Bali - Part 2: Ubud and Central Bali

We spent the second half of our time in Bali in Ubud, which is the art and cultural heart of the island. It's also physically located right in the middle of Bali. On the drive to Ubud, we stopped in numerous "villages" to check out the local wares for which they are famous. This included Mas for wood cravings, Celuk for silver, and another whose name I forget for Balinese paintings. First, I must admit that these were not quite the villages I imagined from India, but more like small towns with lots of shops along the main road. Many of the ones we stopped in targeted tourists and I didn't get the feeling they were very "authentic."

But that didn't stop us from shopping. We bought a lot of silver jewelry (for me) and some artwork that we have yet to frame and hang on the walls. People say that prices are really inflated and you should bargain hard. But we they said this, I bet they didn't imagine running into Ani, king of bargaining. Ani is obviously no stranger to bargaining and after each of our purchases, Ani left with a smile and the retailers appeared exhausted.

After our successful purchases, we finally located our small hotel, which was on the outskirts of town. It took a few phone calls and several stops to ask for directions, but we eventually made it to Amori Villa. One of the latest trends in Bali is that foreigners buy houses and convert them into bed and breakfasts. This results in places that can really cater to the tastes and needs of tourist, but it also means that less businesses are locally owned. Fortunately, all businesses must have a local partner, so there's some aspect of sharing in the success.

One regret was that we had a packed schedule and didn't have as much time as we would have liked to enjoy the peacefulness of the surroundings at Amori Villa. Nonetheless, we did enjoy the time we had there among the limited five bedrooms.

One of the highlights of the entire trip was my birthday dinner at Mozaic in Ubud. Thanks to my meticulous planning, I made a reservation two months in advance. And fortunately for us, Mozaic lived up to the hype and we were amazed with an incredible 7-course meal. I must confess that I don't remember everything we dined on, but I remember that the pork belly dish (no surprise there if you know my love of bacon) was my favorite among many tasty dishes. The staff was amazing. The service was impeccable, and they even offered to tweak the set menu around my food allergies. The final result was wonderful. If we'd had more time in Ubud, we probably would have gone back for another visit, and I highly recommend that future Bali travels spend the time and money dining at this restaurant which is the only one in Indonesia to be named one of Les Grandes Tables du Monde.

The following day we ventured out on a half-day bicycle tour around Ubud with Banyan Tree Cycling Tours. We were picked up from our hotel around 7am and whisked up Mt. Kintamini. After about an hour (during which we managed to get in some extra rest), we picked out our bicycled and headed off - fortunately downhill. The bike tour proved to be a great way to see the countryside. As we pedaled along, we stopped in a village home, a village temple and walked through rice fields.

If you think those are ominous clouds in the background, you are right. We soon found ourselves in a middle of a torrential downpour. During the last hour of the tour, we ended up pedaling through lots of mud on our way to the final destination - lunch.

The next day I rallied to take a cooking class at the Ubud institution, Cafe Wayan. The classes are actually held at their sister restaurant, Laka Leke. After arriving a bit late (I live in India afterall), I met my fellow classmates and jumped into preparing several favorite Balinese dishes. We tackled the staple, nasi goreng, as well as Balinese chicken salad, Balinese prawns, chicken curry, and two desserts, black pudding and banana caramel.

I can happily report that the lesson didn't go to waste. The chicken curry has become a regular on our dining room and I've also made nasi goreng and the banana caramel a few times.

Photos of the food: Clockwise from top right: Chicken Curry, Banana Carmel, Balinese Prawns, Nasi Goreng

New Year's Eve was our last night in Bali and we celebrated at Indus, another Ubud institution. The owner of Indus is Janet De Neefe, author of Fragrant Rice and an Australian who has made Bali her home. A note for future Bali travelers: Janet De Neefe also offers cooking classes and market tours, but I read before the trip and heard from others while in Ubud that her classes are less hands on than the one I took with Cafe Wayan.

In any case, here's a photo of us ringing in 2010 at Indus...

...And saying goodbye to Bali (Until our next trip)!

Bali - Part One: Nusa Dua and Southern Bali

I'm finally getting around to posting about our trip to Bali nearly two months ago...

After spending Christmas in Singapore, we headed off for Bali on December 26th. The flight was easy, less than 3 hours and not enough time to finish watching the movie "Up." I'd read some horror stories about the lines for the Visa-on-Arrival, but we didn't have any problems and were headed to the hotel within minutes.

For the first half of our visit, we stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Nusa Dua, which is essentially an enclave of 5-star hotels and resorts. The Grand Hyatt at a lovely beach and pool, which we didn't get to use enough, as well as numerous restaurants, a spa and cultural activities. Here are a few photos of the hotel's environs:

While staying on this part of the island, we spent most of our time visiting temples during the day and enjoying amazing restaurants in the evening. On our first full day, we spent several hours at Waterbom water park and made our way to Tanah Lot for sunset. Our driver tried to convince us that we would be too late for sunset, but we told him to go any way. Good thing we did. We joined the evening crowds and enjoyed an amazing sunset over the water.

That night we had a wonderful dinner at Chandi in Seminyak followed by drinks at the ever-popular Ku De Ta.

We spent most of the next day hanging out at the hotel and grabbed lunch at Bali Collection, the shopping center across the street. In the late afternoon, we made our way to Uluwatu for the Kecak and Fire Dance.

We finished off the day with dinner in Jimbaran Bay where the numerous beachside restaurants allow you to select your fresh catch for dinner. This setup seems to be a big hit with most tourists, but to us, it was exactly like dinner on the beach in Goa, but only more expensive.

Back at the hotel, Ani surprised me with midnight birthday dessert and champagne. What a great way to start year #32!

Exploring the streets of Singapore

I wanted to share a few more sights from Singapore. Our few days there were like a world tour. We spent time in Little India and Chinatown, which was complemented by drinks at the colonial Raffles Hotel. We skipped many of the usual sights like the zoo, the night safari and Sentosa. Instead, we spent most of our time walking around the different neighborhoods, enjoying the food and exploring the malls.

Little India - Almost like the real thing

Chinatown

Raffles Long Bar - Home of the Singapore Sling

In front of the Merlion Statue

Atop the Singapore Flyer

We were also there for Christmas and got to enjoy the festive lights and holiday decorations, along with the frenzied crowds doing their last minute shopping.

Finally, there were a few things about Singapore that I just loved, all dealing with a woman's place in society. First, I thought it was refreshing to see women wearing shorts. Personally, I haven't worn a pair since moving to India and I only see the occasional tourist wearing them. I will admit that even I think, "What is she thinking?" when I see it. Second, we saw many female bus drivers. Again, not a big deal, but definitely something you never see in India. And maybe my favorite was the visibly pregnant host at the restaurant in the Marriott. Again, working pregnant women are not a sight you see often enough in India.

I realize that these comments will only be appreciated by a few (and most notably, Brooke) but I think they are worth sharing anyway.

So, I guess that wraps up Singapore. I still have to write a few posts on Bali, as well as my upcoming adventures to Sydney and Hong Kong.

Eating our way through Singapore

I'm WAY behind on posting about our travels, so you probably already know that we spent Christmas in Singapore and then New Year's in Bali. We liked Singapore so much that we went twice! Well, not really, but we did get to continue our exploration of the city with a day and a half on the way back to Delhi from Bali.

And we loved it. Singapore was clean, modern, cosmopolitan and had amazing food. We basically ate our way through the city, enjoying seafood, Chinese food and really anything that we thought looked interesting.

Some of our favorites were:

• Prawn noodles and char kway teow at Food Republic in Wisma Atrium. I don't know the name of the stall that we went to. We just picked the one with the longest line. This was a great idea because the food was yummy.


• Chili crab at Jumbo Seafood. We liked this so much that we ate at the one at Clarke Quay AND the one at East Coast Seafood Park.


• Dimsum at Din Tai Fung in Raffles City Center. It took us awhile to locate the restaurant, which was at the back of the basement food court in the mall. But once again, looking for the big line helped us out. We *tried* to eat here twice - but it closed just as we arrived for one last ride of dimsum before our flight out. Boo.
  

Prawn Noodles at Food Republic

Char Kway Teow

g

Chili crab at Jumbo Seafood - yummy!

d
We also did several rounds at many of the popular hawker stalls in Singapore where we samples some of Singapore's most favorite foods.

Tian Tian Hainese Chicken Rice at Maxwell Food Center in Chinatown

Duck Rice at Maxwell Food Center, Chinatown

f

Chili Crab at East Coast Seafood Center (taken from a moving car)

Satay at Lau Pa Sat

We're looking forward to returning one day and continuing our culinary tour of the city and all that it has to offer!

It's about time

Anyone who has traveled to India has likely witnessed numerous men peeing along the side of the road. It happens in the city and rural areas alike.

Part of the problem is certainly poverty - many people do not have access to toilets and running water. Alongside railroad tracks, it's a common sight to see men, women and children bathing and conducting other activities in full view of passing trains.

But there's a huge social problem where people (ok, men), think it's fine to do this in public. In the evening, you'll see men stop their cars or bikes to relieve themselves in not so private places.

Last weekend in my neighborhood, two stopped in the middle of a bridge. A guy who used to work in my office told a story of how he stopped on his way home one night. (He was subsequently hit by a motorcycle and slightly injured, so I guess he learned his lesson).

It seems that the New Delhi government is finally taking steps to curb such behaviors. Of course, it's mainly because the city doesn't want to be embarrassed when it hosts the Commonwealth Games next year, but that's fine with me if that's what it takes.

The city is launching a new ad campaign on billboards intended to "shame" people into proper behaviors to help clean up the city. It will tackle spitting, littering, and my personal favoring, urinating in public, all accepted norms here.

New Delhi launches no peeing in public campaign (CNN.com)

I don't know if it will actually work, but it's worth a try. And it's definitely better than doing nothing at all.

Back in India

We returned to Delhi last Tuesday and I returned with a cold. A nasty cold and a chest infection. I still haven't fully recovered, but I'm feeling much better.

a

And fortunately, I recovered enough to spend some time with my cousin Randy who was in town. As you may have heard me say before, Randy has the best job ever. Ever. He works for Sports Illustrated and originally worked on their website. But a few years ago he stumbled upon the opportunity to be the "On Location" photographer for the swimsuit edition. So now, he travels with the team as the shoot each year's swimsuit edition.

a

And that's only half of it - he also gets to travel to amazing locations around the world where they receive star treatment. This year he's been to the Maldives, Portugal and India. And he has another international trip coming in a few weeks, but I can't tell you where. Oh yeah, and he gets to hang out with the models.

a

In any case, after spending 2 weeks at Amanbagh Resort in Rajasthan, Randy added on a few extra days to his trip so he could visit Ani and me in Delhi. On Friday, I was a pretty worthless tour guide and hobbled my way through a visit to Humayun's Tomb and Khan Market. And on Saturday, I bailed on a trip to the Taj because I didn't think my body could take 8+ hours in a car. So Randy had to venture off on his own, but fortunately he was in the good company of Raju, our driver.

a

But I think on Sunday, I was back in action as a hostess. First, we ventured to Connaught Place where we hopped on the metro and headed to Old Delhi. The metro was incredibly crowded for a Sunday afternoon, but it still proved to be the most efficient way to reach Old Delhi. Once there, we took cycle rickshaws through several markets to reach Jama Masjid. And of course, we ate at Karim's, a requirement for any trip to Old Delhi.

a

We continued on through a bunch of other markets: the firework market, the motor markets, the silver and jewelry market, the spice market, the pan market, and of course the paper market. And like all good trips to Old Delhi, we stopped for dahi bhalla and ended in Haldiram's to buy sweets.

a

On our way back home, we intended to make a brief stop at Ani's house. This turned into a much longer, but incredibly enjoyable visit where Randy got to meet most of Ani's family and enjoy the hospitality of an Indian home. Randy also took about a million photographs of the kids and the rest of the family.

a

Later that evening, we said goodbye to Randy and dropped him (and all of his equipment) off at the airport. Now, we're patiently waiting for the next visitor (Brooke in late November), so we can continue to show our friends the wonders of India.