Bali Day 2. We decided to go on a road trip (with the assistance of a driver and tour guide, of course) to Ubud and Kintamani.

Pak Dolir suggested we watch the Balinese barong dance as our first stop of the day. We arrived 15 minutes late at the venue because some girl scouts decided to march on the road, turning a two-lane road into a single lane carriage to be shared by 300 vehicles behind them. Well at least there’s a cause to traffic congestions here – unlike back home!

As Z puts it, this is the legendary band room.

After the dance and on the way to Kintamani, we stopped by babi guling Ibu Oka’s Ubud branch for an early lunch. To be frank, we didn’t find it to be remarkably tasty given all its hype and word-of-mouth publicity. The crispy skin was not as crispy as we expected it to be. In fact, I reckon it’s a tad too thick to be described as ‘crispy’. Regrettable, but at least we enjoyed the chilli condiment (the treasure in that little orange container).

As we drove further up to the Kintamani viweing area, we stopped by Alam Bali for some coffee tasting. From left to right: cocoa, ginseng coffee, ginger tea, lemon tea, and Balinese coffee. These are for free and ginseng coffee is our favourite. The cinnamon sticks are for stirring and aroma. We also paid 50,000 IDR for a cup of luwak coffee, which is too strong to our liking – but we still finished it anyway since it’s an expensive coffee.

We noticed these 2 bottles on every desk and so we asked Pak Dolir what they were. Turns out to be home brewed rice wine, 5% (left) and vodka, 40% (right). The rice wine is too sour, probably more suited for cooking. But the vodka – it’s good stuff.

Next: Kintamani and Tegalalang…