A visit to the Temple Complex of Besakih!

 We spent a wonderful day at the mother temple complex of Besakih! This is a very special place - and we have always visited with Made and Nyoman. This time their son and two nieces came along. It was a foggy day so we didn't see much of Mount Agung behind the complex but it was stunning as always. Made packed offerings (flowers and incense) for us to pray with - a very special day. And on the way home - a stop at MIXUE - our new favorite bubble (boba) tea and ice cream place! If you want to learn more about Besakih: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Besakih_Temple

Boba and ice cream at MIXUE!

 

We recreated a favorite Besakih photo from 1998....

Made and Rebekah at the temple gate 1998

Made and Rebekah at the temple gate 2023

 

Here's another favorite old photo of mine from 1998. We were just KIDS!

Happy to be able to share these photos with everyone - thanks for taking the time to check out this blog! xoxo

Night Market and our favorite sweet - Terang Bulan!

 When I was first in Bali, I fell in love with a sweet treat called a Terang Bulan ("Bright Moon") - it's a dessert that's whipped up and served from carts by the side of the road. They can always be found in the night markets so we went in search of one--and we found our Terang Bulan vendor!

What is it you ask? It's a light airy pancakey sort of thing drenched with syrupy sweetness (caramel, condensed milk, butter, nutella, jam, chocolate, liquid palm sugar, cheese....), sprinkled with fruits and nuts/cocount/cookies/candies...The menu was extensive! Back in my day it was just one thing -- a pancake with butter, condensed milk, chocolate and peanuts). Yummy then, yummy now!

 

Peanut Factory Visit!

 Hello all! Sorry for the delay (and now we're HOME!). BUT I'll still be adding photos here over the next couple of days to catch y'all up on the last couple weeks of our awesome trip! 

We made it home from the Gilis sun-soaked and happy (we really didn't want to leave)! We did some wonderful things once we got back - had lots of visits with our Balinese friends, Made and Nyoman and their wonderful family members. We went to their house in KlungKung Regency (a couple of hours NE from Ubud), saw the amazing peanut factory that they have at their house. The last time we were there Made had one person working for her, now she has 14! It's a huge success - she delivers peanuts all over the island and is able to support her whole family with the income! Elsa got to try her hand at frying and sorting (much to Made's delight!). Including a couple of videos below. After a delicious lunch of tofu, tempe, rice, eggs, greens (and chicken - not for us), we all dressed in our temple clothes and went to the Besakih - the mother temple! Those pics will be in the next post....

Gili Air !

Gili Air - slightly larger than Meno - closer to the Lombok mainland. Air has a larger local population due to it's proximity to the main island. We were there on Indonesia's independence day so happened upon a celebratory procession including some wonderful traditional music (recorded by Ted of course!). Our stay on Air was great. We stayed at a hotel on the west side so we would get some sunsets - they had just a few bungalows made in the traditional Sasak style of architecture (tall, airy, thatched roofs) on the 'main road'/sandy path 😆😛 overlooking the water. The beach on this side wasn't quite a swimming beach (lots of coral and seaweed) but we still got in and we took an afternoon snorkeling trip around the islands on our second day so we got to see lots of reef activity (including SEA TURTLES!).  It was truly magical!

There is soooo much reef damage however - due mostly to tourism (there's no foresight or oversight or regulations of any kind - so lots of people stepping on the corals, lots motor boats and gasoline) overfishing and of course climate change. All of this makes me sad - and also sad to be part of the 'problem' while we were there - hard to know what to do - and not much that really can be done I suppose?

You can see Bali's Mount Agung in the background!

Kitty visiting us on our balcony!

View from our balcony - a Cidomo by the tree (a local mode of transport - horse and cart)

Elsa ready for the beach (tired of me taking pics all the time...🙄)

We were pretty happy there! 

The trip back to Bali on the boat was quite dramatic/traumatic/exhilarating? Lots of big swells and choppiness but our captain was very skilled and (after a couple hours of bumps and rolls) he delivered us safely to the port. It was certainly an exciting trip! We were happy to be back in our house but we could have easily stayed there a few more days. It was a beautiful place. 💜

Gili Islands, LOMBOK! First stop - Gili Meno....

Since our house in Ubud is in the mountains (and we're such beach lovers) - we decided to take a little mini beach trip to the Gili Islands in Lombok! It was quite the adventure. The islands were beautiful - no cars, or motorcycles, just bikes, horse carts and electric scooters. Sooooo peaceful and relaxing (a very welcome change from Ubud crowds and traffic). There are 3 different islands: Gili T, Gili Meno and Gili Air. We decided to visit Meno and Air (the most laid back of the three). MENO was our favorite by farFast speed boat from Bali east coast harbor Padang Bai to Gili T and then small boat to Meno. Sandy main road walk from the harbor to our hotel. Amazing snorkeling right off the beach....Heavenly!

Fast boat to Gili T. I took my motion sickness meds just in case, but it was a lovely ride - we sat up on top of the boat so we could see the world....quite a different view of the the land from the water. LOVED it!

Arrival at Gili Trawangan - the color of the water was unREAL.

 

Arrival at Gili Meno.

 

The beaches are completely made up of coral (beautiful but a bit hard on ones feet!). These are strings of coral hanging from the trees.

HAPPINESS!

 

Bali Manggang - Balinese Cooking Class!

BALI COOKING CLASS! Friday August 11

Elsa and I joined a group of other tourists (from all over the world - Germany, Denmark, England, Australia, France and probably other places....). We were in two groups - 7 of us crammed into a little van and were whisked away in the crazy traffic - not knowing where we were going, how far away the place was or how long it would take to get there! BUT we made it safely - to a family compound outside of Ubud where we were given aprons and knives and ingredients to slice, dice, crush, grind, stir, fry, boil and steam! Then after about 2 hours of labor (making 7 different dishes and 3 sauces) we all got to share our awesome buffet together! It was DELISH! And we got a list of all the recipes so we can attempt to re-create these delicious, Balinese dishes at home!

                                  Grinding peanuts into a sauce with a traditional stone mortar and pestle!

                                         Beautiful Bali nature view from the back of the house.

                                                      All SEVEN dishes ready to devour!

While there's plenty of meat in Indonesian and Balinese food, there are a number of dishes (popular with Balinese and tourists) that are naturally veggie friendly with tofu and tempe (both made fresh locally - the tempeh is soooooo yummy). Enak sekali! ('very delicious' in Indonesian)

1. Bakso Soup (usually has tuna meat balls -- we got to make a veggie version)

2. Tofu and Soya Bean Curry

3. Vegetables with coconut sauce

4. Tofu and Corn patties (rolled in banana leaves and steamed)

5. Balinese fried noodles (Bak Mi Goreng)

6. Fried Rice (Nasi Goreng)

7. Banana Dumplings (boiled and rolled in fresh coconut -- the second to last photo above)

And SAUCES: Balinese bbq sauce (Sambal Ulek - usually has fish paste), Peanut Sauce and Curry Sauce

YUM YUM YUM!!