East & Southeast Asia Trip 2019 (Part 2)

My father’s favorite spot in Bali would be Kintamani. I can see why, the air is cooler there’s Danau (Lake) Batur* and Mountains surrounding the lake. The place is absolutely stunning.

*Danau (Lake) Batur is a volcanic crater lake in Kintamani, Bali, Bangli Regency of Bali, located about 30 km northeast of Ubud in Bali. The lake is inside of the caldera of an active volcano, Mount Batur, located along the Ring of Fire of volcanic activity. (wikipedia)

After Kintamani, we found a really cool spot to eat our lunch. The restaurant is called “Keramas Aero Park”. The food was western balinese fusion and it was very delicious but the highlight I think was that we ate our meals inside a plane. They have torn the insides of the plane apart to fit tables and chairs. It was very rad. I’ll share some pictures here. At this point, we were close enough to sea that I can smell that salty sea smell. I love that smell.

This picture was taken from inside the plane.

After riding in the car for a little while, we finally arrived at our hotel in Dreamland Beach, Bali. The beach was really beautiful, but we were so exhausted by then we decided to just stay in the room and hang out for the rest of the night. In the middle of the night, a bunch of tourists checked into a room next to us. At 3am they literally tried to open the connecting door between our rooms. Which is… uhm. 😒😒😒 My sass-sleepy level spiked up real high. Thankfully they finally understand that they can’t really barge into our room (ya, wtf?). But I ended up having a hard time going back to sleep anyway.

By the time 7am rolls around, I wanted to go outside and walk along the beach. Juan usually doesn’t wake this early, but he humored me and we went on a long walk along the beach. Before we got there though, Juan spotted some Asian Water Monitor (reptiles). It was kind of cool to see them just swimming around. When he exclaimed I thought he saw Komodo Dragon! lol. But this was good enough. I didn’t want to meet a Komodo Dragon anyway. (please no, they are scary.)

The morning beach walk was nice because it was quiet and there was just a few early morning surfers. Y’all, we also ran into beach dogs! It was rewarding to be awake that early. I mean, look at their happy faces! They were super friendly, cute and hella playful with each other and with us as well. Apparently according to someone who lives around the area, these dogs are basically taken care by the shop owners along the beach. They live free, but when they need shelter and food, the local do take great care of them. Just what I want to hear.

Juan also spent a bit of time recording the sound of waves and crashing waves. There was no one around us so it was really good for him to record the surrounding sounds as well. - Oh, that reminds me why Juan humored me to wake up and go to the beach mad early. LOL! Anyway, I play the role of assistant during our travel for Juan to be able to record excellent sounds. I have gotten used to staying ultra quiet and just hold whatever he needs holding to get the sound recorded just right. He got this ultra sensitive microphones that will pick up the slightest sound, so I really had to be ULTRA quiet. (pictures below)

We took a long long nap right after the walk on the beach. Those darn tourists are gone so at least we got some quiet time. This was our least favorite hotel during this trip because of the thin walls. Luckily we were only staying there for a couple of days anyway. My parents wanted us to come get late lunch with them and then go hang out at the beach and watch the sunset. It was really pleasant. Oh, before the sunset, I got to eat my favorite indonesian snack of all time: rujak.* oh, goodness my mouth is watering thinking about it. 🤤

We were all wearing water shoes, so we took a fun picture together.

*Javanese traditional fruit and vegetable salad dish, commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Other than referring to this fruit salad dish, the term rojak also means "mixture" or "eclectic mix" in colloquial Malay. (wikipedia)

We spent the next morning hiking around Uluwatu Temple. The temple (pura in Balinese) is built at the edge (ulu) of a 70-meter-high (230 ft) cliff or rock (watu) projecting into the sea. It was a very very hot day. Before we enter the temple we were required to put on sarong around our waists to be respectful to the temple. It is a beautiful hike, but it was extremely hot. You’ll see it in pictures I took of my dad. We were sweating HARD. I have a pretty high tolerance when it comes to heat, but I was struggling a bit. Juan decided to stick to the shaded area while I took pictures. We were relieved when we got to the car and blasted the AC. I am glad we went because it was really beautiful.

Oh, a side note: The temple is inhabited by monkeys who are notorious for snatching visitors' belongings, such as flip-flops, cameras, and sunglasses. I can attest to this because we were told to keep our phones close to us and not bring “snatchable purses” into the temple. These monkeys are real smart. They can usually be persuaded into returning the items they snatched for nuts, fruits, candies, or any food by tour guides or groundskeeper. As a child, I’ve seen groundskeeper carry around bananas for these reasons. It is hilarious. But yes, Travel Tip: If you go, please keep an eye out for your belongings. Don’t even put your sunglasses on your head.

After the intense morning-early afternoon hike, we went to our favorite spot for lunch. I grew up going to this place and still find myself craving one particular dish served in this restaurant. I am blanking out on the restaurant name right now, but the dish itself is called Kangkung Plecing*. Kangung - the vegetable itself, is one of my favorite veggies of all time. This dish is so spicy you HAVE to eat them with rice. They taste even more delicious when you wash hands properly and eat them with your hands. As Indonesian, I eat Indo food with my hands all the time. It truly beats using fork and spoon to be honest. (unless I’m eating soup, lol) I only took the first picture of this dish and found some on google for clarity. Gosh they are so delicious. 🤤

*Plecing kangkung is an Indonesian spicy water spinach dish made from Lombok island. Plecing kangkung made from blanched kangkung leaf served cold with plecing sambal, made from ground red chili pepper, shallots, garlic, burned bird's eye chili, candlenut, kaffir lime, burned shrimp paste, a pinch of salt and sugar.

In the late afternoon we spent some time at Tanah Lot. My dad love sunsets, so we found a spot above ground where we could sit and sip on fresh coconut juice while we wait for the sun to set. It was really beautiful. We also got to meet Asian Palm Civet in a shop that sells Kopi Luwak*. Kopi Luwak is one of the most expensive coffees out there. They are produced mainly on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Sulawesi, and in East Timor. They tasted very good as the usual acidity of coffee has been pretty much eliminated by the process. The process can be quite gross to some, so if you are looking to try the coffee, please read description below. Now you know.

*If you are unfamiliar with Kopi Luwak, it is a coffee that consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which were eaten and defecated by the Asian Palm Civet. It is therefore also called Civet Coffee. The cherries are fermented as they pass through a civet's intestines.

At the end of the day when we are headed out, the shop owner actually takes his Asian Palm Civets home with him. One stowed inside his jacket, another hanging in a basket. They were super chill when he drove off on his motorcycle.

Tanah Lot, Bali