the great bali escape: may ’09: day three: ubud and the famous ibu oka babi guling

After our mountain trekking adventure, our tour guide Yande took us to Ubud because we told him that we wanted to try ze fehmes babi guling. It was mostly FA and I dozing off in his car because we were too tired. After a while (maybe an hour or so) he made a pit stop so we could see the terraced rice paddy in Bali. I remember learning about this in geography lessons from way back when — the differences between padi bukit and padi sawah. Of course I can’t recall any details now. The rice paddy fields were lovely to see. Apparently a popular spot for wedding photographs. Lots of peddlers around hoping that you’d buy their wares. Then again they are everywhere in Bali, so just say no to them lah.

We got to the famous babi guling stall, Ibu Oka in good time. There were already many people – locals and tourists alike waiting in line for their food, but we had no problems getting seats. According to Yande, Ibu Oka is so famous and popular that they have a 2nd branch about 2km away from this original stall.

The menu was pretty straightforward — either babi guling or nothing. We ordered a ‘nasi babi guling special’ (special suckling pig) priced at Rp25,000 (RM8.60) each, and a ‘kulit babi guling’ (suckling pig skin), Rp30,000 (RM10.30) to share. Food didn’t take long to arrive.

What did I think? Har… okay lor. Maybe I’d expected too much? The meat was tender but the skin was a bit too tough. The deep-fried intestines was nice. Neither of us dared to eat the black thing so we have no idea what it was. I suppose it’s a must-try, I don’t regret it but I don’t think I’d go back again 😛 Sorry to those who love it. I thought our local suckling pigs are better, heh. Don’t stone me.

We were halfway through our lunch when the proprietress brought out a roasted piggy straight from the pit. Would you like to say hi to your food?

After lunch, we walked to the Ubud market nearby. I bought a sarong — the bargaining process was too ridiculous that it was freaking funny. By the way FA did most of the bargaining because I pretty much suck at it.

“How much is this?”
“Rp280,000 (RM95.40)… but can lower..”
“Wahhh so expensive! Don’t want lah like that.”
“Then how much you want? You say!”
“Rp20,000 (RM6.90).”
“Oh cannot cannot… Rp200,000 (RM68.20).”

Etc etc etc, in the end I paid Rp90,000 (RM30.70). Not bad for something I’d use only about two or three times in my lifetime.

Once we got back to our hostel in Kuta, we showered and slept till evening. Decided to have our dinner nearby, so we asked the hostel receptionist for recommendations. He said to go to Bamboo Cafe just down the street. We did and randomly ordered.

Food at Bamboo Cafe, Poppies Lane

The clams you see in the collage above is what they call ‘oysters’. I liked it especially with the caramelised onions, but FA didn’t like it. My fried rice was rather awesome, FA didn’t really like her rice dish. I ordered a seafood basket to share, which I’d regret because you should never let me do the ordering. The seafood was rather fresh though, and nice. The best bit was the crab. Small but most juicy and succulent!

All that and a big bottle of Bintang beer cost us Rp120,000 (RM41). Not bad. After dinner, I popped over to the nearby Internet cafe because Internet withdrawal is not fun. Then decided to have a Balinese foot massage a few shops down the street. Rp50,000 (RM17.xx) per person for an hour. Felt pretty good after that.

Went back to hostel, bought a couple big bottles of Bintang for Rp18,000 (RM6.20) each, sat by the pool with feet in the water, listened to random songs off my Nokia 5800 Xpress Music, tried to avoid getting soaked or pushed into pool by Perth dudes staying next door, chatted till late under Kuta’s starless sky. For that night anyway.

*Complete Flickr set of Bali, May 2009 here, including photos not published on blog.