Indonesian Immersion: Pre-Porkage Snacking in Bali

Mosquitoes in Surabaya are fiendish little bastards, greedy in their foreign foodblogger preferred blood thirst and not stopping until you stop them. My sleep deprivation was to continue for the third day in a row as sooner than I knew it...the Surabaya sun was rising and it was time for us to jet.


To Bali, it was yet another short flight, less than a sleep deprived hour. As if my excitement was going to let me catch any Zzzz's anyway...I still couldn't believe I was going to freaking Bali!.

The morning was barely breaking in as we smoothly landed, our driver on hire had arrived kept punctuality.

At first, I was mesmerized by the sheer prevalence of people on motorbikes. For every one car there must had been at least fifteen bikes meandering their ways through the traffic stop-and-go formed smoggy labyrinths, dangerously close to the courteous but compulsive driving of cars that went to and fro everywhere.

Never thought that 100cc light-frame pushbikes were able to serve as family vehicles but guess I was wrong. I saw as many as a family of four to a simple nuclear family of three, all riding along nonchalantly.


don't worry, the baby...has a helmet

First things first, a pit stop for snackage was due before the driven scenic tour (since the suckling pig place wasn't open yet).


Nori Seaweed flavored Lay's for breakfast. Crisp and briny, mmmmmmm....

Nothing though, had prepared me for the breathtaking sensory overload I was about to behold:


Rice Paddy Terraces made me treasure every single grain of rice I ate on this trip (and that's a lot).


The traveling photo genius Mattatouille also having a field day with the scenery.

Some more pre-pork snacks was to be had at one of the many local spice and produce shops along the curvy roads.




Passionfruit, Salak, Mangosteens, Mangoes


Salak or 'snake fruit' as it is also called is up there with the unique exotic, hard-shelled spectrum of fruit. A look and feel like monstrously enlarged garlic cloves with a hard, sweet crisp. For me, a flavor reminiscent of sweetened vitamins with kiwi essences.


Exuberant Passionfruit with its alien-baby like flesh and seeds.


A Fresh Fucken Pineapple!: I never really thought about where they grew from...


Cacao trees were were also usual around these areas

And last but not least....Kopi Luwak.



This coffee achieves a particularly murky nuttiness and deep flavor due to its fecal, pre-digested sourcing: the precious droppings of the Musang Luwak.





Actually preferred it over the normal non-pooped ground Kope Bali coffee...yup, I just said that.

Next...porkage.