Bali Trip - Mt. Batur, Luwak Coffee & Dirty Duck Diner
Day 2 continues! *grins* We next were driven to the famous active volcano, Mt. Batur. We had our lunch at one of the restaurants there. Should have taken a photo of what the restaurants look like, but I forgot. LOL! But imagine restaurants built right on the edge of a cliff....the 'balcony' looks like it's suspended on air =)
The view from the place where we sat at. If we looked down, it's like a 20-feet free fall down into the trees below. o.O" But the view is spectacular...and the breeze blowing at you while you bask in the splendor of the mountain just completes it.
This is the view I'm talking about...doesn't really do it justice though coz it was REALLY breath-taking when we first laid eyes on it.
I played around with my phone apps....look what it produced! I heart the second photo A LOT =)
Lunch...it was a buffet lunch. Nothing to shout about as it was kind of standard fare...though I did enjoy the sate and noodles there. The view more than makes up for the average food!
After lunch we headed down Kintamani where Peter said he will bring us for some coffee. We passed by some more fruit stalls...I love the colors here. Gorgeous!
Coffee turned out to be a coffee plantation....it was so much fun to go through and look at all the different plants that these spices came from. Left photo: Vanilla! I was so excited coz I wanted to get some fresh vanilla pods to try out in my baking! Right photo: Cocoa...SOOO many of them!
Left: Cinnamon tree. Right: Bunga kantan...a type of flower used typically in Tom yum dishes. The flowers are at the bottom actually...the branches look a little like bamboo from afar =P
Banana...*sings the Banana-fana song*
Before we reached the processing part of the plantation, we came across a cage with these animals. They're called luwak and Luwak Coffee is very famous in Bali. More on that later *wink*
From there, we proceeded to the processing area. There were trays and trays of samples for us to see. Left: Unprocessed Luwak Coffee. Right: Dried vanilla bean pods. Was so disappointed that they didn't sell the fresh vanilla pods...=( There goes my hope of getting some to try in my baking. Oh well..
More trays...this was unprocessed cocoa pods...don't know why they have so many other stuff surrounding it though. *shrugs*
And coffee...this was already dried, before they are roasted...
To become THIS =)
There was a local doing some roasting of the coffee beans the traditional way...the aroma was so tempting!
That's Peter there (don't know why I snapped the photo cutting his head off...LOL!) showing us the traditional way of pounding the roasted coffee beans into powder which is then ready for consumption.
There were also other fruits for sale like this 'Snake Skin Fruit' or Buah Salak as the locals call it....the skin of the fruit really does kind of resemble a snake's scales! Little weird so I didn't try it...but I was told that it's a little sour like soursop. Hmmm..
After the explanation, we were treated to some samples of the coffees and teas sold there! Look at the array of drinks! There was (from the top): Luwak coffee, Balinese coffee, hot chocolate, ginger coffee, ginseng coffee, ginger tea, lemongrass tea and rosella tea. Yum yum! All had their distinctive tastes and it was such a nice experience getting to taste these different kinds of teas and coffees even though I'm no connoisseur of coffee / tea. My favourites were the Luwak coffee, hot chocolate, ginger tea and the ginger coffee *grins*
Close up on the Luwak coffee...this small little cup was not a free sample. And the cup was not cheap either....it costed 50,000 Rps which amounts to almost RM20 for this small espresso cup. o.O" But it is SO worth it, as the coffee is really tasty. It has a very rich, full-bodied texture and a nutty, chocolate-y aftertaste. The photo next to it is an explanation of how Luwak coffee came about. As disgusting as to how the beans were obtained, the taste is unforgettable (no pun intended)...in a good way =)
And so, we finished our tour in the plantations. As we headed to our next destination, this was the view from our car....throughout the trip, this scenic view greeted us almost 80% of the time. How can one not feel relaxed looking at all the green and peacefulness around here?
As it was festival time, there were quite a few locals (especially ladies) 'transporting' a lot of offerings to the temples or their houses...it's so amazing to see some even doing this without any hands supporting the baskets! Even young girls can do it...and never breaks a sweat. Eat your heart out, beauty pageant girls! LOL!
More pretty poles decorating the streets! This is what we see at every stretch of road with houses.
As we were heading down, we passed by this terraced paddy fields. It was also a famous tourist spot, but there were just too many people stopping here and no parking spots available that we told Peter to just go slower so we can enjoy the view from our car. This time around, the paddy had already been harvested so the fields look a little bare...if there had been paddy, the terraces would be a majestic golden yellow =)
Balinese people are very creative, as I was told...the amount of craft shops that we passed by is astounding! There are paintings, wood carvings, stone carvings, clay plates with ceramic mosaic decorations, batik, etc etc. You name it, they probably have it! Fascinating to watch even as we drive by...if we were to walk, I think we would have never left. LOL!
Believe it or not, this was an ornament in the middle of a road...how elaborate is that? Another thing that is quite different from Malaysia is the traffic. 'City roads' in areas like Kuta are a little similar to KL in the sense that there's always a traffic jam. But in smaller areas like Ubud, the roads are seriously narrow (imagine a two-lane road that can barely fit two sedan cars side by side...and it's a two-way road! O.O). And yet, drivers drive like they're on the highway there; people use the horns to tell the other drivers that they're passing by / overtaking your vehicle (hence you hear a LOT of honking!); and the hazard lights are put on in a crossroad to signal that you're GOING STRAIGHT....o.O" A little freaky but hey, it's the way they drive no? And Peter says there are hardly any road accidents in Bali...amazing!
Our next stop...a spa session! This was a little spa tucked away in between some shops at Jalan Monkey Forest (I kid you not, that is the name of the street! LOL!) where a one-and-a-half hour massage session only costs 150,000 Rps which amounts to about RM50! It was my first time at a spa and I'm a little miffed as to why I wasn't introduced earlier. LOL! It was such a relief to the tired muscles and so SO relaxing to have a full body massage....<3 <3
After our amazing massage session, we headed to this famous restaurant! Peter told me he's never stepped into the place before but he said that everybody that he's taken around Bali has heard of this diner and he brings them here every time. I had heard about this diner too from other famous bloggers so it was a no-brainer to go try it =)
From the outside, the diner looks like a normal restaurant, but the minute we stepped inside, it was like a 180 degrees change! Everything looks posh and pretty....no sign of a dirty duck running around the diner. LOL!
The lovely decorations around the diner. Pardon the lack of light...it was evening after all, and the sun had already set.
Dinner time! Food here is quite pricey (no surprise) so be prepared to burn a little hole in the wallet. We had to have of course their specialty, the crispy duck. The duck is rather similar to the Ayam Tulang Lunak. The whole duck can be eaten (even the bones) and the exterior is really crispy and tasty. It's served with rice and some sauces that really enhances the taste of the duck. Without it, it can be a little bit dry as the duck was fried really to a crisp ("Crisp"-y duck...geddit, geddit? LOL!)
This was another recommended dish...the Nasi Campur. Basically rice served with many different side dishes. Can you believe this serves one??!! We shared it amongst the 3 of us and we couldn't really finish it all...but it was splendid! The rendang, sate lilit and ulam vegetables are great complements to the fluffy white rice.
Mom said there was a shortage of vegetables in our meal (the ever health nut that she is!) so she ordered this dish called Gado-gado. It's different kinds of vegetables that are steamed / boiled, served with some tofu and (the thing that makes it different)....peanut sauce! Yes, believe it or not, it was served with a plate of peanut sauce not unlike the satay sauce we have in Malaysia. Love the little twist on it. The sauce goes very well with the vegetables =) All in all, quite a satisfying meal!
As we headed out to wait for Peter to come pick us, I spotted this basin of flowers....so pretty! These are fresh flowers floating in the water. Lovely end to the night as we headed back to our hotel. The nights in Bali start very early while we were there...all the shops in Ubud close at about 8-9pm and the sky is pitch black like it was already midnight in KL. Sometimes it feels a little weird that we're very tired and want to head to bed, but the clock shows it's only 8pm! O.O" Thank goodness for DVDs in the hotel room =)
So, that's about it for Day 2....stay tuned for Day 3! *grins*
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