sate! (Satay)

From my research, I also wrote down four places of must-eats.  Below is the first.

Nasi ayam (chicken rice)

Super strong balinese alcohol cocktail

I don't remember what that drink is called, but it had Balinese rice wine, honey and lime.  Super delicious!  I love it so much.  The first time I had it, I didn't stir it properly so I got quite tipsy very soon.  But it went away quickly too.

Bintang, the local brew

The breakfast spread from Raffles Holiday Hotel

Since we rented a car, we decided to drive to this volcano called Kintamani.  There, we decided to try to try street food.  Besides the Ayam Bakso pitured below, I also had the best pisang goreng (fried banana) and tahu goreng.  It's a pity street food was rare in the touristy parts of Bali.  :-(

It was actually pretty cold there and the locals were dressed warmly.

Another thing we did in Ubud was go to healthy, organic food places.  I love going to these places when I'm travelling at a cheaper place because it's health food that's a fraction of the cost in SG!

Wheatgrass shots

They were quite vile, but I believe it was doing good inside me, so.. no pain, no gain!  I would do it again :-D

Rambutan juice

I mentioned in a previous post that I didn't like rambutans, but I saw this on the menu and was intrigued.  How can they get juice from a fruit that is inherently not that juicy?  I still didn't like rambutan, but the drink was palatable.  Would not order it again though..

#2 on my must-eat list

Duck fried to a crisp!

This restaurant is fantastic!  I love it so much!  The interior is so well decorated.  The compounds of this restaurant must span acres!  There are padi fields, etc.  So fantastic!  I visited this place twice.  Once with Karri where I had this dish, another time with a new friend.  I had the duck fried rice then, YUMMY!

#3 on my must-eat list: Babi guling

It doesn't look that fantastic here, but it was pretty yummy!  I was just a bit traumatized by THREE LARGE DOGS that were parked at our table while we were eating.  This place is also very crowded.  It would help to be more aggressive and speak a bit of bahasa.  When I think of this place, I'm just reminded of the three dogs and I don't want to go back there again.  They didn't do anything to me, but Karri kept talking to them!
He just couldn't leave them alone!!!!!!!  Grr

Some health drink at Kafe with turmeric.. It was interesting

Another health drink.. banana-something?  Beats me!

Rigatoni Bolognese at Black Beach when I simply craving pasta!  Very yummy!

Ah, some organic chapati platter at Kafe. It was good.

Hotels in Bali

I stayed at three places in my trip.  The first was this place called AP Inn.  It's a pretty ok place.  Relatively near Kuta beach and it was quiet.  A bit dingy, but it's a no-frills place, so it was ok.  I thought the lighting could be brighter.  

View from my balcony

Creepy "angel" that was dangling on my roof

I'm guessing that angel thing is to protect me, much like what a dream catcher does, but it looked so creepy that I was just hoping not to get nightmares, especially since my dreams tend to be really wild.

And so, nothing remarkable about the hotel, or my stay in Kuta.  I guess if you're a sports lover and like seeking attention in a tiny bikini with peddlers coming up to you every step of the way, Kuta would be your place. I just found it way too overpriced.


Next up, Raffles Holiday Hotel in the far flung, remote area of Bali.  It was so far, but actually kind of worth it if you're looking for a romantic getaway with no traffic noise, nothing city-like around you.  Seriously, there wasn't wifi either.  I had my own cottage. 

Isn't this room cozy?

Outdoor shower!

I don't know about you, but I thought an outdoor shower was one of the most romantic things I've heard of, so when Karri found this place, I jumped it.  Only to realise after, that one of the flaws of having an outdoor shower is the biting cold that you have to deal with when showering in the morning.  ALSO, when it rains, I can't shower!  Kishy said that I could have just bathed in the rain, very natural, but then I thought about acid rain and water dripping from the trees overhead, etc.  I'm just not a very nature type of girl, am I? I don't know why I keep trying to be. 

The breakfast spread

 Initially, we thought the breakfast was just going to be clingwrapped slices of bread and some jam and juice.  Then, this amazing spread came, complete with rice.  It was a bit much for Karri, but I thought it was okay!  The food was pretty ok, but we were speculating about the freshness considering that this place was so far out from civilisation.

Our breakfast building

 The breakfast building was a bit creepy.  It had that echo-y feeling, as if you could be murdered and no one would ever find your body and no one can hear you scream.  Besides us, there were two other old-ish couples there. Everything was clingwrapped.  The bread, our juice, food left for us, etc.  It was a bit strange but I guess it was a good precaution since there were quite a lot of flies, which Karri often positively exclaims that if it's good for the bugs, it must be delicious.  -_-

The pool! And to the left you can see my cottage.

On our second night, it started raining and the rain leaked through Karri's roof.  What a lucky ass because hegot upgraded!  Apparently my cottage is the cheapest accommodation there, and he got a swanky room! I was so bummed I was wishing I would have a leak on my third night too so I could be upgraded.  Just look at his rooms!  That boy was gloating!

Swanky INDOOR toilet with bathtub!

Four poster bed that puts mine to shame!

Pool with Nölli, Jr.

If you're wondering why there is this seal popping up randomly, it's Karri's obsession.  It was his best friend on this trip, his only friend, in fact.  He's weird that way.  It's a finnish thing.  Go figure. :-P

And lastly, Ubud Aura!  My favourite stay the entire trip!  It was kind of pricey.  It's located in the yoga street of Ubud, Jalan Hanoman.  It was more pricey but still affordable.  I took this place because it is located right beside my yoga place, Yoga Barn.  Will talk more about that in the next post.  

Look  at the standalone shower in front of my bed!

I thought this was a really good idea!  One of my dream apartments would be like that, where the shower is in the room itself and I basically live in one big room with partitions separating each section.  :-D 

This place always had fresh flowers when they cleaned up.  It was so pretty and relaxing.  I had the best sleep ever in this room.

Princess-y, isn't it?!  :-D

The toilet and cabinets, etc

My standalone shower.  :-)

Ubud, Bali with Karri

I LOVE UBUD! LOVE LOVE LOVE! I don't know what it is, but I loved it.  I spent about 8 days there, 3 with Karri, 5 on my own.  


I wanted an adventure and this trip I really got it.  Firstly, we rented a car for Ubud and drove there from Kuta.  It was an adventure because we got lost.  Turns out this hotel that advertised as "in Ubud" was nowhere in Ubud.  In fact, it was 45 mins drive out of Ubud.  We were so lost.  Long story short, it took us about 4 hours to finally find the hotel.  The hotel was really swanky though, so that makes it better and the service was awesome, but I'll write about that in another entry.  It was an adventure because we were in our tiny rattling car, and the roads were filled with potholes!  The car was a Suzuki something, can't remember again, but it has a wheel at the back.. The car would also stall suddenly while we're driving!

Our trip started with a cooking class with this restaurant called Bumbu Bali.  First they took us to the local market, Pasar Ubud, to look at the ingredients we would be using.  It was a great experience the market, partly also because I had to shun dogs.  Dogs were everywhere! Living in SEA I already knew the spices they were using, they were just in a different name, but it was fun watching the other tourists guess.  

 I was so happy when I finally saww saffron because it's so expensive in Singapore.  I bought a huge packet so my brother could make paella for us.. but it turns out, I  got it wrong AGAIN.  -_- Somehow this was too fine.  I have no idea how on earth correct saffron should look like.

 And here we're back at the table learning the dishes!  It was a 4 hour course and we learnt about 6 dishes, quite a lot, I think. 

 That's me!  The chef will invite us to go up to help him.  I helped him to blanche the vegetables.

 Those were the ingredients, all pre-chopped.

 Our chef!  He's very spiritual about his cooking.

 And that's Karri making sate lilit.  It's really yummy!

 Oh, this mosquito bit me and Karri twice each.  We became a bit worried, but thankfully nothing happened to us.  Notice the black and white stripes?

 The dessert they served.  The crepe had gula melaka and coconut wrapped in it.  It was so yummy. The fruits were, you know, fruits.  Though the other "students" were fascinated by the rambutan.  It's really not my favourite fruit to begin with so I just ate it with a knife and fork very reluctantly.  A trivia: it was the first thing Raffes ate when he first arrived in Singapore! 

 The padi fields.  Tranquil, ya?

 This cafe we went to with weird steps.

 And the drive back to our hotel.  We have to leave before the sun sets so that we don't get lost in the dark. 

 Ah, we drove to this volcano, Kintamani but we didn't get to see anything!  It was too foggy, and it was pretty cold.  Like Genting!

 Monkey Forest Sanctuary.  It's not my favourite place.  Kit and animals in the open just don't go together. 

 Some temples..  We paid for a tour to take us to some temples.  After Angkor Wat, everything else just isn't that fascinating.. But these are the two places we bought tickets for, if you understand the language..

 Oh!  Very fascinated by how the Balinese transport things.  You should have seen how the humble motorcycle can be used to transport twice it's weight!  It's the motorised ant.   And here you have a lorry transporting cows.  I was so fascinated. 

 Below is the reason why we took the package: Pura Tanah Lot.  It's a temple that's surrounded by the sea.  It was pretty, but I must say, I was really disappointed because it was sooo crowded that the beauty was marred.  But just notice how blue the sky was!  We didn't even use any fancy camera equipment to make it more blue.

 Strange English.  No idea what they were saying other than 2 rooms available for rent.  Karri and I were looking for another place after the first day in Ubud because our place was simply too far, but we didn't in the end because of credit card issues.

And this, sums my post about Ubud while with Karri.  Coincidentally, my pictures about Bali also dwindled when Karri was not there.  He kept making fun of how I'm Asian and I should do my Asian thing and take pictures, haha but turns out he's the "Asian" one!  :-P  

Next I'll be writing about the hotels, the food, and life in Ubud on my own!