01.
Dec.
Dec.
Bali Love
Read everything about surfing in Bali, enjoying the best local food and participating in a Balinese cooking classes. Get the whole story here, along with Balinese recipes and pictures of my amazing holiday there in October 2013.
I've rarely felt something this strongly. The sense of being home, having arrived. It’s an immediate feeling of comfort and happiness. It’s every time I arrive in Bali. This might sound a little over the top or weird to some people, but it's truly how this country makes me feel. It’s the people that are so friendly, real and welcoming. It’s the culture and the beautiful landscape. And for me, it's also the passion for surfing and the amazing Balinese food I could eat all day long. Of course everything tastes even better when extremely exhausted and ravenous after having spent three hours in the water.
This was my second time in Bali and it will definitely not be my last. I've actually already thought about emigrating and spending the rest of my life in Indonesia. Surfing and eating all day long. I think it would truly make me happy.
I stayed at a surf camp called The Balicamp for 10 days. It is located at Canggu Beach, which is about 10 kilometres away from the very touristy main city of Kuta. The Balicamp had moved since the last time I had stayed there and I enjoyed the new location very much, It was a bit further away from all the hectic tourist places, which turned out to be much better.
Monday through Friday, you have to get up around 6am to catch the good waves. You strap your waxed surfboard onto the roof of the van, turn on some good reggae music and drive to the best surf locations and their great waves. My favourite spot was actually called Honeymoon and was about a 30 minute drive from the main camp.
As you can see in the picture, the spot was right by the cliffs, which meant you had to jump from the cliffs into the water when the tide was too high. Getting into the water, especially when still a little sleepy (it was around 7am by the time we had arrived) can be a bit of a mission, but only for the first 1-2 minutes. After that, the surf addiction overtakes you completely and you don’t want to ever leave the water anymore. The only thing that made me get out of the water was muscle weakness and starvation after a few hours of surfing.
You need to experience this firsthand to know what I am talking about, for those of you who haven't, this all probably sounds completely exaggerated. But it’s that pure joy that overcomes you when you're lying on your surfboard waiting for the perfect wave to come along. Finally it's here, you paddle hard, catch it and ride that beautiful thing mother nature created just for you.
And after the surf comes the next great thing – the big breakfast you get once you've arrived back at the camp. These were always buffets full of Balinese specialities, such as banana pancakes, fruits called tamarillo or salak, the snake fruit.
The egg-shaped edible fruit called tamarillo is also known as the tree tomato or tamamoro. It's very high in vitamins and iron and low on calories.
My favourite breakfast dish was a salad called 'Balinese Jukut Urab', which is a mixed vegetable salad with beans, spinach, sprouts and grated coconut with a sweet and sour dressing. It’s absolutely mouth-watering and to me, it features one of the most amazing flavour combinations. Soonish, you will find the recipe on my blog.
Also very delicious and nourishing is 'Soto Ayam', a yellow spicy chicken soup with longtong or nasi empit or ketupat (compressed rice cut into small cakes) and/or vermicelli or noodles.
I very much enjoyed 'Kering Tempe', a sweet treat that Indonesian people put over their salads or other dishes. This sweet, sticky tempe is something that goes with almost anything. I just love it!
I could go on and on about the delicious foods and the freshly squeezed orange juices, sweet banana shakes, mango juices we ate for breakfast every day. But you will find all this in my next blog entry, in which I am going to tell you about my Balinese cooking class. Of course I will also feature all those delicious recipes. Stay tuned.
I've rarely felt something this strongly. The sense of being home, having arrived. It’s an immediate feeling of comfort and happiness. It’s every time I arrive in Bali. This might sound a little over the top or weird to some people, but it's truly how this country makes me feel. It’s the people that are so friendly, real and welcoming. It’s the culture and the beautiful landscape. And for me, it's also the passion for surfing and the amazing Balinese food I could eat all day long. Of course everything tastes even better when extremely exhausted and ravenous after having spent three hours in the water.
This was my second time in Bali and it will definitely not be my last. I've actually already thought about emigrating and spending the rest of my life in Indonesia. Surfing and eating all day long. I think it would truly make me happy.
I stayed at a surf camp called The Balicamp for 10 days. It is located at Canggu Beach, which is about 10 kilometres away from the very touristy main city of Kuta. The Balicamp had moved since the last time I had stayed there and I enjoyed the new location very much, It was a bit further away from all the hectic tourist places, which turned out to be much better.
Monday through Friday, you have to get up around 6am to catch the good waves. You strap your waxed surfboard onto the roof of the van, turn on some good reggae music and drive to the best surf locations and their great waves. My favourite spot was actually called Honeymoon and was about a 30 minute drive from the main camp.
As you can see in the picture, the spot was right by the cliffs, which meant you had to jump from the cliffs into the water when the tide was too high. Getting into the water, especially when still a little sleepy (it was around 7am by the time we had arrived) can be a bit of a mission, but only for the first 1-2 minutes. After that, the surf addiction overtakes you completely and you don’t want to ever leave the water anymore. The only thing that made me get out of the water was muscle weakness and starvation after a few hours of surfing.
You need to experience this firsthand to know what I am talking about, for those of you who haven't, this all probably sounds completely exaggerated. But it’s that pure joy that overcomes you when you're lying on your surfboard waiting for the perfect wave to come along. Finally it's here, you paddle hard, catch it and ride that beautiful thing mother nature created just for you.
And after the surf comes the next great thing – the big breakfast you get once you've arrived back at the camp. These were always buffets full of Balinese specialities, such as banana pancakes, fruits called tamarillo or salak, the snake fruit.
The egg-shaped edible fruit called tamarillo is also known as the tree tomato or tamamoro. It's very high in vitamins and iron and low on calories.
My favourite breakfast dish was a salad called 'Balinese Jukut Urab', which is a mixed vegetable salad with beans, spinach, sprouts and grated coconut with a sweet and sour dressing. It’s absolutely mouth-watering and to me, it features one of the most amazing flavour combinations. Soonish, you will find the recipe on my blog.
Also very delicious and nourishing is 'Soto Ayam', a yellow spicy chicken soup with longtong or nasi empit or ketupat (compressed rice cut into small cakes) and/or vermicelli or noodles.
I very much enjoyed 'Kering Tempe', a sweet treat that Indonesian people put over their salads or other dishes. This sweet, sticky tempe is something that goes with almost anything. I just love it!
I could go on and on about the delicious foods and the freshly squeezed orange juices, sweet banana shakes, mango juices we ate for breakfast every day. But you will find all this in my next blog entry, in which I am going to tell you about my Balinese cooking class. Of course I will also feature all those delicious recipes. Stay tuned.