Day 24: Silver Making and Cooking Lesson by Eashan

We started the day early, as we often did, since we were going to be driven two towns away, to do a Balinese cooking course. We were picked up by Caday, our driver for the day, and we were off. Our first stop was the towns market. In the parking lot, we were joined by a family of 4 Pakistanis living in Germany, and a French dad and 2 of his children. They were going to be joining us for the cooking course. We were told that initially, this was the support market, but after the main market burnt down, the vendors moved to this one. We entered and were met with a family of dogs looking up at us with their puppy eyes. Caday explained that if people can't take care of their dogs, they'd bring them to the market where they can get fed and looked after by the vendors, and the buyers. And sometimes, the dogs would come here each morning on their own because they know there'll be food. As we moved on, so did the dogs, as they went to find someone else to try to get food. We first stopped by a woman selling flowers. She had six large baskets, each filled with small flowers of the same colour. Caday said that these flowers were used in their offerings, called Canang (pronounced Chanang). They had two offerings. One was to the 9 main gods that they prayed to. Their religion is largely a version of Hinduism, so their gods are the same as Hinduism's gods. They would put the flowers in such a way that each colour was in a different direction. This has to be a specific direction as otherwise their blessing wouldn't be heard by the gods. Then they would add incense, as well as some money to sacrifice to them. The second offering was for the spirits. This would be the same as the first, except it would go onto the ground, as the spirits were lower. Since they believed in Hinduism, they believed in reincarnation, but the spirits of our world couldn't reincarnate, so they would give offerings to the gods in place of the spirits in order to please them. They weren't giving the offerings to the spirits, as the spirits were lower than humans, but for them, as they still wanted to make sure the spirits were appeased.

We then moved onto the next stall. This one had different kinds of food, and as Caday pointed at each one, he'd explain how we'd be using them, and what they were good for. One of the items was tempeh. He explained that tempeh was covered in a white mould that was very good for us, and that it was considered a superfood that can help, but if the mould was any colour other than white, that meant it had gone off. He also explained how pindang, which was a type of fish is for rich people. That is because in order to make it, you need to have access to enough rice that only rich people could have access to.

He then headed out the back of the sheltered part of the market into the open air part. This looked older than the sheltered part, because it was made of wood compared to the metal, and looked more unstable. However, this was a lot newer. It had been made out of wood because when the old market burnt down, they needed a new space for all the displaced vendors, so they put this up quickly, and would be rebuilding it properly over time.

We walked through, looking at all the vendors and their hugely varied produce. Just before reaching the end, mum went to buy some of the Balinese spices with Caday's help, along with a fruit called snake fruit to try. The fruit had a similar texture to pineapple, but a softer taste. We finally left the market and each of the families got into their respective vehicles to drive to where our kitchen would be.

Getting out of the car, we were met with steep stairs leading up to a colourful entrance. We entered into an open area with several small buildings built around it. We were taken to one particular building which is better described as 2 walls and a roof. It had one room, with 2 sides opened up. With a TV, and several toys, it felt very homely and comfortable. We sat down on some mats and cushions which are customary for a Balinese household. We were then brought some tasty juice and mini pancakes, as we waited. Soon, one of the staff came over to where we and the other two families sat to explain some of the culture of Bali.

They explained that we were in a family house, and she also explained their customs around their inheritance, largely revolving around the eldest son, and his family. When you inherit your parents household, it becomes your duty to look after it, and you can't sell it as there is the family temple with their ancestors spirits. Finally, she explained that a typical Balinese household consists of 5 buildings. There is the family temple in the centre, then the 4 other buildings surrounding buildings named after their direction. The South building is the utilities room, so that was where we'll go for our cooking. The west building was the family room, and it was where we were currently. The East building is used for ceremonies. And finally, the North building had a higher floor than the others, as it was where the head of the family, and his/her partner would sleep.

We then moved on to the kitchen, in the southern building; we were going to be making a total of 7 different meals. We were initially given a taste of some of the more unusual foods, including the galangal, which was very similar to ginger, except it had a much stronger taste that completely went soon after swallowing. After tasting a little of what we'd soon be cooking, we moved onto preparing our ingredients for the first meal we'd be making. They were already measured and ready on boards, so all we had to do was the cutting and mashing. I was on mashing duty, making what would eventually become the peanut satay sauce.

And soon, after a bit of mixing, cooking and preparing, we were done with our first meal. We were following very simple steps, and the time flew by that we were done before we knew it. Luckily, we didn't need to do any washing up, so we sat down, ready to eat. We started with the soup, but as we were in a bit of a hurry, we quickly moved on to all of the other meals. The meals were so delicious, that it took me a second to remember that we helped create them. They were all very easy and simple to do, and it was very nice to have such a broken down step by step process explained to us. But we soon were back on our feet so as to not miss the second part of our day.

Picked up by Caday again, we were headed off to a silversmiths class. We arrived at a very well kept property made up of a pavilion and a very green lawn. To dad's delight, there was also a coffee shop with very nice coffee according to him. Probably because of the local coffee making process which involves collecting an animal's doo-doos. We said goodbye to Caday for the final time, and walked up to the main desk.

We were shown to a table with lots of different ring, and pendant designs that we would choose as a reference and inspiration for our own designs. There were a lot to choose from, and the choices were overwhelming, but we eventually all settled on something we were happy with. Although Millen did go back and change to something else soon after. We started the process by melting some silver. This was also the only part of the process that we were together for. We pumped fuel into a blowtorch with a pedal, all having a go on the pedals, although a professional welded the torch as it was very dangerous. He melted old bits of jewellery before pouring the liquid into moulds, creating solid blocks of silver.

For the next part of the process, we each went with our own instructor. We had to put the metal through a flattener, rolling it like a press. After we had all fully flattened our pieces of metal, we then went with our own instructors to do the next step in each of our designs. Dad, since he was doing a pendant, had to sand the metal into shape, slowly forming it into his surfboard. He then carved into his design to say "Borneo and Bali '26". Meanwhile the rest of us, since we were doing rings, had to start by checking our ring size, before then adding the design we wanted. Millen chose to create a pattern on the face of his ring, by hammering gently onto etching tools, that then caused the design to appear on the ring. He then rolled the ring, so it would fit on his finger, and melted the two sides into each other to create a single loop.

Mum also began by etching into hers, using letters instead, to write "Borneo 2026". She then flattened the two sides of hers and rolled it, just as Millen did, only, she didn't connect the two sides, and instead left them separated. Finally, I started by adding my design to the ring, then rolling it round a couple times to fit. Before finally bending the head and tail of my design to create a snake. Then, we all finished by polishing the silver at a polishing motor until we could see ourselves in them. We had finished our silver making class. We were given our products in a small box to take home, and then we were off.

We headed back to the main party of the city, to have a look around all the different shops and markets that Ubud had to offer. Soon, however, Millen and dad headed back to have a shower, and maybe a swim in the pool too, while mum and I carried on looking for a little while longer. Eventually, mum and I joined them back at the hotel to relax a bit before it was time for dinner. We decided to go to a very nice, but small restaurant across from our hotel, and after a very long day, we were ready to head to bed.Read more