Over the hills, under the moon - and off the beaten path

  Bali is a lovely place to be, but the old timers talk about the days, before the arrival of the masses of Australian backpackers and Chinese charter tourists. At that time it was an even lovelier place, they say. And such a place is actually to be found - even today - just across the Badung Strait, on the small, still relatively unknown island of Nusa Penida. We decided to make the voyage back in time and it IS true: coming from the exuberant, pulsating Bali, you find Nusa Penida to be in a completely different world.     The island is almost without tourists. We haven't seen any proper hotels or restaurants and as we walk around the main town of Sampalan, everybody takes notice, and the locals greet us with laughter and smiles as if we, by our mere existence, really have made their day.   making presents to the gods     Cheeky kids at the marketplace ...

  During the last few days, we've had a lot of nice meals around Ubud and today I decided to have a peek inside one of the local kitchens by taking a cooking class. I was picked up early at our house by a driver. There were already four people waiting on the small bus. Two English and two Australian girls.  The English girls were blogging about fashion and the cooking class was a part of their next blog post. The Australians, however, had their minds focused on the food we were going to cook. The first stop was the marketplace, and we arrived at 8 AM before the market turned into a tourist trap.   Choosing the ingredients We saw flower stalls with all the multi-colored flowers intended for the gods if you were into do-it-yourself offerings. We saw spice shops, stalls selling vegetables, meat, basket ware, beans, and lentils - and the chauffeur, who doubled as the cook, demonstrated the use of the selected spices and fruits. Flowers to the g...

When we decided that we wanted to travel the globe for the next coming years, the island of Bali wasn't on our bucket list - but it grew on us when we heard of the life being led on what the islanders believed is the paradise on earth. A visit to paradise sounded nice, we planned for a stay of a couple of months (not to overstay our welcome or bid into too many forbidden fruits), booked our flight tickets, and found a lodge for the first couple of weeks. Now, we've arrived safely and we find ourselves neatly settled into our new surroundings. We live on the outskirts of Ubud, which is traditionally regarded as Bali's cultural center.   our local rice field   The main street Jalan Rayan   Ubud has many ex-pats who want to immerse themselves in yoga and meditation  but the main street - Jalan Rayan -  is also a myriad of bars and restaurants, and the street is filled with young American, Australian and European b...