Same, same but different...

So after another tasty concoction next door to 'Havanas' at a place recommended in the guidebook called 'Jus bar' of tuna sate and milkshakes, we rose at 6 in the morning the following day to be greeted by our eager taxi driver Wayan. Just as a side note, he could have only have been called any of three names as all Balinese boys are only ever called Wayan, Nyoman or Catuk, in respective order that they were born.

So off we went after quickly eating and slurping our next installment of fruit before our longish drive north to Goa Gajah and then onto Gunung Kari, a temple of Indiana Jones magnitude. First stop Goa Gajah and the driver had provided us with two incredibly fetching sarongs to wear as entering any sacred temple site without sarong would, apparently, be incredibly disrespectful. Although I did see around four French men wandering around in denim, but they are you know..French. The complex itself was quoted in the book as being 6,000 rupiah to get in but had miraculously catapulted to 15,000 rupiah which, although it had some discernible features, was a tad over-hyped. Although the remains of various spiritual figures were impressive they were only worth a half an hour visit before we dodged past the souvenir stands and now compulsory stray dogs and into the comfort of the Toyota mini-van, the only car the taxi drivers drive. It's all about economy apparently although they look like the automotive equivalent of corrective walking shoes...

Onto Gunung Kari and again passing through the fifty or so stalls selling essentially the same products- wood carvings, weak lemon drink, paintings of the devil, that sort of thing, we ventured down the two-hundred and seventy steps down into a spectacular cauldron of temples, fountains, incense, and statues. It basically looked like, if you are up on your Indiana Jones, the set for the Temple of Doom. Visually stunning it also smelt amazing. Basically a mixture of incense, wood smoke, humidity and fresh water. After three hours circling temples, pretty much all to ourselves due to the time it was time to head back to Ubud for the sanctity of a cafe and a chill out.

After a much needed rest bite back on the terrace of our homestay catching up on reading we woke the next morning early to get to our pre-booked Balinese cooking class. After we arrived and introduced ourselves and sat down we were then told to follow our chef, Catuk, to the market to snuff out the produce and introduce our tepid western pallet's to Balinese spice. The market was phenomenal, literally no space was wasted with something happening everywhere you looked. As we headed down into the lower level things became even more chaotic. After sharing his knowledge about some amazing produce we headed back to the school after about an hour to prep the spice paste, involving about thirty ingredients, that is so integral to everything the Balinese cook. The whole day was a blast, we learnt six dishes and shared our final product out after each with the other twelve students. We both went up in front of the class to both mix and plate food. I have definitely got the taste for my own show, imagine that! Shell conquered her own chicken demons in front of the class by hand marinading twenty chicken thighs with the spice mix. A great day's work.

Tomorrow we roll on up to Lovina on the north coast to hopefully try and work up a bit of a tan. As we are now entering the start of the low season we are hoping we can wangle some money off our hotel too. Ubud though, like a less aggressive but bigger version of Southsea or Brighton with it's eclectic mix of shops and people, we will miss. For the past few days it has supplied us with some amazing food and given us a much different feel for the island we are so quickly getting used to. Tommo xx