Bali to Malaysia

Click for interactive map



The Stanly's and I left Bali from Ngurah Rai Airport and flew to Malaysia. Our destination was Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. There are so many planes flying into Kuala Lumpur, they have built a second airport. The Stanleys and I landed at KLIA2 and then we caught a train into the city. It took 50 minutes and we were going at speeds of up to 160km per hour.

The north coast of Bali

Blue = KLIA2, Red = KL Sentral, Green = Chinatown

Click for interactive map of Kuala Lumpur

From KL Sentral which is the main train station we took another train to Pasar Seni, the train station in Chinatown, which only took 10 minutes.

Looking out the train window on the way into Kuala Lumpur

Jimbaran, Bali, Indonesia

Our last stop in Bali was in Jimbaran which is on the southwest coast of Bali, just below the airport.

Jimbaran Map

Jimbaran is famous for its seafood. The beach is lined with seafood restaurants and fishing boats.

The fish market is at the north end of the beach. It is very busy and smelly.

Arriving at the fish market

They sell fish inside and on the beach

Durian is a fruit that smells so bad it is banned from some hotels.

Dining on the beach

This man is collecting small shellfish. See the video below for a closer look.

Cooking in Bali

Balinese people eat rice with most meals. They also eat with their fingers but they give tourists a spoon and fork to eat with. Two of the most common dishes here are Nasi Goreng (rice and vegetables) and Mei Goreng (noodles and vegetables). Balinese people also like their food spicy so they add a lot of chili or chili sauce to it.

I did a cooking course in Ubud and I took the Flat Stanleys with me.

They had all of the ingredients ready for us and we just needed to cut, grind, mix, cook and assemble them.

Peanut Sauce and Sate

All of the ingredients were chopped up then ground together to make a paste. 

Then the paste was cooked in a pan with stock and soy sauce.

The peanut sauce was used in lots of the dishes but it is also served with sate (sar-tay) which is meat cooked on a stick.

Sates are cooked over hot embers. The person cooking them waves a fan above the embers to make them hotter. There are lots of people on the side of the streets all around Bali cooking sate.

Bumbu Bali (Balinese multi purpose spices)

All of these ingredients go into the Bumbu Bali which is used in lots of different recipes.

All of the ingredients are ground together.

Sambal Ulek (spicy sauce)

All of these ingredients are chopped and sautéed then ground together.

Pepes Ikan (steamed fish in banana leaf)

 We flavoured some tuna with Bumbu Bali then rolled it in a banana leaf with basil leaves and slices of tomato.

 Then they were steamed over a pot of water.

Then they were grilled over the same embers as the chicken.

Sweet Potato in a Palm Sugar Gravy

 There was rice too, of course.

Traditional Dance

The dance tells a story through movement and facial expression. There are lots of different types of dance. This is the Ramayana Ballet.

Ubud Market

I visited the market with a local lady. She goes there every morning at 6am to buy food for her family. The market starts at 4am. It is different to a supermarket because there are no prices. The buyer and the seller have to agree on a price they are both happy with.

The Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, Ubud

Map of where the Monkey Forest is

There are lots of rules to read before you go into the Monkey Forest. I decided that it was best for the Stanleys if they stayed inside my bag. I didn't want any cheeky monkeys to steal them.



The monkeys that live in the forest are Macaques. There are about 600 monkeys and there are five different groups that live if different areas of the forest.  They eat mainly sweet potato and some fruit. Tourists can buy bananas to feed to the monkeys. While they are eating the bananas they sit on your lap, shoulder or head. Normally the monkeys don't climb on you unless you have food. I had a monkey jump on me while I was crossing a bridge. It was very interested in my bag, but it couldn't figure out how to get inside it so the Flat Stanleys were safe.



You can find out more information about The Sacred Monkey Forest here.