Seminyak: South Bali

Finally I've moved to the South side of the island, where the bigger resorts are. Seminyak is just a 15 min walk along the from Kuta, which is probably the largest and most famous resort on Bali - this is where the Bali bombs went off in 2002.

The beach here is long and golden, there are a lot of people enjoying the beautiful beach and I love the sunsets here.

Amed: East Bali

After my culturally intoxicating visit to Ubud I decided to leave the weirdly calming chaos behind and head to the beach for some proper R&R. I wanted to explore the East side of the island, which is much quieter than the Southern beaches near Kuta.

It was a long drive from Ubud, but the scenery was spectacular (see my previous entires for Taman Tirta Gangga and the rice terraces) and I loved driving through the little villages and settlements along the coast and on the mountain roads.

Amed is one such little village, which used to solely depend on rice, fish and salt for its industry but now caters somewhat for the tourist trade, especially for diving and snorkelling.  There is a WWII wreck just off the coast and very clear waters (although I did not experience this for myself).

After checking into my beachside bungalow and chilling by the pool for a while I went for a walk along the black sandy beach to watch the sunset behind the volcano.

The next morning I took a stroll along the beach to watch the spectacular sunrise and I was happy to see that the traditional village life still continued (at this quiet time of day at least). I saw the fishermen heading out in their traditional style boats which are called jukung (there were even some wooden ones amongst the shiny new fibreglass ones), there were families rising early to start the day's work - with their pigs and hens running on the beach, the fish smokers were getting going to preserve the fish for its journey to market and guys making salt metres from the waterline - still in the traditional solar evaporation methods which have been used for centuries in this part of Bali.

As the sun rose, the tip of Gunung Agung turned red, it was magical.

Salt manufacturing - the traditional way.

Jukung lined up along the beach.

I even saw fish jumping out of the water right in front of me - but even with my ninja camera skills I'm sorry I missed the shot. Maybe next time. Amed is a beautiful, peaceful and tranquil place and I'm glad I made the trip here.

Bali: The Rice Terraces

There are rice paddies all over Bali, which I find enchanting. I saw my favourite ones on the road over to East Bali between the three towering volcanoes of Gunung Agung (last erupted in 1963), Gunung Lempuyang and Gunung Seraya.

Even the scarecrows are beautiful.

Taman Tirta Gangga: The Water Palace

This beautiful and tranquil palace was built by the last king of Karangasem. I don't know much else about it, but it was so beautiful and I spent a long time wandering around the gardens absorbing the peaceful calm of the fountains and ponds (and the biggest goldfish I have ever seen - they wouldn't fit in a sandwich bag at a fair, that's for sure.).

Bliss.

Balinese Cooking Class

Whilst on my travels I have decided to try to expand my cooking skills and recipe repertoire. Luckily for me this lesson started with an early morning visit to the market with an introduction to lots of new ingredients and an explanation of how each food is used in Balinese cooking.

The market was bustling with people, sights, colours, sounds and smells - even though by 8am it was winding down (the food market opens at 3am). There was a huge array of cooked food/snacks, ingredients and flowers/incense for the offerings.

Here are some photos - but nothing can convey the smells and sounds!

This is the Balinese version of a ready meal - the bags contain an assortment of pre-cooked sauces that you can add your own meat/fish/veg to later.

Flowers for the offerings.

Then we returned to the kitchen to cook, where there is an offering placed next to the pot on the stove.

I've never cooked in a tropical garden before!

Then we set to work! There is a lot of chopping to do - the first job is to make the Balinese sauce, which is a spicy paste containing ginger, chilli, turmeric (fresh, white and yellow), onions, garlic, galanga and a lot of other things. The ingredients are very finely chopped and then ground in a pestle and mortar (check out my disciplined chopping in the bowl below! And yes - I did make a mess whilst doing this, but no blue plasters were required after I was taught how to chop properly).

I learnt how to make: corn fritters, Tempe with sweet sauce (a tofu based veg side dish in sweet chilli), chicken satay (served on sticks made from coconut bark, with no peanuts in sight!), Balinese soup with spicy fish balls, Nasi Goreng (Balinese version of egg fried rice) and for desert Babur Injin which is black and sticky rice in coconut milk and cinnamon. So after all my hard work I did feel like I earned the feast laid out in front of me - it was delicious!

Ubud: Legong and Barong Dance

So this evening I decided to broaden my horizons by watching a traditional Balinese dance.

This took place at Ubud Palace, where the local Royal family live. Apparently this form of dancing tells a story through dance and drama, although I was lucky and saw one mainly of dancing as there was no English translation when they were speaking.

This is the grand setting for tonight's performance at the Palace.

Soon the orchestra came out to start playing the traditional Gamelan music. Some of the instruments are played with hammers and, I mean no offence here, to me it sounded like the whole orchestra was playing the hammers....

But soon I was distracted as the beautiful dancers came to perform the first act - the Legong Kraton dance, which is danced by three beautiful women and is traditionally performed in front of the 

King (he must have been busy tonight as I didn't see him in the audience). They tell the story through beautiful, although sometimes jerky movements and the expressions on their faces.

Next came the Bapang, which is a big monster controlled by 2 men in a dancing suit with another man dressed as a monkey later (I was a little lost).

Then came the battle of virtue and vice - Telek, where the 6 men dance in beautiful masks.

Six beautiful women follow this act:

Then, I have to admit, I got a bit lost..... I understand there is some battle with an evil witch (I think widow witch, not window witch as listed in the program).

 I think she battles with 3 men, who are white gurus (not sure if that is the plural of guru, maybe guri??). But they were talking more and dancing less, so I'm not completely sure - they were scared of her I think.

Then 6 bare chested warriors in sarongs with flowers in their hair killed the window witch and then stabbed themselves with their daggers.

So that's that. The end.

I may not have completely followed what was going on, but I enjoyed it immensely. The performers were all very talented, even the hammer orchestra. I walked outside the Palace at the end to watch the orchestra all speeding away in their mopeds in full costume. Just another night in Ubud.