Cookin' and Divin' OH MY!!!

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We headed back to Ubud after the island trip,stayed in a got into a cooking class!!!! OMG moma Indonesian food is going to blow yer mind! It is soooooo favourful, with just enough spice. As part of the cooking class we did a full on excursion to the Indo markets to see smell and emerse ourselves in the experience of the most full on "farmers" market you could ever dream of! It is incredible to even fathom how fresh, and bountyful and CHEAP some of the ingredients where there!!! Saffron, Vanilla Bean, Lotus flowers, fresh fruit and veg for next to FREE! Some of the most expensive and wonderful spices and flowers that we would spend a fortune on at "local" prices......LOL! Some parts of the market were pretty full on as well, with the smell of fish, curry and GAAAAWD only knows what, to say it was a olfactory overload is an understatement!

Once we finished up there we headed back to the restaurant to cook up some AMAZING food, Koop of course loving the tasting part more then the cooking part, HAHAHAHA, and figures that he doesn't have to know allllll of the secrets and tips, cause I'll remember them, LOL! After that we cruised around Ubud for another day, taking in a traditional dance evening......BAHAHAHhahahahahaaaaa.....It was wonderful for the first 30mins......the show was 2 hrs long. Fantastic costumes and colors, I don't know about Indo's idea of music tho! then it was off to the far north east coast for some diving!!!

The diving was really really nice, but not the best I have ever done, plus it was heart breaking to see the residual of years past when dynamite coral farming was legal. It is good to see that the Indo gov. is trying to restore the coral reefs, but it just one of the examples how tourism and consumerism is sooooo detrimental to mother nature. The wreck that I dove was a ship that went down during WWII, I think, I can't remember, hee heeeeee. There was lots of colors and fish and coral there and the water was soooooo warm it was AMAZING! All the while I was diving and enjoying the sun beside the pool Koop was still getting over Denga fever. Which he got when we were out on the island and has stayed with him in lesser degrees for wks! It is a virus from mosquitos and so the only thing to take is anti inflam to help with the swelling of joints. BUT he is back to his old self now and is able to keep up again :0)

So from Talumba (where I dove) we headed west to a little town, Pembuteran and stayed in an eco lodge hotel.......SOOOOOOO cool! Complete with mango, lime and banana trees! The patio looked straight up the side of the lush, dense jungle/volcano forests! Also the shower in the room was all river rocks!!!!Something like $20 CND!!!! HOLY SHIT I LUVED THAT PLACE! Sitting on the beach was a bit of a trip too, as you look behind you see the multitude of greens of the jungle and carries only to give way to the black sand beach, AMMMMMMAZIN" after a few days of living it up we hopped a ferry and headed to Java!

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