Upside Down Vet: Perfect Holiday

This is the trip that wasn't so supposed to be. I was supposed to go to Borneo or Fiji or Vanawatu with a friend from the States that was passing through Oceana. The timing was right in that I had built up enough holidays, no other vets on holiday, and oh yeah, it was my birthday. Then he decided to head to South America, not exactly close by for me. Sooooo then I had time off and no plans. And a month to make them. K stepped up to the plate and agreed to go for his first international holiday (sorry NZ doesn't quite count). Not only did I get a full paid week off for the first time in 8 years, but dudes, Bali is cheap. Like really cheap. One dinner with 3 mains and 2 drinks... $14. I've had hostels cost almost as much as some of the villas we had. Direct flight from Adelaide? Around 5 hours.

So sorry for the picture heavy post (not really). Here is my contribution for the tourism association for Bali.

Our villa in Ubud (yes, Julia Roberts and Eat, Pray, Love)...have never had a better hotel experience ever....stay here if you go to Bali

Rough first afternoon....this is our private pool

Fish pedicure. They eat your dead skin. Very weird, but works

Traditional dance

Even if your falling asleep sitting up because you're a dumb @ss that decided to go to a show at what would be midnight your time, getting fire kicked at you does an amazing job of waking you up

The start of the most excellent cooking class, the best thing we did in Bali. Market tour to start. Babi Guling in the flesh (<--see what I did there?)

This was a "real" market, as in no foreigners other that those in the cooking class.

Jack fruit, up to 20kg/40lb

working on an offering

live snails and fresh tempeh

coconut husks for grilling sate

making lunches to go

don't think this would pass sanitation requirements at Boulder Farmer's market

ginger, galangal, wild ginger, and tumeric

it's tumeric in whole form!

what do you feed pigs? rice meal

lemongrass anyone? banana

black rice, gluten rice, red rice for babies, and white rice

from inside the building
meat sold on third floor
none of my USDA friends want to ever see the inside of this building

We then moved on to the private home of the family. Lots of info about Balinese culture and customs. These are granaries.

learning to make coconut oil (which we got to take home)

families' kitchen

Women make rice, and I was the only female in the class. The other couple was two boys in V-necks from the Castro, made my day!

The BBQ for the sate, and the garden behind with kaffir lime, ginger, galangal, shallots, tomatoes, lemongrass, and more.

Lunch!!!!

Making an offering before eating.

Traditional black rice and coconut milk for dessert with a banana leaf bowl and spoon.

Bridges restaurant in Ubud, overlooking river

Hotel at night

Cycling tour with views of rice paddies

Love the ducks and chickens

discussing the cocoa, banana, papaya, etc trees

The monkey king, overlooking the Monkey Forest

Big Monkey

Monkey with baby

Monkey peeing on K

Elephant ride on rescues

I kept trying to sneak in a physical exam while bribing with corn and watermelon. Didn't work as well as liver treats with a labrador retriever.

I have a fascination with foreign Coke bottles.

White water rafting. Carved rocks along river.

Our guide thought we were nuts, kept standing under waterfalls.

Did I mention I loved our hotel? Candlelight dinner by our pool.

Me: "There's a f)(T%*#&# spider
K: oh that's not that big, it's like a small huntsman
Me: that is not comforting (as I chase it outside, or try to anyway)
K: it won't bite
Me: I don't care
K then proceeds to catch it and release it outside

SCUBA diving. My first official diver after certification. Was supposed to be at the US Liberty wreck site, but a tree fell across the road, so ended up at Pandangbai. The first dive was good. Second one was not so good. The dive master/guide/whatever was great though. The current got stronger and stronger (due to the storms/floods in the monrning) and then visibility went to a meter. She called the dive at nine minutes. We then tried to surface for the next 16 mintues and kept getting knocked down by the current. A little freaky. The other divers were impressed and said it was the worst conditions any of them had ever had and if I could keep my cool in that I would do great on the other 99% of days.