Soap, Sand and Nasi Campur

The beach outside of the soap-maker's shop.

For our last day in Bali, and arguably our last real day of vacation, we decided that we needed to take it easy. The beautiful grounds and sea views from our villa were alluring enough that we really wanted to make that the focus of our day.

Nonetheless, there were a couple of last things that we needed to tend to, not the least of which was going to an ATM. We knew that the ATM pickings in East Bali were few, but we hoped this would not end up being an all morning endeavor. Indeed, it should not have been, but for whatever reason Mastercard and Cirrus were not working so we took a somewhat scenic (yes, really) tour fr Amlapura searching for an ATM that would work.

Freshly made soap waiting to set.

The "shop" was really just a shelf with a lot of soap on it.

Eventually, success. From there we set off to Jasri where we visited a natural soap maker. Both of us couples needed to buy some soap as gifts and, situated on a pristine black sand beach, there were certainly less desirable soap makers to visit. This particular soap maker produces the soap for a number of luxury resorts on the island. Next, we went to White Sand Beach, just south of Jasri, where we were promised virgin white sand and beautiful waters. The water was beautiful and I am not going to say that the sand turned tricks, but it was not quite what we were looking for. Pretty yes, spectacular no; moreover, with even just a few touts present, our villa presented a much more attractive option.

White Sand Beach - looks deserted, right?

Not so much.

One more stop: on the coastal road again, we headed down to Kusamba, where just past the Bat Cave temple, they are famed for their grilled fish and nasi campur, a dish consisting of two types of fish satay, a fish cake steamed in banana leaves, rice, fiery sambal, a spicy fish broth soup, nuts and snake beans. We ended up at Mertha Sari, a local favorite, and got set for our meal. We received no shortage of stares as the weird farangs visiting the local haunt – pilgrims had come straight from the Bat Cave for lunch and they were certainly looking a whole lot more presentable than we were.

Grilling fish satay.

All the pieces of lunch...

What they look like dished up together - delicious!

Despite that fact, people were very nice. There is no menu there – just one dish – and it was served to us on our mat almost immediately. The dish had spice that literally lit your mouth on fire, but washed down with a Bintang, it seemed that nothing could be more delicious. I finished, tears in my eyes, wanting more.

The ocean view at the villa.

After lunch, it was time to enjoy our last afternoon in our villa. Mr. Ibu Oka and I played “coconut”, our self-devised game of lawn bowling that involves, you guessed it, using a coconut, while Ms. Cupcake and Ms. Kumquat read and looked out at the water and Nusa Penida island in the distance.

It was a great last day in Bali. 

Road trip Bali

The view from the van.

Today was another day to venture out. Ms. Kumquat, Mr. Ibu Oka, (names changed per request from a friend) Ms. Cupcake and I packed ourselves into the van for a day around Bali. We were to actually cover much of the island with the goal a late lunch at what was purportedly an excellent organic fusion restaurant up in Lovina, on Bali’s northern tip.

More rice!

We set out early from Candidasa, our east coast town, up to Gunung Batur and Danau Batur. As we rose into the mountains, we noticed dozens of large tour buses flying down the road. At first we were disappointed that throngs of other tourists were already enjoying the clean, cool, fresh air of the mountain before we noticed that they were all full of Balinese. Turns out that it was a pilgrimage from Lovina to Bat Cave temple, a temple located about 15 minutes from our villa.

The unofficial mascot of Bali, according to me, anyway.

Bali is a fascinating place in that respect. Despite the zillions of tourists that seemingly come each year, it has steadfastly held on to its traditions. The arrival of western influence has not at all infringed on the practice of Bali’s traditional practice of Hinduism. You pass through many towns where men are adorned in sarongs and crisp white hats on their way to temple. We got stuck in more than one traffic jam due to processions for religious ceremonies along the road. This is not at all what I expected from Bali.

Gunung Batur

When we arrived at the vista point for Gunung Batur and the lake, Bali looked almost like Switzerland. It was actually pretty chilly up there, but the lake shore looked very inviting. As we were reflecting on that, our driver explained that one of the villages along the lake, Trunyan, was actually not so inviting. They are the Bali Aga people, similar to those of Tenganan, but are not fans of tourists. They are very isolated and the only way to arrive in their village is by boat. One of their rarer traditions is to leave dead bodies to decompose under trees instead of burying them.

Just another gift shop.

From there we learned that Bali has essentially no roads that go across the island from east to west. Perhaps not the most efficient way of travel, but we did get to traverse more of the island this way! We went down south to Gunung Kawi, a temple and nine shrines hewn into a mountain side that is about 20 km from Ubud. You feel a bit like Indiana Jones descending the stairs into the valley of the mountain as a temple rises out of the jungle.  

Fruit stand on the road.

On the way back up to Lovina, we passed through Ubud (ugh) and then back up into the mountains. With mountains and farms surrounding us on all sides, we drove up the road through little towns and markets for more than an hour before we arrived at the turn off to go to the Jatiluwih rice fields. Lonely Planet describes these fields as “unimaginably green,” and there is little other way to say it. They spread out from every vantage point for almost as far as the eye can see, with the only break the mountains that rise above. It was stunning, and though it requires a journey along a rather challenging road to get there, it was well worth it.

Jatiluwih rice terraces.

We then continued straight up the way to Lovina, after a brief stop at a strawberry shop to get some milk shakes and juice (the central mountains are excellent produce areas). We were going to lunch at Damai Lovina Resort – supposedly one of Bali’s best restaurants. The views from the hilltop out to the sea were beautiful. We ordered some delicious pork sandwiches, some fish tartar, bali vanilla shakes and green chicken curry. We were, indeed, impressed.

Our relaxing lunch was followed by a meandering journey home all the way around the coast road. Throughout the whole journey, Bali’s magnificent sea views were to our left. We passed several beautiful temples, with ceremonies or processions in progress, and underneath massive Gunung Agung for almost half the ride.

Today we experienced the full beauty of Bali. Having now been to almost every part of the island though, I can say with certainty that East Bali is our favorite bit. 

Boo Ubud

The saddest art gallery ever.

I remember learning as a little kid that if you do not have a lot of nice things to say, it is best not to say them at all. Thus, today’s blog post will be short.

Ubud sucks.

I felt it obligatory that we go, even after having been forewarned about just how touristy it is, but it was actually worse than expected. We set off this morning to go to Sidemen road and do some early morning trekking in the rice terraces. Unfortunately, it was difficult to locate a guide and it was pouring down ride. We took a beautiful ride, but, in the end, had to leave the Sidemen area without doing any trekking.

The start of the trek was a paved path, which we complained about until it turned into a busy road!

As a plan B, I figured we could go to Ubud early and do one of the treks around there. Trek is, I suppose, a loosely used word. Is it trekking if it is done on a road!?!?! We did an 8km loop around what is supposed to be some of the more beautiful scenery around Ubud and, especially compared to yesterday, were very unimpressed.

Okay, so there were a few spots that looked lovely.

We stopped in some temples and went to some outlying villages, but it was not even that it was too touristy as much as it simple wasn’t as nice. We longed to get out of there. So, we booked it back down to Ubud, visited the palace (where we were still fairly unimpressed) and then started to make our way out of there.

Ibu Oka warung.

Pig, pig and more pig.

However, there was one final stuff. Back to our sheer love of food and of Anthony Bourdain, we had to stop at Ibu Oka Babi Guleng. Babi Guleng is whole spit-roasted pig stuffed with ginger and several other Balinese spices. We indulged ourselves in delicious crispy flesh, fried face, blood sausage and some fantastic roast meat. It actually redeemed the rest of Ubud.

On the way back to our section of East Bali we actually stopped for seconds of Babi Guleng at a warung in Gianyar famous for some of the best Babi Guleng in Bali. Making the comparison, Ibu Oka was better, but only marginally so.

Stuffed with enough pig fat for a life time, it was to the antique shop again to pick up our wares and then to the villa. Looking out at the ocean now in our tranquil spot, I wonder why we ever ventured out. 

Rice terraces

Rice terraces.

S and I were supposed to wake up at 1am this morning to go trek to the summit of Gunung Agung, Bali’s highest and holiest volcano. Fortunately, we thought better of that and canceled last night.

Overnight, it poured. It poured so badly that some of the other villas affiliated with ours flooded. Had we been trying to summit, well, let’s just say it would have been uncomfortable. We were so tired the night before that we decided to sleep in and do some more mild trekking later in the morning.

After a great night’s sleep, we woke up refreshed and ready for a day out. We were up early and went out to enjoy the fresh air and the beach. S and L went snorkeling and though Ms. Cupcake and I tried, I am just not a great snorkeler.

Tenganan

From there, we were off to trek between Tenganan and Tirta Gangga. It was supposed to be one of the most beautiful treks in Bali and it certainly proved to be. Tenganan was a pretty, traditional village still seemingly clinging to some of its old ways despite the modernity of Bali. Though somewhat of a tourist attraction, it was still desserted. We walked through peacefully as the artisans (Tenganan is one of the more famous Bali craft villages) went about their business weaving double ikat, baskets, etc. From there, it was into the jungle. It was steamy, but more than anything, it was really, really wet. Most of the trail was essentially a stream (which was actually quite pleasant in the heat).

The trail through the jungle.

We arrived out of the jungle after about 30 minutes to an almost blinding green. The rice terraces went off at every angle into the ocean. Hiking along an irrigation channel, we continued in the rice terraces for well over an hour. At every turn the views were breathtaking. Ms. Cupcake commented over and over again that we were taking far too many pictures, but they were irresistible.

Terraces under Gunung Agung.

Views of the ocean.

We arrived in Tirta Gangga after just under two hours where we then took a quick swim in the water palace to cool off in a bit of history. The bottom of the pool was slick with algae but the water was super refreshing.

The water palace.

By that point, we were starving. We had booked lunch at Seraya Shores at our villa owners recommendation. It was down below Mt. Seraya, right on the coast along a pristine black sand beach. The waves pounded the shores just below our table. As soon as we arrived, nearly a dozen dishes showed up at the table – grilled calamari, grilled fish, grilled prawns, potato curry, mango salad – and many others. All were outstanding and we stuffed our faces silly for the next two hours. We finished our meal letting the soft, black sand massage the bottoms of our feet.

Black sand beach.i

Our table for lunch.

Mango salad.

On our way back, we noticed a small antique store off the road to Tanganan. The shop owner was not there, but she came down from Tenganan to show us around her shop. It was a veritable treasure trove of antique and quasi-antique Indonesian wares. We relished in sorting through the old wooden statues, bronze figures and double ikat’s. We felt as if we were in an undiscovered land.

Again, I know that Bali is one of the most touristed places on the planet, but, I am telling you, in East Bali, you wouldn’t know it. 

A day of gluttony in East Bali

East Bali from the water.

The truth is that we debated whether or not even to go to Bali. We had dinner several months ago with some friends that had just returned from their honeymoon there. They are also rather intrepid travelers so we were shocked that it was where they had chosen to go. They stayed for two weeks (combined with Lombok) and though they had a positively amazing time, were very clear to warn us that there would be a lot (A LOT) of other tourists. The romantic notion of having a far off tropical asian island to yourself would certainly, certainly not be the case. They told us that if we stood any chance of avoiding the throngs, we best head to East Bali.

So we did, and we thank them now.

In East Bali you actually do feel like you have this paradise to yourself. There are very few tourists over here because there is not a lot fancy in this part of Bali. Most people come to Bali and stay in Ubud or in the South where tons of bars and restaurants keep things interesting while the scenery is still beautiful. That is not what we were looking for. We were hoping beyond hope to find something a bit more authentic (understanding that many, many people also look for that), though understanding, after all, that Bali is like a tourist mecca.

We are staying a beautiful private villa with our pool, beautiful beach and incredible views. The only thing that you can hear at almost any time of day if the sound of the waves breaking on the shore.

We awoke to that noise at 5:30am this morning. Despite our later arrival, we had booked the day at Alila Manggis’s cooking class. I hated myself for making that booking when the alarm went off, but my view quickly changed.

Our fishing boat

After the quick 5 minute drive to Alila Manggis (one of two 5-star resorts in East Bali, the other being the Amankila), we quickly set off in the Alila fishing boat, looking back at the shore and the peak of Gunung Agung. We had to catch our lunch. We went about 30 minutes into the ocean before we dropped the line and hoped. Fortunately, fishing in these waters, as Ms. Cupcake likes to say, is like fishing in a rich man’s aquarium. You literally catch something about every 5 minutes – red snapper, trigger fish, crocodile fish, parrotfish, jackfish and others. The only problem, for us unfortunate novices, is that all we caught for the most part was little versions of the above – so little they had to be thrown back. Our stomachs lucked out, however, because the two fisherman with us caught two very large jackfish. Yay – LUNCH!

After fishing, we had a lovely breakfast on Alila’s terrace looking out over the ocean. It was the perfect proper welcome to Bali now that we had woken up a bit. Alila’s property exuded a simple, understated elegance that is the essence of what I think people look for when they come to Bali. Our food, especially the banana juice, was just delicious.

An assortment of rice, beans and bird seed.

Mangosteen - my new favorite fruit.

Flowers for sale.

We went to Klung Kung market after breakfast. About 20 minutes away, it was teeming with vendors despite the fact that we already missed the peak period. Every imaginable spice, produce item, type of egg, flower, livestock, etc. was available. We tried all sorts of delicious market food, including Laklak, rice flour pancakes with palm sugar and coconut, daluman, a leaf gel drink, and several indigenous fruits. We bought 4 kilos of mangosteens – after which Manggis is named – and some bananas.

LakLak

After our thorough tour of the market, we set back towards to the hotel but took a turn before we arrived. We started up into the hills, towards the Alila organic garden. Alila grows almost all (or at least as much as they can) of the spices and produce they need for their restaurant at their organic garden set in beautiful rice terraces overlooking the ocean. The setting is surreal.

The view from the garden.

We received a tour of the garden, including explanations of the many local items that we couldn’t even attempt to grow at home. One of the great Alila staff up in the garden, a very nice older gentleman, offered to come to our villa to sell us his home grown vanilla beans and coffee. Alila’s head chef, Santika, was to be our teacher for the rest of the morning. For the next two hours, he took us through making 8 different dishes. We started with bumbu bali, the fundamental sauce that is the key element of Balinese cuisine. From there, we moved on to marinate our huge jackfish, make chicken satay, make a Balinese version of a tamale (ground chicken with coconut milk, bumbu bali, and other spices steamed in a banana leaf, nasi goreng and some excellent veggie accompaniments.

Ingredients used - rice, beans, nuts, spices, veg, etc.

Jackfish marinated in Bumbu Bali

I don't know what this is but it tasted good.

The class was great because it was not a cooking demonstration – it was an actual interactive class. We chopped and stir-fried and stirred. It was great. Santika was a fantastic teacher and a pleasure to be around. He explained things slowly and made sure we got the Balinese mortar and pestle technique down. He joined us for lunch once we were done. We ate in a beautiful hut set in the garden that overlooked the terraces and the ocean. With enough food for a village set in front of us, an excellent morning behind us and a view fit for the gods we felt like we were in heaven.

Balinese Nasi Goreng

Eggplant salsa for the fish.

Laklak and sweet potato in coconut and palm sugar.

Conversations with Santika shifted to real estate. Not too unreasonable, especially in East Bali. Of course it was just our first day, but all we could talk about with S and L when we returned to the villa was how great the day was. We finished the day sipping some Bintang in our gazebo next to the ocean. It was as close to a perfect vacation day as you can imagine.

Thanks again for the advice, JP and A.