3 days later ... many cultural, religious, agricutural and culinary insights richer ! S

Ubud bridge

On the next day in Ubud I explored more of the area (mainly rice fields).  The whole city and suburban region where I walked through the rice fields was preparing for a religous festival.  I discovered more subliminal sights in the rice fields, an organic restaurant with superb food, etc.  In the late afternoon I went to a tradional Balinese musical instruments shop and bought a few ... can play them all already ... will further practise at home !  

More rice fields

Lonely but happy in the rice fields

 I came to Bali  ... not  for the parties, not the luxury resorts, not the beach, ... but for the culinary enrichment uuuhuuuuuhmuuuhuuuuuhm.  Next day first day cooking class at Casa Luna's started early morning at 8 AM.  We went to Ubud market where you have 'morning market' with 'morning prices' and 'afternoon market' with 'tourist prices'.  We got very intresting information about the Balinese habbits, religious stuff but mainly we went down to the market to get a full explanation about all things involved in Balinese Cuisine: basic ingredients (you can ALL find them in Leuven = jippie !

)  Typical spices (Leuven !), special fruits (sometimes Leuven), special vegetables (Leuven !) and cooking materials (bought the ones I don't have yet) ... when I get home it's time go get that gass stove ready for outdoor cooking !

Ubud market

 At Casa Luna's we were welcomed with Hibiscus tea (magic recipe ... note to myself: ask Oma if she has Hibuscus !).  After that we gathered around the table where all ingredients for the different dishes we would prepare where shown ... unfortunately all these ingredients were already chopped ... no 'cooking prepartations' needed anymore :-(.  The cooking itselve was more 'watching' so I got disappointed there.  Though the end result was DELICIOUS !!!  Best food thusfare on this trip to Indonesia !

Ubud cooking class 1 @ Casa Luna

Showman ... honeybunny = me

 Further had a relaxing afternoon at the swimming pool of my guesthouse ... no further complaints there :-).  Though I was so disappointed by the limited 'cooking class' we experienced I decided to chase after another cooking class !!!

Spanish Makrel Curry

This morning at 8 AM again a driver from Paon Bali picked me up at the guesthouse.  We picked up a few other classmates and went to the same market.  Better explanation on ingredients there ... though all the same stories came back.  Patient as I am I waited kindly for the next things to come today.

Ubud fruit market

After the market we went to Laplapan (little village near to Ubud) were Wayan, owner of a rice field enrichened my knowledge on the way they produce the rice here on Bali.  After this very pleasant experience (Wayan was a great guy !) we were brought to his home.  This nice little villa surrounded by all these rice fields, we were warmly welcomed by Wayan's wife (forgot her name).  Friendliest, most charming, open Indonesian people I've ever met !  After a great ginger tea the cooking fun started !  We chopped all our ingredients according to which were needed for each of the 8 dishes we would prepare.  Everything happens manual here ... also the food processing in this manual food processor (giant !!!).  Everyone in the group was involved in all the different stages of the cooking ... though I was wayan's wife 'Honey bunny !' ... brought that little bit extra to this great Balinese cooking experience !!!

Cooking class 2 @ Paon Bali (Laplapan)

Giant manual food processor

Home cooking (outside) 

We interrupted for a great soup ... after that we continued the rest of the dishes.  The end result was AMAZING !  Table full of food ... to remember Balinese people eat the rice as their main dish (filler) ... and only eat small portions of accompagnaints ...  it was more the other way around for our lunch experience !

The results of day 2

I had the best time here on Bali ... the cooking part has little secrets left for me ... let's see how I can tickle your taste buds back in Belgium ...

What I'm going to do now ?  Tomorrow morning I check out from my guesthouse and they'll bring me to Denpasar (Bali) airport.  Where to go ?  I don't know yet ... Java (flight back home only 8th April) ... Lombok ... Kalimantan ... ?  I will find out tonight while ready in my travel guides (or tomorrow at the airport).  The best way to conclude this great experiences on Bali is a very taste last dinner on this island ... which I'm having as I write ...

Write to you on the next Indonesian island ...

Honey Bunny

Snorkelling = Sunburn: Sumatra out Bali in !

Last Thursday and Friday I decided anyway to fill in the ‘diving gap’ with underwater-fish-sightseeing.   Actually this was far beyond what I expected it to be !  Amazing this under-water-life in this Andaman Sea.  I saw loads of different colorful and sometimes scary fish, starfish a sea turtle (size of an overweight 6 year old) and all this in beautiful ‘living’ coral.  All this in Pulauh Weh Marine Park, in front of Freddie’s and on other parts of Sumurtiga.  It all ended with this giant … read a 50cm diameter … Medusa. !  Haha, quickly swum away because a little bit scary there :p.  Only painful experience that all this snorkeling brought was a massive frontal body sunburn hehe … so I hear you thinking ‘when snorkeling you don’t burn your front but your back … as you are floating on your tummy’ … and CORRECT … I burned my chest, tummy and upperlegs during the ‘resting time … without sunscreen sorry Mama.  Because I lost my after sun (no actually I didn’t bring any’ wonderful Freddie gave me a bottle of coconut oil.  As I’m learning through this journey … coconut can be used for EVERYTHING !  Friday afternoon I stayed inside, watching series with some cold Bintang and my frontal body completely covered in coconut oil … aaaah what a relieve ! Meanwhile I can already sleep again covered with a sheet … and this burning red color transformed into Indonesian ‘brown’.

Friday evening I was writing for my recipe book when Freddie shared the best recipes of the dishes we had during ‘dinner at Freddies’. After that I hooked up with some American and Dutch NGO workers in Banda Aceh for that last dinner.  This Freddie really cooked the most amazing food … not Indonesian, not South African … but just ‘Freddie’s’. 

Iboih Snorkeling Place

Dinner (not the buffet) at Freddie's

Last morning at Freddie's

On Saturday morning unfortunately I had to leave this relaxing and beautiful piece of Mother Earth.  At 7 AM a ketjak driver drove me to Sabang port … where I took the 8 AM ferry back to Uleh-leh.  Another friendly ketjak driver brought me to the airport of Banda Aceh.  After some food I took a flight to Jakarta (the place where I landed upon arrival from Doha ‘Qatar’ waited for 3 hours and took another flight to Denpasar (Bali island).  Because I was still in pain (didn’t sleep due to the sunburn), I decided not to go to Bukit Lawang but planned f­or Balinese cooking, etc.   Yesterday evening at 9 PM I arrived in Denpasar Bali.  A quiet taxi driver drove me to Ubud (Sanggingan Villa).  Somewhere during my stay at Freddies I decided that this luxurious way of sleeping is perfectly affordable in Indonesia.  At 11 PM I arrived in this little oasis of calmness.  The best bed in the world was waiting for me … doors look like a temple … STRANGE !  In the morning they woke me up serving breakfast in front of my room … jummy !  Whole day long I get free Balinese coffee … which I’m enjoying as I write.  This is to good to be true !

Entrance of my room in Ubud

The room

After breakfast I decided to go for the Ubud walking tour.  First I went to book a cooking class for this Tuesday at Casa Luna.  Wonderful place … hopefully this cooking class is comparable!  I started my walk wondering around Monkey Forest Road.  

Art stuff in there

Think it’s low season … because I don’t see why they describe this place as touristy.  Monkey Forest Road ended in Monkey Forest where I had a walk to see the temples … but main point of intrest: the long tailed and greybearded Balinese Macaques!  ‘Do you want banana for monkey?’ ‘No I don’t want these freaking animals near to me!’.  Intresting creatures though !  

Temple in Monkey Forest

Statue in Monkey Forest

Monkeyssss

More monkeys

After the visit to the forest I started my tour through art villages and endless rice paddies around Ubud.  Nyukhuning, Dangin Lebak, Katik Lantan, Penestanan and finally back to Ubud (about a 18 km walk).  Balinese people are so friendly !  En route I met a lot of dogs and children who followed me for a little while and practiced their best English with me (the dogs, not the children …  euhm the other way around !).  In the marvelouAs rice paddies a local cut a young coconut from the tree and offered it to me to drink the juice … very refreshing!  After this wonderful walk I had some grilled duck for lunch and headed back to my guest-villa-house-whatever.  I took a little swim and now I’m writing to you guys, drinking a nice pot of Balinese coffee. 

Crazy Festival Creature

Rice Paddie

Rice paddie where I got the coconut juice

Another Rice paddie ... BEAUTIFUL !

Katik Lantang

Ubud Monkey Forest Road

Incense (wierook) against les moustiques (muggen)

The Villa Where I'm wraiting this post

Write to you soon !

BaHt … (they can’t pronounce my name here !)

New friends, Happy times: Filling in Filling out = PADI out = Nelos in !

Hello !

It has been a few days ... in the meantime I completely relaxed here ... don't know if I ever want to leave.  Let's describe a little bit what I've been doing in the last 3 days ... though it might seem not being too much ... it was relatively busy !

On Sunday 18th I closed the blogpost with dinner time.  We had our furst 'buffet', cooked by Freddie.  If you join, they first bring you a wonderful African soup (yep not Indonesian ... the guy is South African) and a starter.  After that Freddie himsel comes to the tables and gives his explanation about all the food on the table in the main building.  This guy has a big passion for cooking ... what he puts on the table is amazingly good !  He cooks a mix between South African and traditional Indonesian dishes ... influenced with spices from both countries.   Jummyyyyyyyyyyy !  I asked to British people to join (Alex and Raoul) and as of then ... I've made a lot of friends here.  We had a fantastic even talking about their long vacation ... tips what to do in Indonesia and outside ... followed by a lot of crap (maybe because of the Bintang?) and a well deserved sleep.

on the road to Iboih 

On Monday morning ... after a loooooooong sleep (missed breakfast) I decided to check out the diving school at Iboih beach (other part of Sabang/Pulau Weh).  Freddie arrange Lehman to pick me up in his motercycle with sidecar.  This wonderful guy gave me a free tour of the island (little waterfall, stupid vulcano, ...) and kept on telling me great stories about the island.  We also met a lot of little monkeys on the way to Iboih.

Monkeys

At Iboih beach the taxi driver dropped me off and told me to walk up the path directly to a little beach where Rubia Divers is located.  I talked to the Australian and French instructor and they where ready to start the course Open Water Diver today Wednesday.  I got the PADI manual with me ... to read upfront.  After that I sat with Lehman on a bench together with some locals that where very intrested in my wellbeing.  Time flies when you are having a conversation in this English/Indonesian mix !  Lehman brought me back to Freddies and when I was paying ('you decide how much my friend') he told me he could show me great locations on the island where I could buy ground hahaha.  Rest of the afternoon I spent the day snorkeling and swimming in the turqoise see that lays in front of my bungalow.  Again had a wonderful buffet that evening, met 2 Germans and 2 Dutch people and went to bed after a good movie.

Is me

 On Tuesday morning I decided to go for a walk to the other side when exitting Freddie ... greeted all the friendly locals ... and was stopped at a school by many children calling me over.  'Mr. Mr.' ... looking at their !gestured I supposed they wanted me to play soccer with them ... so I did ... yes Me, Bart who LOVES soccer hahaha.  Had a very nice time with them though !  Happy children's faces and this tall western guy haha.  After that I went of to Iboih beach again to go for lunch with Aleida (upon Tom's reccomendation!).  She still remembers you Tom ... shown your picture and told about you ... great food as well !  In the late afternoon I spent more time planning my plans after I leave this island.  Dinner time (Freddie was not in so buffet was less good but still very tasty !) and beers and talking crap with Raoul ... nice evening! 

Sumurtiga beach

Alex and Raoul at the evening buffet @ Freddies

 Today Wednesday BIG DAY ! Time for my first diving lesson at Iboih ... OHNOOO ... I forgot to tell you ... on Monday evening a big piece of the filling in my big tooth at the back broke of ... painfuuullllll ....  Luckily I can still eat and drink everyting (jippieeee) but .... after a call with my dentist and the diving school I learned it wouldn't be smart to go diving now ... in small air canals the pressure under water can build up and cause pain (pressure there is much higher) in this filling and even force it to come out completely ... what a bummer !!!!!  Not that this PADI course was THE GOAL of the trip .... but I was disappointed on Tuesday after I found out it was not a good idea to go diving!  Dentist appointment has been made first thing after I'm back ... diving will have to wait ... maybe will do the course with the school in Leuven (more open water dives included there !) ... and go diving next year when I'll go to another tropical destination on this planet.

Sabang town with ATM and shopsssss

 So today Wednesday it was time to do something else ... Alex, Raoul and I were planning going to Sabang centre to get cash at the ATM and wonder around a little bit.  Cash withdrawel succesfull ... though had to pin for 5 times to get enough money ... maximum amount is very low haha.  We went down to a smelly but intresting market, bought some souvenirs and drove back on a motorcycle with sidecar to Freddies.

Chicken alive (left) - chicken dead (right)

 Back at Freddies we had lunch with the Germans, took a little dip in the sea and sat on the beach till dawn.

Freddies Sumurtiga ... main building and restaurant

Right now, I'm writing this 2nd blogpost in Indonesia from the balcony of my bungalow.  Going to have dinner now with the Germans and the English ... tomorrow they are leaving !  As of then ... because of the dental issue ... the diving school offered me free snorkeling equipment and a snorkel tour by boat so I can explore the marine life around this beautiful island anyway ...

Blog time on the balcony of my bungalow

On Saturday (I think ... lost track of the planning I will head for Bukit Lawang to do some great jungle trekking and meet the Orang Utangs ...

until then .... thanks for reading and write to you soon !

Bart

And paradise it is !!!

Told you so ... During my 2nd flight from Doha to Jakarta I was the only white person in the aircraft ... Had some very funny first experiences with the Indonesian people during that flight ... mainly the children that wanted to touch my face.  Arriving in Jakarta a guy with a very big A4 stating my name was awaiting me ... he brought me to the hotel close to the airport where I booked my first night to have some sleep (didn't have any during the previous 24 hours because I felt this was the way to get used to the time difference.

Arriving in this room I was happy ... after a quick dinner I went to sleep for only 6 hours ... because another flight to paradise was awaiting me.

In the morning the free taxi service from the hotel brought me to Jakarta airport again ... this time the domestic flight terminal ... very funny experience ... as the terminal itself was just a roof ... no windows ... smart off course ... because saving in airco haha.

The above aircraft (boeing) brought me to Banda Aceh airport (picture below).  Only one landing strip ... 2 bagage claim things ... similar to Parma airport actually ... without the Italians ...

 

A 'polite' local offered me to bring me to the port ... he already knew where I was heading ... 'Pulah Weh sir?' ... 'actually I'm not sure' I told him ... but he was right !  Actually he brought me to Uleh-leh ... where a fast ferry brought me 4 hours later in 45 min. to this paradise island.

In Sabang (port of Pulah Weh and actually the official name of the island) they offered me to bring me to 'Freddies' ... again they knew upfront without telling them :P ... and ... yes ... after more than 1,5 day without seeing any white people ... two Dutch people entered the same minibus ... haha ... actually they are from Venlo (Limburg), so I don't consider them as Hollanders ... but more as Limburgers !  Tomorrow they are coming here at the 'beer hour', which is 4 o clock for me ... because I told them I return from diving courses at that time everyday.   Arriving here in this marvellous place owned by the South African Freddie ... again he knew my name once I appeared haha ... He immediately gave me the key for my wonderful bungalow ... think I don't ever want to leave this place anymore !!!

 Marvellous place !!!  Going to try both beds ... for those who are wondering why I have two ...

Now I need to go ... it's time to meet up with the locals and the tourist staying here ... above you can see a picture of the location I was using to write my happenings of the day ...  Sure I'll be back after my first diving day on this beautiful island !!!

Greetings

Bart

Let the journey begin - Brussels(BE) / Doha (QR)

Time to leave

Packed my stuff only this morning.  

The 13 kgs backpack and 3 kgs handluggage will help me through the next 24 days in Far Asia.  Check-in was very quick … getting through security was very boring, waiting for the airplane to open its doors even more boring.  

But in 6 hours I’ll land in Doha (capital of Qatar) … where the 9 hours waiting for my connection flight to Jakarta (Indonesia) are expected to be the most boring hours in my life :P.  And boring it is !  Though I shopped a little bit in the massive duty free at Doha airport and explored the complete departure terminal ... 4 smoking areas, 41 gates, 5 coffee bars, 2 Mosques and ... this 'Notebook Charger' Area and free WIFI-zone ... to upload my first post off course ! 4 hours of the 9 hours waiting still to fill with watching movies / series / walk around and stretch the legs, ....  Then up to my next flight to Jakarta ... first one was amazing!  I had 3 seats for myself ... a interactive entertainment system with lots of movies, series, games, ... and 2 very good meals!  I look forward to the next flight (duration 9 hours pffff).   Nevertheless I’m very excited about everything I’ll see in this beautiful Asian country.  Tomorrow I’ll land in Jakarta at about 10 PM where a taxi driver will be waiting for me to bring me to the hotel.  On Sunday morning I have my next national flight from Jakarta to Banda Aceh … where I have to take the ferry (guess it will be just a humble boat) to Pulau Weh.  Another short trip will bring me to paradise (according to Tom’s stories …).  Hope to have the opportunity to further inform you about my wellbeing in paradise Sunday evening.

Byebye

Bart