Another early start yet again as Emily and I embarked on a cycling tour of Ubud's beautiful countryside. Luckily it happened to be literally just the two of us and the guide in the group, so we could dictate when we wanted to stop for photos and ask loads of questions.

Bali is so beautiful with endless green rice terraces, coconut trees and little Balinese village compounds. There was a festival that day which is only celebrated every 30 years, a celebration of the family temple to reinstate its holiness. We just happened to be riding through the village on this one day with all the beautifully decorated temples with red and gold dragons and all the locals dressed up - including an entire primary school of children who we saw preparing offerings. Everybody was so happy and smiley as we rode past; Indonesia is a very friendly country from what I've experienced. What really made my day was when we stopped at this temple and here young children were jumping and playing and laughing - true childhood happiness at its finest and it was heartwarming to watch.

We stopped at one family home and our guide explosives to us the meaning behind the layout of the compound, and rice fields where he showed us how the grains of rice grow inside the flower and that they are harvested three times a year as they take three months to grow and one month to collect. It was super interesting, and even though his English wasn't the best I was so grateful for his explanations.

Luckily the heavens opened just as we finished cycling so we completely missed it! However after our lunch of Balinese tapas (yum) we got caught in the rain and got completely drenched. We felt smug with our plans as we had conveniently booked to do a cooking course for the afternoon - what better way to spend a rainy day.

The course was in the most incredibly beautiful setting, literally overlooking the jungle in a huge open air kitchen. It was a pretty big class (different to ones I have done in Thailand, Vietnam and India) with one main female chef - who was brilliant - and a load of assistants. We made so much food and at the end it was all combined from everyone and served as a buffet. Here is what we made:

1. Mushroom and vegetable soup
2. Gado-gado with peanut sauce
3. Chicken in coconut curry
4. Traditional Balinese chicken sate
5. Long bean and coconut salad
6. Steamed tuna in a banana leaf
7. Fried Tempe in sweet and spicy sauce
8. Classic yellow sauce (the Indonesian mother sauce!)
9. Boiled banana in a sweet coconut cream sauce

It was the best meal I've had in Asia by a long shot and confirmed that Indonesian is my favourite of all Asian cuisine. Everything is so so healthy, cooked in coconut oil with such flavoursome vegetables! Coconut oil is made by grating the flesh of a coconut, soaking it in water and the boiling it - the oil moves to the surface and is removed! It was truly a feast and so tasty and healthy. I can't wait to try all these dishes at home.