A Belated Balimoon • A few days into our trip...

It took us a couple days to get use to the heat. What is it with Asian people and not noticing the heat? There were Balinese people wearing wool sweaters and babies in hooded one-piece fleece suits out in the equatorial sun during the hottest part of the day and not showing a bead of sweat. Koreans are like this too. My husband and I were drenched in our own perspiration, wearing just enough to appease the locals and had to retreat to the pool every afternoon to escape the jungle heat. 
 

We were fortunate on this trip to receive detailed recommendations from Chee Choy, who conducts tours throughout Southeast Asia with Jalan Jalan Asia. We hadn't really planned this, but were lucky enough to meet up with Choy and his friend Kevin in Ubud, which was one of the highlights of our trip. Thank you so much Choy for sharing your inside tips to Bali, which we pretty much followed to the tee. Whenever we veered from Choy's recommendations, we were usually left wanting more from our excursions.

We first met Choy and Kevin for dinner at Cinta and had the best tuna satay on the trip. We also met up again the next morning where Choy and Kevin invited us on a jalan jalan, which took us through a beautiful rice paddy and ended at a tucked away little organic farm for brunch, called Sari Organik. Portlanders would totally feel at home eating there, and the amazing views of the rice paddies can't be beat. What I loved most about our trek was that Choy knew so much of the vegetation, the fauna and the history of the landscape. He would always pause to point things out that could easily go unnoticed and pluck spices off trees for us to examine and smell. 

Photos starting from the top:

Alter for offerings \ me & my husband \ view of rice paddy \ neighbors helping each other farm rice \ man carrying dried rice \ cloves plucked off a tree \ brunch at Sari Organik

Notes:

Jalan Jalan Asia

Ubud Community

Cinta Grill
Sari Organik