Sunday, August 21, 2011

Drinking Coffee from an Animal

We started early in the morning and rented a driver for the day to take us around. It’s a great and often cheaper way to be able to cover a lot of ground for one day. Plus they like to suggest local attractions along the way that you may not have been able to see or know about.
We stopped to have lunch over looking some rice paddies. Mixed in were fields containing different fruits. All throughout lunch we could see these ladies heading out to the field with empty baskets on their head. Within twenty minutes the baskets were full of watermelons and they were walking back to the pile to drop it off.bailOur next stop was to a coffee plantation. This is the pathway to the coffee shop at the back. All along the path were different chocolate and coffee plants.
luwak coffee
Most of bali's coffee is microground so it can be drank just by adding water. We were also able to see how they make luwak coffee, some of the most expensive in the world. Long story short: a palm civet (the weasel looking animal above) eats only the best of red coffee beans. While inside the intestines, the beans undergo chemical changes. They then poop it out (tasty). The poop with the coffee beans is collected, roasted and stripped of the outer layer and cleaned, then finally ground into coffee.
luwak coffee
luwak coffee
luwak coffee
luwak coffee
luwak coffee
 We had a taste test of lemon tea, bali coffee, cocoa coffee and ginseng coffee (our favorite)
luwak coffee

Next up on the list was the Bali zoo which we picked mostly because you were able to get up close and personal with several different types of animals. 
bali zooFruit bats. If you swung them back and forth they would open their wings and try to fly.
bali zoo
bali zoo
Me and Alissa trying to prove we were tough by holding an alligator. Tt was surprisingly squishy. Right after we gave it back the calming drugs that it had to be on seemed to be wearing off. Good thing if was after we held it!
bali zoo
bali zoo
Everyone makes fun of me for this but this is my dream car. vw thing. Just in case you were wondering what to get me for christmas this year.
 Our last stop of the day was the monkey forest sanctuary in the city of Ubud. You had to be careful not to wear anything shiny or have food on you. If you did, the monkeys would climb on you to find it and grab it.
monkey sanctuary ubud bali
monkey sanctuary ubud bali
monkey sanctuary ubud bali
monkey sanctuary ubud bali
monkey sanctuary ubud bali
 The temple had a lot of morbid sculptures of demons trying to eat babies




monkey sanctuary ubud bali
monkey sanctuary ubud baliRice paddies line every open area in bali. they make the most of the land they have by terracing all of the mountains and hills.
bali rice paddies
bali rice paddies
bali rice paddies

bali rice paddies