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All about surfing in Bali, enjoying the best food and participating in a balinese cooking class. Here you can read the whole story, get Balinese recipes and see the pictures of my amazing holiday in Bali in October 2013.

I rarely sense this so deeply. The feeling of being home and having arrived. It’s an immediate feeling of comfort and happiness. It’s the arrival in Bali. This might sound a little over the top or weird to some people, but this is truly how I feel in this country. It’s the people that are so friendly, true and welcoming. It’s the culture and the beautiful landscape. And for me personally the passion for surfing and the amazing Balinese food that I could eat all day long. Of course it tastes much better after you spend three hours in the water, overly exhausted and ravenously hungry.

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This was my second time in Bali and it will definitely not be my last. Actually I already thought about migrating and spending the rest of my life in Indonesia. Surfing and eating all day long. I think it would truly make me happy.

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I stayed ten days at the Surfcamp, called The Balicamp, located at Canggu Beach, which is about 10 km away from the touristic and main city Kuta. The Balicamp has moved since I have stayed there last time, and I must say that I enjoyed the new camp, a little further away from the hectic tourist places, much better.

To catch the good waves in the morning you get up every morning around 6 am from Monday to Friday, put your waxed surfboard on the roof of the van, turn on the good reggae music and you drive towards the good surfing spots and the great waves. My favourite spot was actually called Honeymoon, which was about a 30 minutes drive from the camp.

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As you can see on the picture this spot was right at the cliffs,which means that you have to jump from the cliffs into the water, if the tide is too high. Getting into the water, especially when you are still a little sleepy (it’s around 7 o’clock in the morning when you arrive there) can be a mission but only the first 1-2 minutes. After that you feel the complete opposite – that’s when the surf addiction overtakes you completely and you don’t want to leave the water anymore. The only reason why you actually need to get back is the weakness of your muscles and the strong hunger that overcomes you after a few hours of surfing. You need to experience this feeling to know what I am writing about. Otherwise it probably sounds over the top and exaggerated. But it’s that radiation of joy that overcomes you, while lying on your surfboard waiting for the perfect wave to come and to catch. Finally the wave comes, you paddle hard, catch it and ride the beauty that mother nature created for you.

And after the surfing comes the next joy – the big breakfast you get once you arrive back at the camp. This is a buffet of Balinese specialities, such as banana pancakes, fruits called tamarillo or salak, the snake fruit.

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The egg-shaped edible fruit, called tamarillo is also known as the tree tomato or tamamoro. The fruit is very high in vitamins and iron and low in calories.

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My favourite breakfast dish was a salad, called 'Balinese Jukut Urab', which is a mixed vegetable salad with beans, spinach, sprouts, grated coconut dressed in sweet and sour flavours. It’s mouth watering and for me one oft he most amazing combinations of ingredients. Soonish you will find the recipe on my blog.

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Also very delicious and nourishing is 'Soto Ayam', a yellow spicy chicken soup with longtong or nasi empit or ketupat (all compressed rice that is then cut into small cakes) and/or vermicelli or noodles.

I very much enjoyed 'Kering Tempe', which is a sweet treat that Indonesian people put over their salads or other dishes. This sweet, sticky tempe is something you can serve with almost everything on top. Just love it!

I could go on and on about the delicious food and the freshly squeezed orange juices, sweet banana shakes, mango juices etc. we got every day for breakfast. But this you will find in my next blog entry, when I am going to write about my Balinese cooking class. Of course I will also disclose you with the delicious recipes. Stay tuned.

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