Bali High

Sunday, Christmas Day, we sailed into Benoa, Bali in the early afternoon.  As we sailed in, the view was very reminiscent of the scene from the last time we came there.  Here is a pic from March, 2017:

And here it is on Sunday:

 We would be overnighting in Bali and we had plans for both days.  

First up, was a cooking class at Cafe Wayan in Ubud.  When our kids in Georgia were on their world travels in 2016, they stayed in Ubud and did the cooking class at Cafe Wayan so it was well recommended.  The experience lived up to our expectations.  We were joined by Linda's brother, Michael, and his wife, Jackie.  We had arranged for a guide, Made, to transport us to the restaurant which worked out well.  I sure would not want to drive in the insane traffic of Bali!

The traffic caused us to be a bit late to the class but I was able to message the restaurant and keep them informed so they were waiting for us when we finally arrived.  Cafe Wayan is in a beautiful setting.

We opted for the vegetarian menu for our cooking class:

Simply put, the cooking class was terrific.  Chef Wayan was a fun and interesting instructor.  And the food we cooked was tasty indeed.

 

After the class we were treated to a table spread with the food we had cooked which, I must say, made for a delicious dinner.

For day 2 in Bali, we were again guided by Made.  He turned out to be an excellent guide (we have his contact information).  We joined our friends Pam and Bob for the day.  The first stop was at a temple:

The temple was built in the 900's and restored after earthquake damage.  After donning sarongs, Made led us through the temple, explaining the various aspects of it.

There are many statues around the temple and these are a couple of my favorites.

While we were there, we were treated to a beautiful percussion concert by some young girls.  Their talent and ability to play in sync was impressive.

While the girls played, a group of boys seemed to be waiting for their turn.  It was a sign of the times that most of them were on their cell phones while waiting!

The next stop was the much anticipated Monkey Forest.  There, I, of course, took way too many photos and I missed the shot of a monkey climbing on Linda's arm.  But here's a good sampling including the monkeys picking my pocket and attempting to steal my watch.

After we had our fill of monkeys, it was lunch time.  Made took us to a restaurant bordering rice fields, Bebek Joni.  Linda had Gado-Gado, which she declared had a better peanut sauce than we had made the day before.  I had this wonderful fish dish, Gurami Goreng.

                                                    

Our last stop before heading back to the ship was at Kebune Bali, an agrotourism farm.  They grow many spices in addition to coffee and tea.  There we sampled 6 different coffees, including the famous Luwak coffee.  The Luwak is a an Asian Palm Civet.  The civets eat the coffee berries which ferment as they pass through their digestive tracts.  The pooped out beans are then sanitized and roasted which makes for a superbly smooth coffee.  Of course, we bought some.  We also bought some avocado coffee - coffee beans ground with avocado which we found to be quite good.

The civet and the roasting:

The tasting:

All in all, it was a great 2 days in Bali - a real Bali High!

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry