Was supposed to go on an Eco-cycling trip in the countryside but ended up staying in town on my final day in Ubud. Glad I took the day off to relax and talk and just sit still for a little while. Met up with Julia and Ben and walked around the magical Monkey Forest where hundreds of wild monkeys hang out and terrorise the tourist who are foolish enough to bring bananas into the forest. Watching the monkeys squabbling and playing was like observing a microcosm of...

My first full day in Ubud and I'd arranged to do a Balinese cooking course at Paon Bali Cooking Class (recipe for fusion Gado Gado salad below). The day started quite early with an 8:30AM visit to the Central Market in Ubud. We were shown the different local fruit and vegetables - many of which were already familiar from the various market visits I have been on in the previous cooking classes in Cambodia and Vietnam. I tried mangosteens for the first time - dee...

Even before the plane took off, I knew I'd made the right decision to come to Bali! I was standing in the queue for the Air Asia flight and overheard an American woman mention that 1 million people passed through the Suria shopping centre at KLCC on the weekend - she added, "That's more than the population of Hawaii!". So, I was curious and asked her whether she lives in Hawaii (which she does) and whether she knows a friend of mine, Maria, who also lives there a...