Can we have beef rendang tonight?!

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Seminyak, Bali

We eventually arrived on the hot and humid island of Bali after a 12 hour plus 2 hour flight from London via Singapore. Throughout our journey we were reminded by fellow travellers that the execution of the Bali bombers were due at any moment and that because of this all governments were advising travellers not to visit Bali during this time. So with a little trepidation we stepped off the flight at Densapar airport only to be met by a huge poster that alerted newcomers to the fact that they will be executed if they smuggle drugs in or out of the country. Thankfully our next two weeks in Indonesia were devoid of any other scary warnings or happenings, in fact we found Bali to be very safe and hassle free.
Our first stop was Seminyak, we stayed at The Oberoi. Our villa was beautiful, comfortable and felt very private. We loved the way they had tried to keep to the traditional Indonesian outside bathroom. We opted for local restaurants rather than eating at the hotel. One great find was Cafe Bali on the main road. This place could do no wrong, tasty breakfasts, fresh fruit juice, great mee goring, and top desserts. Through recommendation we visted Ku De Tah, which was really poncy! The door person/welcome lady had all the attitude of a London club hostess. The drinks weren’t all that and the view was the same as any other beach front bar, restaurant or hotel.
We mostly spent our costal time learning to surf which was really great fun, we just walked into the Quicksilver school on the beach and joined up. The instructors were really very good, the only downside is the strong current and the humongous waves!!
The biggest disappointment were the cleanliness of the beaches, they were literally filthy. Litter was strewn about, adding to this were dirty dogs everywhere, pissing, shitting, barking at locals and tourists.
After 3 nights and 2 days of relaxing, walking, shopping and eating we hit the road via a bluebird taxi to Ubud.

Ubud, Bali
When we arrived in Ubud it was pouring with rain... I don’t think I have ever seen rain like it. It was coming down in sheets without any let up even after 2 hours!! Our taxi driver eventually found the way to our hotel, the Hanging Gardens which is nestled in the rainforest area. The hotel hugs the steep valley walls seemingly defying gravity! Getting there in the dark in the middle of a thunder storm was quite a hair raising experience... It wasn’t until the next day when we realised how scary a journey it was.
The hotel staff were super friendly, our villa complete with our own infinity pool was incredible. As it was raining ferociously we decided to eat dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was full of couples who all looked like they were on their honeymoon. The depressing thing was that no one was really talking... In we came full of chatter and anticipation for what we were going to experience in Ubud over the next 4 days. The food was very good although it was very expensive! We vowed not to eat dinner in the restaurant again.

After dinner we took the little train back down to the valley floor where our villa was located.
Our first day in Ubud was spent exploring, we walked the town centre, went to the Monkey forest where we got up close to the cheeky, banana hungry monkeys. Our walkabout started at the far end of the forest. We stopped off for refreshments and to get out of the blazing heat and then set off. Strolling through local villages was really relaxing, the locals pass and say hello, kids wave frantically at you or yell out “hello!”. We continued our walk down residential streets, up hillsides and into the paddy fields. This is where the sun got hotter and hotter, it was baking. On our paddy field walk we were stopped by two young local girls who wanted to sing us a song. They found us a small patch of shade and then broke into song. The smiley girl was very much the leader of the two, confident and very well rehearsed. The other looked slightly uncomfortable and shy. When they had finished singing they asked for payment for a new song book. After the payment we continued on our walk, I got hotter and hotter and soon enough the water we had all got drunk. We stopped at the next drink vendor and picked up more waters. Instead of gulping it down I poured most of it over my head in an attempt to cool down quickly. My face and head started to feel a bit tight, as I put my hand to them I realised that they were also sticky! I had poured sugar/salt water over my head not plain water!! So as well as feeling very hot I was now very sticky and very uncomfortable, what an idiot.
Our walk finally came to an end, we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed back to the hotel, I jumped straight into the shower to de-sticky myself!
After booking ourselves a Balinese massage we headed to the restaurant Indus to fill our stomachs! The food was delicious, particularly the beef randang. There was live music on offer which was fabulous.
The next day we had organised to go on a bicycle tour with Bali eco tours, they picked us up at 7am and off we went. From our hotel we went to the volcano region where we ate breakfast at a cafe which had an amazing view of the crater lake and surrounding hills and villages. After filling our bellies we headed with the tour to a local garden kitchen where we were shown different Indonesian fruits, weasel coffee and another great view. After a cup of coffee we picked up our bicycles which really weren’t that great and headed on our biking adventure through paddy fields and local villages. We stopped at local interest points, looked at a massive old banyan tree and stopped to refuel on bananas and water. The tour company where great at providing bottled water for us. It was really very hot and humid.... However we still had a wonderful time riding next to beautiful scenery. We stopped at a typical Balinese home where our guide explained to us the different areas of the home and what they represent. The back of the house opened out into an amazing bamboo forest, it really was spectacular. The kitchen and rest areas were filthy, words can not describe how dirty it was. The next stop was at a rice harvest where the women were collecting the grains for transportation. Those ladies work very hard! The bike ride got even more strenuous as we went on, we were asked whether we wanted to stop or continue up the steep roads, half of us opted to continue with the bike ride, it was very hard but I felt great satisfaction when we got to the end! Out tour guide told us an interesting story about a lcoal village by the crater lake... legend says that years and years ago gthe village had a tree which blossomed the most sweet smelling flowers that would entice nearby inhabitants to drop by and vist the tree. The locals got so fed up of nearby inhabsitants visiting their village and sweet smelling tree that they decided that they needed to find a way of disguising the beautiful smell. The plans they came up with was to lay their dead on the ground by the tree so that the smell of their rotting corpses could disguise the smell, to this very day the locals do not bury their dead. They simply leave the bodies on the ground to deter any outside visitors. Tourists are not really welcome to this village however we were told that some guides would take tourists to see this ritual for themselves... we opted against this trip!

Back at the hotel we went to have our massages that we had booked the day before. The massage room was a twin room so that we could enjoy it together. The setting was beautiful, the open facade looked out onto the rain forest, the jungle sounds got even more intense as the massages went on and the night fell. I was so relaxed that I fell asleep at the end!!
The next day we headed into Ubud town centre for a cookery class that we had booked through the restaurant Indus. It was at another establishment that they owned. The class was quite full, about 20 people from all over the place, US, Australia, UK, France... We learnt how to make hibiscus tea, chicken satay, peanut sauce, and nasi goring. The class was fantastic! The teacher was great, very smiley. After a spot a shopping we bought tickets for the fire dance taking place later that evening. The tickets were worth it, the dance was fantastic! Seeing as it was our last night we decided to head back to Indus for our favourite meal, beef rending!
The next morning we were picked up early by Blue Water Safaris to take us to the port so we could board their fast boat to Lombok!

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