Bali 20-23Dec10

Stayed at the Westin Resort at Nusa Dua - a nice and quiet beachfront hotel albeit a tad out of the way from the city center. These 3 days were the most relaxing ones in December.. Murking around doing nothing never felt more enjoyable!

Dinner just a few mins' drive from our hotel (free pickup service if you stay nearby so call to enquire). Great traditional Balinese cuisine. Definitely recommend you to order their Rijsttafel dinner menu as it offers a huge variety. Take note that one order is enough for 2 people. We couldn't even finish it. Reasonable corkage fee as well.

Name: Bumbu Bali

Location: Benoa, Kuta, Indonesia

Expenditure: US$60 including corkage

Another awesome dinner place recommended by friends. Located near the famous Ku De Ta but more exclusive in our opinion. Less crowded, more romantic and closer to the sea. Superb dining experience especially with the sound of crashing waves right next to you.. Love it. Food wise: below-average oysters, excellent prawns spaghetti and not-bad beef steak. Expensive corkage but still worth it given the horrible alcohol prices in Bali. Overall it was more the ambience than the food that blew us away.

Name: Breeze

Location: Jl. Laksmana, Seminyak Beach 80361, Indonesia
Expenditure: US$150 including corkage

On the last day we joined a cooking class (organized by a husband and wife team) that's highly rated on Tripadvisor. There were 12 of us in the group, mostly Australians. It began with a tour around the Ubud market with Puspa, our lady host, giving explanations along the way.

All the cooking ingredients were bought by the hosts beforehand hence there wasn't much for us to do except to take pictures and taste some Balinese goodies. Next, Wayan (the hubby) took us to their family-owned padi fields and gave us some insights to Balinese traditions and culture.

After which we were driven to their house to start cooking! 8 dishes on the menu. Hence the only way possible to accomplish the mission was to share the load instead of having our own work station. Smart thinking on the hosts' part as we ended up just doing some chopping, grinding, mixing, frying etc. Easy peasy! In the photos below there's me mixing ingredients using the traditional mortar & S molding satays. Overall a really unique travel activity and also a fun way to experience Balinese life.

Name: Paon Bali Cooking Class

Expenditure: US$30 pp