Last few days in Bali

Our week in Bali is over.  Now we're heading off to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  I'm really going to miss Bali and the people we met there, like Agung, our driver.  He is the best driver and guide!  He met us at the airport and we thought he was just going to drive us to our house.  But he turned out to be a wonderful person, going places with us, showing us places and telling us things about his country.  Here is Agung:

On one of our last nights Agung's mother and wife cooked us a special smoked duck dinner.  Everything we ate came from their land.  Even the duck.  The ducks are raised in the rice fields.  Since it was Edward's birthday this week, they prepared a special birthday dish for him.  The cone of yellow rice is something served on your birthday.

We got to learn a lot about Bali because of Agung.  I would like to back to Bali someday and learn more about this beautiful place.

On the Side of the Road

In Bali the sidewalks are very different from the sidewalks in the US.  The sidewalks here are made out of tiles that are red with flower designs on them.

The sidewalks are very uneven and they go up and down all the time.  Sometimes there are big holes in the sidewalks where you can see or hear the water from rain run-offs or maybe the sewer.

When you walk it is kind of hard to keep your balance, especially at night in the dark, because the sidewalks are so uneven.  When you walk you also have to watch out for animals roaming the sidewalks such as dogs and chickens.  Sometimes you see cows in fields right next to the road.  Once I even saw a man walking a pig down the sidewalk on a leash.

Another common sight in Bali are motorcycles.  There are about a million motorcycles in Bali!  People use their motorcycles as we would use our cars.  We've seen whole families on motorcycles--Mom, Dad, 2 kids.  We have seen babies, groceries, chickens, rice, vegetables and baskets full of fruit being carried on motorcycles.  If you see 2 caged roosters on the back of a motorcycle, they may be for cockfighting.  Cockfighting is a common sport in Bali.  It is part of their religious ceremonies and culture.  Cockfighting is when 2 roosters are put in a ring with knives attached to their claws.  They fight each other until one dies.

Some of the things we've seen growing on the side of the road have been coconuts, bananas, rice, peanuts, cabbage and tomatoes.  The side of the road in Bali is SOOOOO different from the side of the road in Rockport!

Rice

This is a woman that works in a rice field in Bali.  She is all muddy because she has been standing in the field behind her which is full of water.  The rice is put in water filled fields for 2 months, then the water is drained out and the rice grows in dry fields for 2 months.  Then it is harvested and they plant new rice.  Rice can be planted 3 times a year.  It is one of the most popular foods in Bali and one of the most popular jobs is rice farmer.  Every family has their own rice field which they plant and eat from.  In Bali the community helps each other when they are harvesting rice.  They all work together in the rice fields.

This is a rice terrace.  Rice can only be planted on a hill if you know how!  The Balinese know how!  They cut the hill into ledges so there are flat places for the rice to grow.  When they drain the water from the fields, they can drain it from one field and then give the water to a field lower down the hill.  Rice fields are a very common sight in Bali.  You see LOTS and LOTS of them!

This is finished rice.  They will soon be coming to harvest the rice in this field.  Do you see the little tiny grains of rice hanging on the plant?  This was the only field we saw that was ready to harvest.   Most of what we saw was baby rice growing in water.

Nasi Goreng

My favorite food in Indonesia is Nasi Goreng.  Nasi Goreng is fried rice with Satay chicken in peanut sauce.  It usually comes with an egg on top.  The satay chicken is usually spicy but the rice is usually not.  The cracker-y things next to the rice are called Sambal which means shrimp cracker.  I do not like them very much (at all).  They taste like shrimp and air, which is not a very good combination.

Here are 2 photos of Nasi Goreng:

 This one (below) has a salad with it and the egg is not fully cooked.  You are supposed to mix the egg with the rice and since the rice is hot, it will cook the egg the rest of the way.

Snack Time!

"Hey Evelyn, want some Pringles?"
"Sure, I love Sour Cream and Onion Pringles!"
"OK.  Here's your Pringles."
"Ewww--seaweed?!?!  I never said I wanted seaweed!"
"Well, you said you wanted Pringles!  Give them a try."

CRUNCH
"Hmmm.  Well, not exactly Sour Cream and Onion, but...crunchy and salty...tasty...I guess you'd call them GOOD."

A New Kind of Coffee

 This is a Lewak.  His job is to eat coffee beans and then poop them out!  Then the people use the pooped out beans to make coffee that people drink!  We went to a coffee plantation and saw a Lewak.  My parents actually tried the Lewak coffee!  They said it was bitter.  The Lewak coffee is extremely expensive, despite it's bitter taste.






Here is a picture of me and Daniel (and sleeping Edward) in front of all the different kids of coffee, tea (and hot chocolate).  The hot chocolate was made from the cocoa beans grown at the plantation.
















This may look like a crazy jungle to you, but it is actually the coffee plantation with all the different kinds of coffee and cocoa trees.

Hot Springs

Right after our volcano hike, we went to a Hot Springs pool.  The smaller pool was very hot and the bigger pool was colder.  The water was hot because it came straight from under the volcano.  I think it was heated by the lava!  This is a picture of me and Daniel drinking tomato melon juice.  

 These are tomato melons.  Edward is holding 3 of them in his hands right now.  The juice tasted a little tomato-y but sweet.  We do not have tomato melons in Rockport!

Here is a picture of Daniel, Edward and I sitting at the bar.  We played "get the tomato melon" by throwing one into the pool and then diving down to get it.  They sank!  I had a really fun time at that pool.  When I went from the cold water to the hot water, it made me super, super hot.