A new day at Madu and I woke up to the smell of garlic and onions cooking in the kitchen below. Gotta love that!
We had ordered breakfast in because Daz, Matt, Pam and I were heading off on our Herbal Walk in the pagi and the villa driver offered to drop us in front of the Museum in Ubud at 8:30 which was the meeting point.
Night over Manaus...Boozoo Bajou
Mie goreng in the morning before a walk in the rice paddies...no doubt where we were today.
Breakfast was excellent, our first indication of Nurdi's skill in the kitchen.
Why on earth had we waited so long?
Yesterday we had organised to have a Babi guling banquet at the villa tonight and after the spread we had for breakfast, dinner indeed was sure to be a banquet!
Only have pictures of the aftermath unfortunately.
There was a choice of freshly blended juices, toast with a big variety of spreads, Mie goreng, banana pancakes, a large fruit platter and any tea or coffee that your imagination could come up with.
All served by Nurdi who would circle the table offering to pile more onto your plate if you gave her half a chance.
The 4 of us were looking forward to this walk. Pam and I are keen gardeners and the guys liked the idea of the survival aspect of it.
You know that living off the land, hunter/gatherer, taking off with just a knife, a water bottle and your wits sort of deal that guys plot and scheme about ? Well my guys do anyway :0)
We met Made at the rendezvous point. I put my foot in it embarrassingly when he first approached us. I thought he was offering me transport and I assured him we are ok thanks :0} grimace. Hey he looks a lot different in person than his pics on the website!
Once we established who he was. From the main street we turned down a little gang and within seconds we were surrounded by lush vegetation and walking over a bridge that traversed a ravine. We were spun out that just one house block (an Oz sized house block that is) back from the street we were virtually back in farm land, in the middle of Ubud!.
Made immediately started to pick away at the plants growing along the path, naming this vegetable, herb, fruit and their uses.
He commented on the Japanese occupation of Bali during World War 2 and how, many of them died from starvation or from eating poisonous. Knowing your plants can make a hell of a lot of difference
Over 50 different types of banana grow in Bali!
The Miracle Tree - Moringa oleifera.
Here in Oz we know it as the golden shower tree.
I had no idea that one of our street trees has so many uses and is rich in many nutrients.
Sweet potato plant.
Made spoke a lot of the importance of nature and the rice fields to the Balinese.
Rice isn't just one of the main food staples but an important part of their culture.
He and of course many others are worried that the rice fields are being replaced more and more by hotels.
I s'pose just like the majority of us he was shaking his head with disbelief at the madness of building hotels in these paradises only to ultimately destroy them.
Here's hoping Bali gets a handle on this development very soon.
The walk was very beautiful
I like how he described that nature is even reflected in the Balinese dances. That quick side to side action with the dancers eyes is an imitation of lightening and their long finger nails are a copy of palm fronds.
We interrupted a snake having his frog breakfast here!
Spooky looking scarecrow!
Made said they aren't of much use in the scare department but they make the farmers laugh.
The coconuts drop and that's where they grow
We stopped for a break and had the most amazingly fresh baby coconuts.
Complete with drinking spout and rice reed straw.
Once we had drank it dry which took some doing, even sharing between 2. They hold a lot of juice!
The coconut was split open and we got to taste the 'meat'.
Geez I can still taste this.
THE freshest, creamiest, natural, melt in the mouth taste sensation I think I have ever had.
Luke and I had read in a book 'The fruits of Bali', back at The Maharaj that the coconuts we get in our supermarkets back home are of the standard that are fed to the pigs in Bali!
After tasting this one I can see why, a huge difference between the 2.
Our resting spot was at the local council chambers.
Synergy
Coconut husks..a hundred and one uses.
An Art Studio
Another beautiful path. Next time I visit Ubud I hope to venture this way again.
Wish I had taken more pictures of these.
Balinese
Indonesian
English
But I always seemed to be lagging behind on my picture taking frenzy.
And then we were hitting the streets again.
Made bid us farewell at his herbal store and apologised he had to leave us so soon.
He had a ceremony to attend and that takes importance over everything of course.
He was late and was running up the street as we waved him goodbye and thanked him.
We all purchased some gifts and lotions and potions from his great little store whilst sipping away on a ginger tea.
My best buy was some natural "Bug Off" that really did the job and smelt great too for the rest of the trip.
It was a great morning and you can find him here..... baliherbalwalk.com
We stopped off at Nomads on the way home for a refresher and I really should have used their powder room before heading home ....Setting a cracking pace for Pam, up our slightly inclined road home I called back to the guys that we would see them later.!
After our sprint home which had got our hearts pumping like a workout at the gym, we changed into our bathers and hit the pool.
For the rest of the afternoon we just hung out at the beautiful Madu.
Here's a peek at the huts that the kids slept in during our stay.
They were quite happy sleeping in these, I know this because I kept asking them all the time.
I really had my doubts about the comfort level in the huts but the kids all assured me they were good.
One of the paths leading down to the lower, huts level.
Every morning I wandered down here to give the kids their wake up call.
And every morning there was some sort of beautiful 'thing' to withhold.
Over the balcony is a ravine which had only a little a water in at the time.
Here's a warning to all of you that dislike the sight of a whole cooked animal.
I know a couple of us had our squeamish moments.
You might want to look away now.
Nurdi had priced a babi guling from Ibu Oka and they were much too expensive (terlalu mahal!).
She was shocked at the price and found one elsewhere at less than half that.
Let me just say that we were over the moon with the cost.
Back home we had a special occasion at a restaurant for Luke (he's rather partial to some suckling pig) and for only one side of the beast and it was probably half the length again, we paid three times the price.
Plus it tasted no way near as good.
Luke was given the honor.
That plate of sweet meats I just couldn't go near but the guys all gave it a try.
Look at Nurdi in her element too :0)
She had been cooking and preparing all day and it was all fantastic.
It certainly was a feast and way more than we could eat.!
We asked Nurdi to please give the rest of the pig and any of the side dishes to the staff.
There was definitely enough left over to feed a couple more families, if not a village!
She put aside some pork for our lunch the next day and we almost had to shoo her home to get her out of the kitchen.
Some more chill time and Duty Free was had at Madu.
I could of definitely made a habit of that but tomorrow was our last day in Ubud.
Selamat Malam x
No comments:
Post a Comment