Winter 2019 - 20. Restaurants

20.  Restaurants

Lunch of ? From Pici Pici

Throughout the whole time in Bali we ate at ‘local’ restaurants. No McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Subways, etc. those are too prevalent in the U.S. 

We ate Balinese food, freshly prepared, freshly made and yes, maybe exotic, because there were many times we had no clue what we picked when we looked at the menus.

Capcay, a Delicious Soup at the Balifornia Restaurant

Most menus given to us, in fact I would say all of them, were written in English. Language difficulties were never a problem in Bali.

All the foods we ate, lunch and dinners, were tasty, were delectable. It was our privilege to pick and chose. Here are some pictures of the things we ate:

Note the strange names of the dishes.

Balifornia Menu Showing the Ingredients of Various Dishes

Another Great Dish at the Pizza Place

Also at the Pizza Place

Balinese Menu From Pici Pici

 

Pepes Ikan (See Menu Above) Complete With Lips and Teeth

Amazing Snacks at the Baguette Shop

And Then There Is Dessert -  at the Baguette Shop

Chocolate Croissants at the Baguette Shop

All These Looked Good

Biyu Melab-Lab From the Menu Above -- It was YUMMY!

Winter 2019 - 19. Lazy days Too

19.  Lazy days Too

Reading

After yesterday’s extended trip, after the rain last night, we decided to just laze.

Yes, did you ever try to do ‘nothing’?  Not as easy as it sounds.

I cannot just sit there and look at Carol, so I tried reading a book, but got side tracked by my surroundings. Carol thought it a good idea to get a full body massage at our place next door, the place we liked, Budaya Spa. 

Budaya Spa, a Favourite Place

Both of us received a full body massage for the amazing price of 130,000 Rupiah.

They worked us over, flipped us around and kneaded the heck out of us for U.S. $9. They used salves, oils, took 1 hour each, and fed each of us a tea and fruit snack. They were thankful that we came to them, we were thankful for the good job they did and all was well in Bali.

We lazed.

Meditating

We could not really walk around, it rained too much. Yes, we each had a poncho, or we could have used the umbrellas Uma Sari provides, but we felt like being lazy.

For dinner we wanted to go to Pici Pici, a restaurant next door but when we stepped into the streets most of the lights went out on the street.

Pizza Place

Total darkness… there might have been a short from the rain someplace?

We never found out why we had no electricity but now it was easy which of the surrounding places was open for dinner. Well, Pici Pici had candles burning; they told us we could eat albeit from a limited menu. Normally our daily choice of restaurants is extensive, there were food places all along the street, and it seemed that every 3^rd house had some kind of food to offer. We chose, that night, the Pizza place next door going the other way from Pici Pici, and enjoyed the one light bulb that gave us light, lit by a hidden battery or generator, I am sure. Vegetarian Pizza was our choice that evening, yummy. Carol tried a Banana/Pineapple lassie. Kind of like a smoothie. 

Believe me; it was not easy to do ‘nothing’. 

Winter 2019 - 18. Rain

18.  Rain

How do you feel when it rains while you are on vacation?

It Was a Deluge

Well, after we got back from our first outing set up by the Hotel Uma Sari (Blogs 10 – 16), we just stepped into our room when it started to pour down in sheets. It rained so hard we did not even go out for dinner that evening.

You must have heard of a tropical deluge, but being in one is an experience. I was excited and felt ‘cozy’ being under shelter watching the rain. The no dinner night was OK by me.

Tapering Off a Little Bit

Every afternoon, well almost every afternoon, we had a rain shower while we were in Bali. It was the ‘rainy’ season, after all. Nice and cool in the morning, then the temps started to warm up around 10 am or so, got hot by 2 and by 5 or 6 PM we had rain. Not every day but most days it rained for a short while in the afternoon. We did not even notice the rain, really, because when you are inside a restaurant or shop the rain is over when you step out again.

Snail Seeking Refuge

I would say we had 2 days of really heavy downpours in the month we were there. The rain on those days came down sideways. Birds’ nests in the trees swayed left and right in the accompanying winds. The weather was storm-like but not truly threatening. The sky was black, the winds howled and water collected on the sidewalks and made walking gushy if you were out and about. But because of the canals the people dug here, the surface water ran off almost immediately once it stopped raining.

Bali is tropical, but the water from the rains is controlled on the ground. I guess that is what the Subak System is all about. Some strange creatures came out of hiding during the rains, though; this picture is of a snail.

Nice to Watch the Rain From the Shelter of Our Porch

And speaking of rain… it rained on my parade, too.

I was unable to book the last 3 days of our visit to Bali at Uma Sari. It was really my fault. I thought I could get it even cheaper than the US $22 I was paying. I also forgot the pending Holiday, the Nyepi Day (Day of Silence), which would be celebrated right after we left Bali. You see, before this solemn day people party, visit family, etc.  Uma Sari was sold out, other people took advantage of this place, and I kind of fell asleep at the wheel forgetting about extending our stay.

Well, now Carol and I need to walk around looking at a few ‘other’ places just for the 3 last days of our trip to Bali. This not having a room is not imminent; it is in about 10 days from now. 

Yet, we have to secure a room for ourselves just to be prepared.