Now she's here, now she's gone

Have you ever seen an entire duck devoured inside a minute? I witnessed it at Bebek Tepi Sawah, Ubud yesterday. What a fine grilled duck... Poof!

The rooster from Jalan Sukma

There once was a rooster named Mr Bo

And all day long he ever only did crow

No matter t'was dawn, no matter t'was night

No matter he was mating, or in a fight

Crowing steeped his honour, he truly believed so

Looking for some quiet, a man came nigh

He walked to Mr Bo, and looked into his eye

You will give me peace, you will give me quiet

Else you'll be my dinner, I'll be hungry tonight

Mr Bo clucked and crowed, laughed forever till I die

A lazy day in Ubud

Lazy days don't get any lazier than this. The day started with a simple breakfast consisting of banana pancakes, fruits and coffee served at our cottage. Set amidst lush green gardens, all we hear from our cottage is the chirping of birds, the gentle swoosh of the breeze, and a rooster decidedly bent on ruining his throat. The only thing that beats this experience is diving at Gili islands last week.

It's well into the afternoon now, and I've only left our porch for lunch at Mama's Warung. I struggled with Blogger templates for a fair bit of time today, and that has been the only blotch on an otherwise awesome, lazy Thursday. Ubud is turning out to be a great decision so far, and I won't be surprised if we continue here for the rest of our time in Bali.

A little extra at Mama's Warung

When you ask several locals for a place to eat, and you get the same answer, either just that one place exists, or it is so lipsmacking good that you are a fool to skip it. Mama's Warung at Jalan Sukma, Ubud is positively the latter.

Mama's Warung is just a short walk away from our homestay, and we decide to check it out for lunch today. It's a small, quaint place with 3-4 small tables. We seat ourselves at the one facing the roadside, and soon a middle-aged woman approaches us. "Are you mama?" Shamin asks her. "No, I'm step-mama" comes the reply. A bit amused, we look at her menu. She has a bit of variety in there, but we settle for the must have - the national dish of course - nasi campur. We also order orange and coconut juices to go with the food.

 Shamin has had a long, eventful morning while I've lazed away, and she recounts her experiences while we await our food. Soon, the lady comes with the juices - one and a half glass each. We look at her, and she just smiles back "A little extra for you". We have dined at hundreds of places before, but this is truly a first. The food comes shortly after. Elegantly put together, the nasi campur makes us wonder why we even bother to try anything else in Bali. 

For the next few minutes, Shamin and I gobble the food without a word, occasionally looking up with a grin, each thinking the same - wow. This is the third time we've had a fantastic nasi campur meal, the first being Warung Muslim at Gili Air followed by Gula Bali at Ubud. When we ask for the bill, we get a surprise. "Is that it?" we ask, happily knowing the answer, and knowing this isn't the last time we see step-mama.

Suryanamaskar

Today has been one of the nicest days of the trip for me. I woke up at 6.15 am, which is really early for my standard. It's always been rush mornings trying to multitask while getting late for work the past few years in Singapore. Guess, its the Ubud magic now. Ubud is enchanting, a retreat in itself. I did yoga after a very long time. The fresh air and the suryanamaskars got me going. 

An early morning walk, I think, is one of the best ways to experience the local life. So I set out to observe simple nothings on Jalan Sukma. The family has already decorated the door steps with fresh flowers, I got to know later that they wake up at 5.00 am. Outside stands an overpowering red jeep, which just seemed out of place on the modest street.

Every house is a temple here, there is no difference. A temple is a spiritual place, place of the Gods, same goes for every home here. It looks and feels the part. I decided to pick my favourite house, by looking at the gate. The gates themselves have a personality of their own. The house with the wild boar is my pick.  I think its a wild boar, I'm not sure though. But, it was striking.

My favourite five in Gili Air

Gili Air is pristine, like a postcard with aqua, deep blue and green waters, and non-touristy. The only form of transportation on the island is horse carriages and bicycles. We had done a day trip to the Gilis (Trawangan and Meno) when we visited Sengigi in Lombok, two years back. I remember telling Mandar, I wish I could come back to this paradise and stay longer. Wishes do come true.

We selected Gili Air over the other two Gili islands since it is balanced, unlike the very touristy Gili Trawangan or the really quiet Gili Meno. It was a great choice.

The best Nasi Campur you'll ever eat

Remember this name - Warung Muslim. And don't leave Gili Air if you haven't eaten here at least once. Or maybe thrice.

During the lunch break on the first day of our diving course at Manta Dive Gili Air, we saw the instructors getting their lunch packets and gobbling them up in record time. The food looked simple from a distance - rice, meat, vegetables and crackers - and yet everyone was having it. We were too involved with our diving lessons that day, and we didn't really make much of it. Only when our course completed, and we were celebrating the achievement with our instructors, did we remember to ask them "What is it that you guys eat for lunch?". They looked at us incredulously "You don't know about Warung Muslim???". Sheepishly, we shook our heads and fessed our ignorance. That invoked a short Oscar-worthy performance from our instructor. I can't describe it in words, but suffice to say, our only response was "Is it open now? Please say yes". Sadly, of course, the answer was no. So we promised ourselves a lunch date the following day. 

And Warung Muslim did not disappoint. We followed a narrow lane from the beachside close to Manta Dive, crossed Omah Gili, and reached a very small joint on the way to the village. Just one table adorned the place. Nobody makaans (eat-here) here, it's all bungus (take-away). And so we did too. A little bit of this, and a little bit of that, to assemble the most perfect nasi campur in a parcel. And we added some rice crackers for good measure. All for a measly sum of money. 

We couldn't wait to get home. In traditional Indonesian style, we sat cross-legged on the floor, savoured the multitude of smells as we opened the parcel, and devoured the food with our hands. The taste was so alluring, we made this our staple lunch for the next few days, and vowed to be back for more. 

This break was meant to cross out my bucket list items, but more seem to be getting get added instead.