Bali Farming

Along our Bike Ride we stopped in a coffee plantation that also grew many other fruits, vegetables and herbs. It is great to see the local Balinese harvesting and creating on their own without any manmade machinery to assist. We watched a gentleman roast the coffee beans, dry them out and grind them and then we had the opportunity to taste the final product; very nutty and quite strong, but delicious. Much different from taking our pods of coffee and putting into a machine to instantly fix our coffee crave every morning before work.

Almost everything is grown locally. Even the meat, even though that’s not quite growing, every family has chickens, pigs, etc. Lots of restaurants and hotels have their own farms. Man, the difference fresh ingredients make in your cuisine - it is unbelievable. Eating a pineapple, green beans and pumpkin salad with fresh basil and a dribble of olive oil – yum! And the fresh juices, they are everywhere! I’m drinking a Lemon Vera as I type this, which is a blend of lemon, aloe vera, honey and ginger. And I had the Lemonana this morning; lemon, honey and mint.

I could go on and on about this and I will, in a new post dedicated just to food! I have to satisfy all my fellow foodies :).




Cocoa plant


Pineapple plant - so cute


Our guide


Roasting the coffee beans


Drying the coffee beans


Grinding the coffee beans


Beautiful view of the greenery from the plantation


Coffee, Cocoa, Lemongrass and Ginger Tea


Bali's most expensive coffee - Luwak


Some info on Luwak


Fresh fruit or "super-fruit" as Westerns call it because we don't grow it and it is foreign to us

Bali Life

One Friday a month a grand celebration occurs on the beach of Seminyak, La Plancha. It is a joyous, fun occasion filled with plenty of Bintangs (Bali Beer), a variety of people from all walks of life and an outrageous DJ spinning Eastern and Western jams. There were hundreds of partygoers covering the beach and raging into the early hours of the next morning.

The next afternoon we headed to the same beach to get some rays and the tide was nearly touching the street – higher than Katie and her friends have seen in months. I took a deep breath taking in the smell of clove cigarettes from a Hindu ceremony not too far from us and decided that this was the souls of the Hindu culture’s way of drifting all the evil and sins that occurred the night before out to sea – never to be seen again.




La Plancha - Hundreds of people living with no worries for the time being, just partying up


Cool photo representing the frame of mind. Large screens were put up to play music videos that went along with the DJs beats.


Driving the motorbike through the streets of Seminyak, Bali

Rafting with Elephants

Yesterday was a crazy fun day filled with white water rafting and an elephant trek. Also fed little baby elephants that are just too cute for words. They have to be the kindest animals on Earth next to Milton. I’ll let the pictures do the talking…




Trek to the River


Raft Guide, Wuyaing


Rafting Crew


Scenery on the Ride


Waterfall pit-stop


Waterfall :)


Hut Hut


Me and my Home-girl


King of the Park


Walk the Line, Drunkies


My Man!

Singapore some more – Lemons into Lemonade

My flight to Bali was cancelled so the airline put us up in an amazing hotel, will probably be the nicest place I stay for months! Gorgeous rooftop pool, the best seafood/sushi buffets, etc. And to top it off, I’ve met some wonderful people from my flight – those backpacking the world all join together because after all, we are all living our dream. I expected to meet a lot of young travelers but it turns out it is quite the opposite. Most have finished university and worked a bit and then decided to embark on the trip of a lifetime – much like me. Since it is the beginning of my trip, I haven’t experience crazy hostels, couch-to-couch living and overnight train sleeping, but most of them have. And now we are all enjoying this beautiful hotel. One of the girls, Vienna from Holland, came to dinner last night so excited because we had bathtubs, "I haven't seen a bathtub in 4 months!!" haha

Although I would have liked to be in Bali earlier, the people I have met and had the opportunity to share stories, laugh and experience Singapore with have made it wonderful – they are such interesting beautiful souls with an amazing core. When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade and then you add a little firefly vodka and you get an amazing, half-n-half! :)

The inspiration and joy of living among backpackers is so infectious – there is no stress, no worry if plans don’t go as intended, we are all simply living in the moment. Breathe, relax, calm yourself and remember, we all have a pulse and are still able to enjoy this earth, never lose sight of what really matters and what makes us happy. To me, it is my family, friends, lovers, food and travel.  

Pool at the hotel Carlton

Back of the pool, beautiful waterfall

Hotel lobby

Hotel

Raffles Hotel - most expensive hotel in Singapore

Raffles courtyard

Street

Changi Airport - Singapore

My new friends hanging and venturing before our flight

Butterfly Garden in the airport!

Butterfly in the garden

Butterfly garden

Singapore, my thoughts and ramblings

Some say it is a city of wealth and excess, I’d fight you on the latter. I found it simple, minimalist – clean and crisp. There is an aristocratic aura, however, it is done so beautifully and with such ease you feel as though you are walking around on a movie set not Southeast Asia’s hub of transport, trade and art.

Opposed to my experience in other Asian countries, my blonde hair and blue eyes did not stick out in the slightest. Because of Singapore’s status in the financial world people of every background live here. This morning I passed by a European couple walking their adorable black and white pup in north boat quay. There’s something refreshing, or dismal depending how you look at it, about the fact that you’d have to take a microscopic look to tell I’m on the other side of the world.

I’ve always wondered about the strict regulations to ward off pollution and keep the city the cleanliest in the world and now I see why. It is a necessity for cities on the water and made up of canal systems – it can get quite dirty, hence Venice, Italy. Singapore’s restrictions are smart and well beyond us all. As we hustle to retract our mistakes and all of a sudden declare ourselves on the “green” path, Singapore has been there for ages. So much so, they're in the midst of creating a reservoir in the city center. Unbelievable, huh?

Bridge over to Boat Quay

Parliament Grounds

The Future Marina Reservoir

Fullerton Hotel

View of Marina Bay Sands from Merlion Park

View of the Esplanade from Merlion Park

European feel

Famous park of Singapore, switch the last two letters and it is "Merlino Park!"

Merlion Park

Walls of Parliament

View of the Singapore Flyer

Even under a bridge art has been created - every structure is built to perfection, never leaving any vulnerability

Gentle reminder to be clean, however, if not it is not such a gentle punishment

 

Flight of luxury…

Surprisingly (sarcasm), not many people are flying to Japan these days. The result – my own row on the plane! Yes, three seats were all mine so I could sprawl across and sleep for the entire 13 hours, which I pretty much did in between watching The Fighter, The Kids Are All Right, and Morning Glory. Realistically, the row of seats is probably around the size of my sophomore dorm-bed! Not bad. Landed in Tokyo, take off for Singapore in an hour, my final destination of this leg of the trip. 

PS - Since I will miss opening day, thought I would lend my support to the METS via my "bed."

Tokyo from the plane

Beautiful Tokyo golf-course from the plane - doesn't it look fake? Love the shadow of our plane, love this photo.