Welcome to Bali

During our travels in Malaysia and Singapore we didn’t visit any beach areas in either country. In Malaysia we decided not to visit the famous Perhentian Islands and eastern coast due to monsoon season. We didn’t want to make our way to the eastern side of the peninsula just to sit in a hotel room watching the torrential rains. Coming from the Pacific NW we may be used to rainy weather, but in SE Asia there is a whole other term for rainy. In Singapore we were too busy with the hive of activity that is the city-state to bother finding a beach. So by the time we reached Bali we were ready to relax and take time to enjoy ourselves, with little thought about much else.We decided to ease into the beach life by staying in Sanur, the quieter side of the island. Known by the party crowd as Snore, Sanur is on the southeastern side of the island and was quaint, quiet, and full of Dutch retirees. Indonesia was a Dutch colony and we heard Dutch citizens can stay up to 6 months on the island, and with the exchange rate of Euro to Rupiahs retirement must be nice.After quickly making our way through Bali’s cute little airport (island airports are just adorable) with the sounds of gamelans playing we headed off to our little hotel the Sri Phala Resort. What a deal! Our HUGE room came with a daily international breakfast and a private balcony over looking the lush scenery

a cute little pool

gorgeous tropical grounds

and beautiful Balinese architecture

The beach was just a short walk up the street and we were thrilled to find it nearly desertedNo mobs of tourist, big resorts, vendors selling everything from daytrips to board shorts, loud bars or restaurants - just calm, clear, clean waterAt one point we looked around and saw maybe 5 other people, just us and the boats – paradise!Calm, clear, clean water does have its disadvantages, after only a few hours in the water we were sun burnt like never before, that first night will forever be memorable as the stingiest, like an overcooked thanksgiving turkey which was not properly basted or covered during cooking - ngứa và để đầu!

The beach boardwalk is filled with restaurants and bars not visible from the water due to the natural slope of the beach and the boardwalk being placed further up. The brick paved boardwalk feels uncluttered and sparse to due the distance between resorts. Shops and restaurants are clustered together inbetween the lush manicured resort lawns, next to clusters of local merchants, temples, and residential apartments with the ocean and beach on the other side. This made for extremely pleasant and always interesting walks along the beach.Down by the pier, on the quieter end of Sanur, along the jetty there are large communal platform shelters dotted along the bay. These platform shelters are found everywhere in Bali and are incredibly handy when waiting out a sudden downpour.In the evenings we would go down to the boardwalk and sit in one of the platform shelters and watch the fisherman fish and families enjoying late day swims. We wouldn't describe Sanur as happening or super exciting. Being in Bali during off season does feel as if you have alot of the beach to yourself. During our time on this side of Bali we took many walks along the beach boardwalk into the main shopping area, drank alot of Bali Dry Sparkling Ginger Ale, played pool at the jazz bar across the street from the hotel, and ate alot of western food at any cafe which advertised free wifi.

Final Meal and Thoughts: Singapore

Due to the diversity of Singapore's population there are many national Singaporian dishes: chicken rice from the Chinese population, roti prata from the Indian population, fish head curry from the Malaysian population, sambals from Indonesia, and cheese mayonnaise fries from the British, as well as Singapore's own culinary developments such as barbequed stingray and black pepper crab. Interesting enough the curry spiced glass noodle dish Singapore noodles found the US can not be found in Singapore. The numerous dining options in Singapore is staggering, from restaurants to coffee shops to food courts to hawker centres to street vendors to newspaper kiosks, serving up all the dishes mentioned before to new ones we will undoubtedly return to taste. But before catching our flight to Bali we were determined to eat one last national Singapore dish - Chili CrabLucky for us the local neighborhood restaurant also served happy hour dim sum!At our Cookery Magic cooking course we were given the secret to black pepper crab, but we opted for the chili crab, which was delicious. A perfect final farewell to our culinary time in Singapore! Don't worry we'll be back to try that black pepper crab soon!

Cooking Course: Singapore

We were unable to find a cooking course while traveling through Malaysia, so we were very excited to find the Cookery Magic courses in Singapore that taught regional cuisine, including Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and Malaysian. Several different regional cuisines were offered during our time in Singapore and we decided to join the Malaysian cooking course offered later in the week. By this time we have had taken 5 different cooking courses and each were so very different in class structure, teaching style, and methodology that we weren’t sure what the course would be like. But we did know one thing – Singapore is hot and humid and tiring and by the time we made our way across the city and walked from the MRT to the class we were exhausted and not very excited about the course. The class was held in a residential area of Singapore and as we walked through the front gate to the front door we quickly became more excited about the class. The front yard of the house was lush, tropical, serene, and tranquil.The personal-spa-front yard had a small koi pond with fish we could pet like a dog and would suck on our fingers. It felt very strange.

We were immediately greeted by the cooking instructor Ruqxana. Soon everyone arrived and we were ushered into the kitchen.And to our utter joy and relief we were all given seats along one wall of the kitchen where we remained and watched Ruqxana discuss Singapore’s unique cuisine

introduced us to exotic spicesshowed us how to bring out flavorsand introduced to new flavors and tools

Ruqxana reminded us of our Japanese cooking course instructor Elizabeth Andoh. Both Ruqxana and Elizabeth are incredibly knowledgeable of the history of local ingredients, as well as fascinating medicinal facts, cultural significance, and unique culinary techniques. We were definitely able to take away plenty of inspiration.

Cultural Singapore

Another day of sightseeing and we’re back in Little India.

What can we say – we are in love with the culture, food, and people of the SE Asia Indian population.We did a little more research and wanted to see the temples in the area, both Hindu and Buddhist. First things first, we were looking for another great lunch and a local merchant suggested we try an unnamed banana leaf restaurant up the street. As we walked up we noticed the lunch crowd was heavy with Chinese, Malay, and Hindu seated at tables on the sidewalk surrounding the corner shop. We grabbed an empty table and flagged down a waiter and order a plate of crispy veggies.Although heavier than expected due to the chickpea flour, delicious nonetheless. Soon our banana leaf lunches arrived and we dug in.Not knowing what vegetarian items will be served with banana leaf lunches is the half the fun of ordering, the other half is eating it. Lucky for Anne her favorite okra-potato curry was included in the meal.

And Mike got his favorite tandori chicken.

We may be jaded since we have had several banana leaf meals, but this particular lunch was very heavy and we quickly found ourselves full and couldn’t finish even half of it.

So we simply sat back and enjoyed the yummy pulled teaand watched the procession of tourist rickshaws.

We quickly made our way to the Sri Veeramkaliamman Temple, which was filled with worshippers.All the Hindu Temples we have visited were always packed with worshippers who never seem to notice us and usually invited us to participate and take pictures of ceremonies that take place with little fan fare and among a lot of chatter and activity which never seen to take away from the shaman’s sermons.Which to be honest made it easy for us to stand and watch, but not feel awkward about walking around the temple as people prepared offerings and bathed statues in milk.Out of the numerous Hindu Temples we have visited, the Sri Veeramkaliamman Temple’s statues were by far one of the more morbid ones.We walked along the beautifully colorful colonial housesto several Buddhist templesWhat looked like a small neighborhood temple held a large seated Buddhaand the most interesting collection of small buddhasWe walked up the street to several more templesWe visited several more hindu temples, which were by far the most ornate buildings we have ever seenBy this time we were tired from the heat and walking and wanted to find a place to have a beer. Cousin Peggy suggested before we left that morning to check out Chinatown, especially for souvenirs. Singapore's Chinatown turned out to be a long alleyway right at the top of the Chinatown rail stop.Touristy and full of souvenir shops and stalls, Chinatown turned out to be the perfect stop for a beer, a little shopping, and people watching at the end of another great day.