Nothing Went Up in Smoke

Today was a really busy, action packed day. We got up early to go to the cooking class, which was a lot of fun. It started out with a trip to a real Balianese market. Even though Bali is pretty touristy, there are still some places that are mostly untouched by the industry. This market was really special. It wasn't clean and the road wasn't well paved, but I think that was part of the charm. A woman ate almost a whole spicy pepper, but it sort of made her sick. I'm going to put a video together for the market. It was pretty special.

Then the group (there were 7 other people taking the cooking class with us, five were from Singapore) was driven to a Balianese house where the cooking class was actually held. We all did one step or another in preparing the meal. Everyone chopped spices and vegetables up. The Singaporean mother (her husband and 3 kids were there) made rice, and was pretty amazed there was no rice cooker. I stirred the soup as various things were thrown into the pot. It was a group project, creating a relatively complex meal.

The meal itself, and the work that goes into making it, are both amazing. The Balianese like their food spicy instead of sweet like most of Indonesia. So, the meal had hot parts, which was very tasty. I liked grinding peanuts to make peanut butter for the peanut sauce-it was so different from just opening a jar. Coconut oil is the main cooking oil of the food here, and each family makes their own. It is incredibly fragrant and quite flavourful. It also takes a very long time to make, but that really doesn't seem to bother anyone. Everything was really natural. We helped make everything, and gained a lot of respect for what goes into the food the Balianese eat on special occasions.

Before we ate, we learned about the Balianese religion and how they give offerings. Basically, it's a flower with various things representing the 3 main Hindu gods in it. Then, food is offered. The offering is placed in various areas around the temple, and holy water is thrown on it. Women do this in their home temples, and their town temples too. They spend like an hour doing this every single day. I have no idea how they don't get tired of doing this at some point or another. Maybe they do.

This evening we finally saw Legong dancing at the Ubud Palace. It is one of the most enchanting dance forms I've ever seen. It had striking similarities to Indian dance, such as precise eye movement and interesting positioning of the hands. It is quick, but graceful and flowing at the same time. Take it from a dancer- it doesn't look easy, and I'm sure mastering it takes years.

In the same show there was the Barong (Barung?) dancing, which is basically a Chinese lion dance, Balianese style. So instead of focusing on tricks like the Chinese, the focus was on small movements to match the tempo of the music. It was quite nice, but to be honest I prefer the Chinese lion dances.

Now I'm back at the hotel. It's time for bed... I wouldn't want to be tired for my SURFING LESSON TOMORROW!!!