Discovering Ubudian Cuisine Bali

One of my favourite movie, "SEVEN" dealt with 7 deadly sins namely wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony. This trip to Bali was sin number 7 - gluttony. Palatable pleasures, if I may say and the only sin here were the calories. Dining in Ubud was a breeze with many fusion restaurants with a Balinese twist.

Our Airasia KL-Bali 3+ hour flight was smooth. The pilot took time to point out to us the cone of a volcano as we neared Ngurah Rai Denpasar, the capital of Bali. The plane cruised eastwards over the calm evening Bali Strait. As twilight approached, it was difficult to gauge depth and our plane looked as if it was just skimming the surface of the sea. Not a good feeling especially when the plane banked leftwards on the final approach. The wings looked as though it was about to touch the sea. Mental scenes from AXN's 'Aircraft Investigation' crept in.

Volcanic cone before reaching Denpasar

Loo with marine fish view

Upon touchdown, rushed to the airport loo. It was one of the most calming cum relieving pee. As you do your business, live marine fishes swam in customized aquarium right before at eye-level. Ranked it an 'A' for novelty and loo-innovation.

Our hotel The Tjampuhan Spa

Complimentary shuttle to Ubud

Our stay was at Hotel Tjampuhan & Spa, Ubud's first hotel ( http://www.tjampuhan-bali.com/index.php ). A quick check-in and we were in the centre of Ubud via the hotel's complimentary shuttle service. Our first stop was IBU RAI at the Monkey Forest Road. The place was crowded and for us it was a good sign. Dinner expectation rose. Service was prompt and we were seated quickly. The glossy menu had a photo of its founder on the first page.As you order your food, her smiling pose seemed to be looking at you like Mona Lisa.

Founder on the face of menu

Dinner at Ibu

Nasi goreng Bali

Quenched our thirst with an ice cold lassi mango and a lassi coconut-lemon. Preferred the classic mango lassi. Had the ' Nasi Goreng Bali ' that came with 2 sticks of satay. The peanut sauce was served in 2 clear glasses. Made it easy to see the consistency and richness of the sauce. The rice was well fried and rich in texture. However, the satay was not served hot as it should be and the sauce a tad sweet for my liking.

Avocado chicken curry

The ' Avocado Chicken Curry ' was a fusion dish. Suitable maybe for European palates as the curry was light, Asians and me, Malaysian like it more spicy!! Came with deep fried crackers or keropok with peanuts inside, rice and garnishing. Avocado in Asian cooking was worth the try.

Lab lab pancake

Dessert was the lab lab pancake, a combo of ice-cream served together with wrapped caramelized bananas and chocolate sauce. Needless to say, any combination of this nature has got to be wonderful and it certainly was. Total bill was IDR$213,900 or about USD$25.00. Not too bad.

Sacrificial golden calf

Men at work

Walked back to our hotel which was about 15 minutes away. There were preparations for cremation of a Balinese royalty. Died in May but cremation only in August. One of the burnt offering was a golden calf with intricate ornaments and rioted with bright colours.

Side view

Right side of chariot

Left side of chariot

View of our restaurant for the morning breakfast

Breezy feel to the dining area & view was superb

Out typical breakfast at Tjampuhan

Stuffed and ready for the day

Our morning started with a hearty hotel breakfast. Not a wide spread at the buffet but was sufficient to power us for the day. They had the usual 'egg-station' where you could order your eggs scrambled, omeletted, hard or soft boiled. Other offerings were local fried rice, noodles, sausages & croissants, congee, juice and coffee.

Ubud Market

Lots of 'orang putih'

carved souvenirs

Decor

Paintings

    UBUD  MARKET

Pendants

More paintings

Out rim of market

Did the touristy museum circuit and bought vanilla pods which was cheap at the Ubud market. Need those for baking. Souvenirs were aplenty in the market but it was not our cup of tea. We were adopting the " No Souvenirs " policy on our travels these days. Too much clutter!

Ibu Oka

The hog

Lunch was at Ibu Oka Warung, an institution famed for its babi guling or roasted pig. Named in most Top 10 Places To Eat In Ubud by the Guardian UK, Ibu was one of our mandatory stop. The pigs were roasted elsewhere and when they were carried in, it commanded everyone's attention. Patrons and tourists alike whipped out their cameras and shutters clicked away freely. Yours truly included.

Standard serving

Raised dining area

Came in basket and waxed paper

Ordered a standard meal ( USD $3.50 / IDR$30,000 ) and served atop a piece of nicely cut waxed paper enveloped by a rattan basket. There were slivers of the famed roasted pork, salted deep fried fats  ( heart surgeon's best friend ), pork skin, spicy vegetables and Ibu's secret sauce. It was salty for me and the rave reviews from other travellers must have pushed up my expectation too high. Conclusion - Tried something different that did not cost an arm and a leg.

Roasting coffee

Coffee belt

Up close

Our  baristas

Range of coffee flavours

Kopi Luwak - Civet Coffee

The afternoon was spent exploring Ubud on a rented motorbike. We went Tegallalang Village to see the terraced paddy fields which was nice but not as spectacular as those in Sapa, Vietnam. On the way back, we stopped by a coffee farm for a break. Kopi  luwak or civet coffee was sold here. A in-house barista followed us around the farm playing his first role as tour guide. After the round trip, he was the sales person trying to sell us this exotic yet gross blend.

Surrounding garden

What we ordered, kind of dry

Pavilion cum dining

Bebek sign

Alternative dining area

The manicured gardens

We also dined at Bebek Bengil or The Dirty Duck Diner, a place famed for its crispy duck. Listed as one of the must try in Bali, the place was strategically located in Ubud. Saw Anthony Bourdain ate it whilst in Bali on one of his travel shows. The verdict? ... The style that we ordered was nothing exceptional, a bit dry in fact. The restaurant's signature dish needed 24 hours to prepare and we gave that a miss. The gardens surrounding this restaurant was awesome. A haven for shutterbugs.

Puteri Minang nasi padang

Had lunch alone on the last day as my wife had a severe bout of diarrohea. Had a simple nasi padang at Puteri Minang. Usually considered as cheap eats or budget savers, the range of dishes available was huge. My choice was fried egg, tempe, brinjal with chilli and some broiled vegetable. It was time to cut down on meat and repent.

Dinner at Ayu's Kitchen

Dinner was also a solitary affair at Ayu's Kitchen. The yellow rice ( could be safron ) at rhp$25,000    ( myr$8.00 ) came with a tiny morsel of fried chicken, tempe, tauhu, crackers, peanuts and cooked jackfruit. Drink was avocado juice priced at rph$20,000.

Overall, the taste buds were tantalized with something new. Good change of setting :))

Landing at Lukla ... My Road To Emmaus

See 3D & gasp! http://www.airpano.ru/files/Everest-Nepal/2-2

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Landing at Lukla Airport was one of my travel high. More adrenalin than diving and it came in a super surge! This was the start off point into the Sagarmartha National Park, to climb Kalapattar and to do the Everest Base Camp circuit.

Our flight was scheduled early at 7.30 am out of  Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu. Early flight meant there would be less turbulence before the sun heats up the land. That was the plan. However weather dictated everything. We boarded close to 11.00 am.

Checking in was a breeze and the airport reminded me of  my hometown's railway station. Technology here was very much a shade behind. The weighing scale was analogue and boarding ticket looked more like we were going for a bus ride.

Analogue weighing scale, not terribly a high tech airport

Boarding ticket looked like a bus ticket

The long wait prior to departure gave us much time to reflect. Was sure that given the choice, we would balk at flying into the most dangerous airport in the world. There were 10 reported incidents and accidents, some fatal. Agni Air, the one we were to ride on had one accident in 2010, all 11 passengers and 3 crew died! Must have forgotten to mention that to my wife prior. :-).

Lets just say .... our bags were willing but our bodies were weak.

Our bags were ready for Lukla but the climbers?

Boarding our plane with trepidation

Although we boarded late and no reasons were given, we were not upset. Having read so much on this infamous flight, apprehension was the order of that morning. With quiet demeanour, we boarded the the Agni plane like lambs to the slaughter ... prayed prayed and prayed.

Our lives depended on this guy, period.

A welcome distraction handling out sweets and cotton buds

The take off was loud as the two engines chugged and roared to lift our team of 14 climbers plus expedition luggage. Thought I saw some rice bags too. The cotton buds came in handy as it was especially loud for those of us who sat at the back. The sweets helped in equalizing the pressure on our ear drums. Once up on the air, we were mesmerized by the sight of the Himalayas. Some 30 minutes into the flight, we felt a jolt as the plane turned leftwards and flew into the valley on the final approach to Tenzing-Hilary Airport aka Lukla.

Do you see any smileys?

Point of no return

Majesty of the Himalayas

Tiny settlements seen as we flew above

Everyone craned their necks for a view of the airport. The small landing strip faraway did not help and we dared not stand up fearing it would rock the wobbly plane! In fact the runway was elusive and all we could see was the approaching hill bearing larger into a mountain as we approached. The plane cruised down and we exchanged nervous smiles, me a silent halelujah & amen!

Tenzing-Hilary aka Lukla looked great upon touchdown

Alive again on terra firma

Airport with Mt Nupla background

Descending, descending

It helped that I was in the last seat and was not privy to all the 'landing action' until the plane touched down. Rows of houses on my left zoomed past me as our plane climbed on this inclined airstrip to help it slow down. As it landed, the plane quivered a bit and was cruising quite fast as we approached the end of the airstrip, a vertical hill before us. Just as we thought it had run out of airstrip, the plane turned right almost at the end and parked at the open air apron. Yahoooooo.



Have ran the gauntlet but the feeling can't be described by words. Will I do it again? No! I told myself. However, my buddies are looking at Island Peak in the near future and this involves landing at Lukla again ... sigh.

Plane downhill takeoff

View of airstrip

Spending Sunday at Yoido Full Gospel Church

The Yoido Full Gospel Church is the largest in the world. This megachurch has impressive statistics. It has;

- in excess of 800,000 members, 
- 527 ordained and non-ordained pastors. 
- Out of this, 100,113 members are serving elders, senior deacons, deaconess and deacons. 
- Home cells around 20,000!   Wow.

Main entrance to the Yoido Full Gospel church

 As such, it was a natural stop for us. More so it was Boxing Day of the Christmas season. On a cold winter morning, we made our way for the morning service in the heart of Seoul, next to the Han River. The church was reachable by the underground train. Exiting from the Yoido station, we were lost at first but was subsequently found.Pardon the pun. Actually one can get little clues as we approached, the vibrancy of the place increased as we drew near the church.  

Yoido Church in Korean I presume

Commercial activities around the complex

                                                   It was actually a complex of sorts comprising many buildings. We found the main church and were quickly shown in by well dressed ushers. As foreign visitors, we were led upstairs where translation services were available. The hall itself was like a philharmonic theatre. Some of the lady worshippers were dressed in their traditional hanbok and looked reverent when they worshipped. 

Part of the Church

Clasped hands with cross in the middle

Although worship was sung in Korean, we have headsets whereby we can choose to sing in English, Indonesian Malay, Tagalog etc. That was great. The songs were not familiar but at least we understood the lyrics in English.
When the elder uttered a prayer, the congregants responded with  'kam-sa-ham-ni-da'' ( thank you ) in unison, a familiar cry in Pentecostal churches. The enthusiasm in worship with raised hands and heartfelt cries was electricfying. I was more amazed when there were queues at the many entrance of the church, waiting for the next service. The common quote here ... " If you are not 15 minutes early, you are  late! '' 

After service, we were led to another part of the complex for fellowship. We were also given a short briefing of the church, its works and purpose. This church also support 2 universities, a prayer mountain facility, a welfare town that offers training and guidance for the underprivileged and a television station! We left this place in reverent awe.