Friday, June 04, 2004 ~ Thurs 3rd June 4th Day
At 8am, my driver picked me up to go to the cooking course. The course costs about $37. We drove 40 mins to a rural village called Gulingan. It's a wealthy area to live, but not considered as wealthy as other areas. When we arrived, they served sweet-potato chips, and 2 other delicious things that I can't remember the names of. One of them was made from a root of a plant, and the other tasted like golden syrup dumplings except crispier. The centre of the treat was made from palm sugar. Mmmmm. Then we went for a walk around the village while we were waiting for the traditional Balinese coffee to be served. The walk was really the highlight for me. It's fascinating to see how they live. Every place had its own temple. There was water from a river along the sides of the roads. Things were very quiet and relaxed here.
 
The company on this tour was the best. Tony came (Melbourne guy who piked out on the cruise), as well as a family from Adelaide (mum, dad, and 2 young primary-school aged children). The kids were really quiet and well behaved - I think because they were worn-out from the previous day at the water fun park. After the walk, we drank the thick, grainy, goup that they called “traditional Balinese coffee”. It tasted drinkable after about 6 (SIX!) heaped sugars :)
Then it was time to cook. We basically just watched them prepare the food, and then each of us had a small turn at mimicking while the rest of us either criticized or praised each other's attempts ;). Then we got to eat it - YUMMO. Yellow Rice, Chicken Satay, Beans - I can't remember what else. Small spiders kept crawling all over me :(
Being out there was so very different than Kuta. It was hot and green and so relaxing. The company is really what made it great though; bad company could've ruined the whole event.
As I walked back to the hotel, I spotted another lady who was staying at the hotel at a bar and she asked me over to join her. I had a tequila sunrise. Ahh, the life of holidays. A couple of friendly guys asked us over to their table but she was a snob and said no. She even glared at them for asking. I guess she isn't very interested in meeting new people since she spends most of her time by the hotel pool reading books. What a bore!
I'm supposed to meet up with Nick tonight at Tubes for drinks, and might have dinner there as well if I don't find anything tempting along the way.
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Went to Tubes, had a drink and some dinner with Nick. Nasi Goreng again!! (It was the only Indonesian dish on the menu). We then went to a place and I bought some Jack Johnson CD's and a few new-release DVDs, which I had to carry around the rest of the night.
Then we went to Paddies (Paddy's?), which is where all the Western-types go now since the Sari-club was bombed. Paddies has one fantastic atmosphere, I really loved it there (although it was the company again that made it so great). This is my last night in Kuta.
 
Nick & I drank at the bar for a couple of hours. Nick was drinking some lethal shit. After a few, I decided to just drink water - it tastes better and well, I wasn't sure of his jokes about me staying with him, etc. It was tempting, and we are definitely attracted to each other, but I have no intention of going there, I just want to meet new people and party, I'm not here for romance. I decided to walk back to my hotel about 11:30pm as it's about a 15min walk.
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