Bali Adventure

NiNi and the Rat

2009-03-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was quite interesting...

After a day of laying by the pool we decided to adventure out into the streets near our hotel in Sanur. The first part of the day we went to only 3 shops - first we bought some sunglasses (imperative) and the last shop we spent about 2 hours there trying on clothes and talking with the owner - I think Linda has a new wardrobe.

Because it was so hot, we decided to take a break and get some drinks at a local restaurant (I had a fruit punch, 2 bottles of water and a fanta in about 5 minutes). After lunch we walked along the ocean and were able to watch some locals swimming and fishing - it is pretty funny because the men wear their helmets out into the water - so you see all these guys in waist deep water with scooter helmets on.

After we walked for awhile longer we hit the pool again and then showered and decided to go out shopping again and then grab some dinner - - this is where the night gets exciting!

As we walked the downtown streets of Sanur we encountered the typical responses from the shop owners "looking, looking - come inside, I have more" for the most part we would just briefly scan the shop and then move along. Until we came across NiNi. NiNi is a Balinese man about 6 feet tall (tall for Bali), fairly good looking, nice teeth, wearing a blue t-shirt and jean shorts, clearly homosexual, and speaks with a very interesting voice where all of his pronunciation goes to the end of his words. Also he starts most statements with "Darling, trust me" We got roped into that shop faster then lightening and on a few occasions I had to walk to another area just to not laugh.

So NiNi started by saying to me "Oh Darling, you better be very careful you backpack is about to break" (anytime you see NiNi talking think: accent with higher pitched male voice and emphasis on the last word, oh and typically some sort of hand gesture).

It was true by bag was about to break so I followed NiNi to the back of his story where he pulled out a back and proceeded to pull down every single one he had and would try one on himself and then on me and so on. Every time I would put one on he would say "Darling, trust me, it looks beautiful - NiNi wouldn't lie" he would usually step back then give the once over and say "See, don't you like"

I was kind of on the fence because I didn't really want to buy anything and so I really couldn't make up my mind. I tried to walk away for a minute to see what Linda was doing and I turned the corner and Linda was down the aisle trying on a hat that you would see worn in the rice fields and she just looked at me and shrugged - we both started laughing. So I walked back to NiNi where he gingerly whispered in my ear "I like you! How much you want to pay.." and did the Vanna White arm wave to all of the bags. Luckily Linda came around the corner at this point (not with the hat on) and had found some bracelets that she was interested in for the store - so NiNi was now leeched on to Linda. At somepoint in the conversation he asks our names which really didn't matter as he either called us Linda (both of us) or Darling for the rest of the time we were there.

As Linda looked through the bracelets, NiNi and I started talking a little more and he asked "Darling, where are from" when I said America - he put his hand (dramatically) on his chest and said "California" I said "No, actually Washington" at which point I thought I saw NiNi at his most excited - he yelped and jumped up and said something while looking up at the ceiling and said "Darling, I have a friend in Washington" and he then proceeded to show me her picture but only for a quick minute and he was back to selling.

As I couldn't make my mind up about the bag, I told him I wanted to wait and think about it while we had dinner and then would come back - NiNi gave me a frown until I said sorry and he chippered up and said "Its okay" and wondered back to Linda.

Linda finished up and we decided we were going to go to dinner - so Linda asked NiNi where he thought we should go - he said "oh darling, I will walk you to the place it is good, other ones (he leaned into Linda's ear) will make you sick (he was rubbing his belly at this point as well)" So we finished up and NiNi's says "NiNi want to give you (he holds up a bracelet to Linda) and then grabs another and runs over to me and says "for you too, darling" (at which point he steps back and slaps his arms to his side - like a cheerleader - and says "Hmmppf" walks back to Linda and hugs her and kisses her. Satisfied with himself, he walks us to a nearby restaurant and we sit down for dinner. (Don't worry our time with NiNi is not over yet..)

So we walk in and we are absolutely the only people in the restaurant, but we both decided -what the hell, we should just go for it. We order some drinks (only water and a sprite this time) and each ordered some calamari. As we are waiting for the food, we are chit chatting - mostly about NiNi, until Linda's eyes get really big and she gasps - she then says "I just saw a rat!" I instantly put my feet up and it takes all of my willpower not to scream and run out. Linda says "its okay - the food is fine, its fried, don't worry, the rat will leave us alone". In mind head, I am thinking - "is she out of her mind! while also telling myself don't make a big deal out of it" So we stay (I know crazy) and get our food and start to eat until Linda gasps again and I turn around and see the rat running from behind the refrigerator to outside of the restaurant. I look at Linda - she kind of laughs and we get the hell out of there.

After we leave the rat's home we head back to NiNi's shop to pick up our stuff and we both decide that we should buy the bags he has because we need something stronger and with a zipper for Hong Kong. When we walk in NiNi's says "darlings, you already had dinner" we just politely say yes and then go back to where the bags are displayed. We each pick one out and ask NiNi "how much for two" NiNi steps back and says (with hand on his chest) "NiNi not going to tell you, you tell me how much you want to pay" Linda threw something out there and NiNi said "okay Linda" at which point we both received hugs and kisses and then Linda says "I just have to do one thing" and she looks at NiNi takes her pointer finger and touches his nose and says "boop" (for those of you that have seen Step Brothers you will appreciate that gesture more - but either way it was hilarious). Oh and by the way when Linda was moving her hand toward NiNi's nose he closed his eyes. After the first "boop" NiNi looked at Linda like - what the heck?!? Linda tried to explain the movie to him and he started laughing and was like "oh I know (he didn't)" but Linda booped him again and (this is where I saw him most excited) NiNi graciously received the boop and then legs together bent at the knees, lowered down and wiggled his way back up with a little jump at the end and "hee" came out of his mouth. We were all cracking up at this point - NiNi then gave us free beach bags and invited us over to his house and said "NiNi has nice car" Of course we declined the offer, but we will definitely remember NiNi always...

So today - Linda went off with Mr. Patra to finish up her shopping/store stuff and I decided to stay back at the hotel. Now I am off to lay in the sun until I can't stand it anymore (likely 5 mins)

Tomorrow is our last full day in Bali before we are off to Hong Kong and then home. I will tried to write at least once more before we get back on Friday.

See ya.

Pearl Farm and more

2009-03-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we woke up early to be on the road by 8:15am to make the 4 hour drive up to Northern Bali to visit a Pearl Farm.

The drive was unbelievable - - well from what I remember I fell asleep for awhile and woke up when we arrived at a small market; I bargained for awhile on 2 painting that I really liked. They are large black and white paintings. Everywhere here you will see black and white as that is like their ying and yang. It balances, protects and make things harmonious. They are awesome!

Anyway the scenery on the drive was incredible, we were up on the top of a mountain (not sure how high) but we were looking down on the towns below. On our left was a large lake and many trees, on our right there was several rice fields; terraced perfectly. I am not sure the pictures will give justice to how beautiful it is here.

When we made it to the Pearl Farm we started with a tour; basically they showed us the process from creation of an oyster to 4 years later when they harvest the pearls. It is such an interesting process and definitely gave me a totally different appreciation for pearls. Basically they put a male and female oyster together in a small box type thing and wait for them to make a baby..hopefully I don't need to explain that to you all : )

After the larvae (baby) is made it starts to develop the different parts and they hand feed the larvae algae they produce there at the factory. When the lady was explaining the development of the baby oyster she was saying that it had an eye..Linda then ask "only 1 eye" It kind of reminded me of a combination between the beautiful nail skit on youtube and giving someone the stint eye. It was really funny!

It takes about 45 days until the baby oyster is ready to go out to the salt water. They stay in the Ocean for about 2 years and then they will add the irritant to the oyster; usually a round bead. On a side note, I never knew that jewelry made with Mother of Pearl is actually the inside of an oyster shell. Also the color of the inside of the shell will let you know what color the pearl will be once it has developed. Anyway after the irritant is added they will put the oyster back in the ocean for another 2 years and then they will harvest or take the pearls out. This particular company never hurts the oyster and they use all the parts. We got to see all steps of the process. It was crazy!

Then we drove back to Sanur; along the way we stop at one of Mr. Patra's friends houses. It was this really old Chinese man that was like a psychic or at least that is what Mr. Patra said. We didn't get any readings or anything but he was very cool. We left from there and when we got back (another 4 hours of driving) we went to dinner and then bed.

This morning we woke up early again and headed out to Kuta for some sightseeing. On the way we stopped at a shop that was selling traditional Papua artifacts. Linda and I were literally looking through cob webs and bugs and spiders to find different things. Linda was really excited for all that she found. I, of course, pointed out this really cool thing that I thought was like a wood vase or something. I called Linda over for her to explain to me that what I liked was actually used as a penis cover...ha ha I have such good taste.

Linda also had a great experience with the bathroom there; from what I understand even Mr. Patra apologized for how bad it was...Linda also shared with me that she had been sharing the back seat of the car with a cockroach all day.

When we were in Kuta we drove past the site of the bombing. It has been interesting to hear about the bombing here; the way the media made it sound was that it was a terrorist thing against western tourism. No one here believes that was the reason; and surprisingly there were only a few Americans killed and more Indonesian people than any other country. Obviously, I still think it is awful but I was surprise at the difference in reasoning.

We stopped at the beach at Kuta - it was really beautiful with huge waves and I am can definitely understand why surfers like to visit here. After that we headed to Sukiwati market and walked around. We did a little more shopping after and then headed back to the hotel.

Now, we are confirming our arrangements for Hong Kong and then off to dinner and bed. Talk to you all later...

D

And she's back...

2009-03-12T04:09:00.000-07:00

Hi all.

Sorry for the long delay in writing but A LOT has happened since the last blog. So I will start from where I left off..

We left Candidasa on the 7th to move to Ubud. We ended up staying at a place called Ubud village and well lets just say it was an interesting place. The bathroom (toilet, shower, etc) was all outside so in the middle of the night if you had to go to the bathroom it was like being in an outhouse equipped with bugs, geckos and even cockroaches. The first day we got there we decided to swim for a little bit but were interrupted by load thunder and lightenting storms (which I can now say I am not longer afraid of). As we couldn't swim much longer we decided to shop. There is a main drag of shops on Monkey Forest Road and everywhere you go there are Balinese men sitting usually picking their noses, butts or privates and yelling "Lady - you need taxi; I have nice car" if you don't respond to that they normally yell something like "Transport" until you decline their services. We did find a group of guys that must have decided yelling was too much work because they had just printed and laminated a paper that said "you need taxi" It was pretty funny.

The first night we went to a restuarant called Cafe Wayan and we sat on mats under a verdana type thing and had a very nice waiter. They are so traditional here and we were asked to take our shoes off to have dinner. The food was good and then we headed off for some more shopping and then when to a dance performance of the Legong. The performance was unbelievable - there was about 20 men playing the gamelan and then 8 different dances. All 8 were amazing and all the dancers are so talented. The women do this thing with there fingers where it almost appears as though they are double jointed. Then they open their eyes really wide and look side to side with the gamelan beat. It is a little freaky but really cool. After that we headed to bed; this night we both slept through the night.

The next day Linda and I walked through several of the shops and found a lot of cool things and just looked around a lot. We also did our first visit to the local market. It was unlike anything I have ever seen and you have to spend a long time bargaining and every person is yelling/grabbing at you and typically saying something along the lines of "I give you good price..because lucky customer" That first day we really didn't purchase anything because we were both a little overwhelmed. Linda was speechless. After that we had dinner and then I started having some stomach problems...we'll just leave it at that.

The next day Linda went with Patra and Madti to do some more shopping and
I decided to take it easy and stay at the hotel, so I worked on my tan and read a little. Funny story about my day at the hotel; while I was laying by the pool there was a Japanese family that came out and was tanning/swimming. After about 15-20 minutes the father and son (son was probably in his 20s) started video taping themselves in the pool. I thought I was being sneaky and carefully spying on them until they started do something simliar to sychronized swimming and jumping in to pool; the father did this one move and I started laughing - they looked over and started laughing too and then talking in Japanese to one another and pointing at me..at which point I realized - they were doing that because I was not so sneaky in watching them. So they gave me a little performance - it was really funny!

That night Linda and I walked around a bit and then went to bed. Only to be woken up my a piece of wood that had fallen off my bed - I thought my bed was breaking but was scared to look or move and all I kept thinking was "is this bed going to break.." (it didn't) and in the morning we looked under the mattress and realized that instead of 1 piece of palm that was the length of the bed I had 3 seperate pieces all looked pretty sketchy. We had that changed and Linda and I headed out with with Madti for a day of shopping.

Oh slight detour on the story - Mr Bonn (he pronounces Mr.Bond) our driver has been teaching us Balinese/Indonesian each morning. Typically he says the word in English and then the Balinese/Indonesian word. Well the other day Mr. Bonn rattled off something in Balinese looked at me and said "you understand?" I looked confused and then he say "what you mean" again I looked confused so we just kept driving. So a little later we get on a road that is very bumpy and he is teaching us how to say "the road is bumpy, slow" in Balinese and we try to tell him the word "bumpy" - then he looked confused and said "what you mean" and then couldn't say bumpy only bop bop. We all started laughing!

Okay so day 4 in Ubud, Linda and I woke up and headed down to the village market to give it another go, plus the earlier the better because then it is just the locals and they are setting up and usually willing to make a better deal because they want good luck for the rest of the day. Linda and I headed in and right away started to bargain and get some neat things - the cool part is that everytime you buy something the use your money to bless the rest of their goods and typically say something like "mi mi mi" while hitting the money on the merchandise. Well actually Linda would usually do that for them (it is also a Thai tradition). After the market we heading in for more shopping. Mind you I still am not feeling good at this point..

Our last night in Ubud we went to a shadow puppet show; I really thing I was a puppet master in a past life. The whole time the performance was going I was like - I could do that. Take some puppets make them yell at each other and make up some weird song to go with; that is right up my alley! Anyway we go to sleep at normal time that night but Linda wakes up at 3am and is up taking pictures and as she says is "being quiet as a mouse" until she wakes me up at 7am so that we can get packed and make it to the Monkey Forest before we leave for Sanur at 10:30am. I wake up and think that I am just a little tired/cranky but later realize that I am pretty sick and spend the rest of the day in the new hotel room in Sanur (which wasn't too bad since we overlook the pool and ocean).

So let me explain the monkey forest..it is one of the freakiest places I have ever been - first of all there are hundreds of monkeys and they are wild so you never really know what they are going to do. And the fact that Linda and I got there so early meant that we were the first ones there and the place was empty. Oh and they had just put food out for the monkeys. So imagine walking through a forest with huge, I mean huge trees; cemete carvings of monkeys and komono dragons and temples and then add the hundreds of monkey running around playing, fighting and making weird noises..it freaked me out!! We stayed for about 45mins and we did actually explore quite a bit and after a while it wasn't too bad..actually who am I kidding I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

So that brings me to Sanur. We are staying at a beautiful hotel and it is right on the ocean. Yesterday I spent most of the day in the hotel room but today I am feeling 100% better and we spent most of the day at the pool/ocean.

Tomorrow we are off to Northern Bali to go to a Pearl Farm; I am not quite sure what to expect but I will definitely fill you all in.

Oh and I almost forgot - tonight when we came to use the Internet it was closed at first - so we decided to look at the nearby shops while we waited. I walked into one shop by myself and the owner was a little (well short) Balinese woman that proceeded to make me try on almost everything in her store - and while I was trying on the different things she was feeling me up a little. When Linda walked I was standing in my bathing suit with wide eyes and this short little Balinese ladies putting clothes on me..I really didn't know what to do, so I bought something and got the hell out of there...another interesting thing that likely doesn't happen to most.

Shopping Mania

2009-03-06T03:56:00.000-08:00

Okay so it is our last night in Candidasa and then we head to Ubud. Ubud has more tourists and a lot more shopping then here and will be a lot of fun. The last two days have been all about shopping and shopping and shopping some more. Yesterday we started at 8:30am in Celuk at Mr. Patra and Madti's jewelry store (we were there for 6 hours) looking at jewelry. We found some amazing stuff...I found WAY too much and had to put some back but they are all so pretty and all handmade.

Once we finished with the store Mr. Patra took us to his factory. He has about 100 workers and it was very cool to see the process from start to finish. After we finished with the tour of his factory we stopped to look at some wood carvings on the street and were there for about 1 hour. Then we picked up Madti and drove about 1 hour to the South East coast of Bali where the ferry port for Lombok is located. We then drove up into the mountain about 2 miles and had dinner at this beautiful restaurant. The ambiance was amazing except for the 2 cats that were meowing throughout the dinner, but go with the flow right.. Anyhow we had fresh Mahi-Mahi with some yummy spices that make your nose run. After that we headed home; it was around 9pm and we were exhausted!

Today we woke up and were out of the hotel by 9:15am and Mr. Patra's driver took us to meet up with Madti and Patra at the store. During the drive we learned some Balinese or Indonesian..not really sure which one but we have been practicing all day! When we reached the store we left to look at some stone carving, they are so talented here - - carvings in lava rock, limestone, greenstone, concrete...I found myself wanting to buy stuff for a house I don't own. :)

From there we went to Denpasar to look at fabrics and that was very cool the it was the main street in Denpasar (kind of like Olympia or Sacramento, but a lot smaller). Right next to where we were was a local market and Patra and Madti bought us some "treats" to try. Nothing crazy and they were all very good just different then what we would get in the States. They use a lot of coconut. After shopping we headed out for late lunch/dinner at a place called Bendapasa (sp?) it was a great restaurant and we let Patra and Madti order. We started with an ice like drink - - I call it the "Surprise" drink because every time you take a drink you get something different in your mouth - a piece of fruit, seaweed, bean, etc. It actually tasted sweet and wasn't really that bad. Then for the meal we had all Balinese food; fried rice, shrimp, egg/tofu scramble thing, vegetables and fish head soup. It was interesting to say the least...most of it was very good and we both tried everything. After our meal we headed back to Patri and Madti's house and picked up Putri (the 5 year old) she rode with us back to the hotel (about 1 hour) and was teaching us more Indonesian..she is so smart!

Anyway tonight we are just packing our bags and then preparing for the move to the new hotel tomorrow. More to come...

2009-03-04T02:37:00.000-08:00

Hi again.

So the rice paddies today...we got up at 7:30am and headed out toward the entrance of our trek near Tirtaggana (sp?). As we were driving there we stopped at a local market to take some pictures and our driver bought us some fruit (I forget the name, but it is small like a tangerine and the color is like an eggplant. The outside is soft but you peel it and eat the inside which is a white color but looks like tangerine slices - it is very sweet). As we were leaving the village we saw lightening near the area we were going to be trekking so we decided to take a detour until the weather passed.

So we did what we do best and when to a small village that was makes silver jewelry - really nice jewelry! And we pick out some really nice things and then left on to start our trek. The start was just like walking through a NW forest but was definitely muddy (yes, I slipped..twice). We had to cross a bridge that was about 15 feet off the ground but it was made of bamboo and was 3 bamboo shoots roped together. Then we walked along the rice paddies and stopped at another little village where they were playing music and were able to just take it all in. The rices paddies are unbelievable and unlike anything I have ever seen before. We finish the trek by walking down the hill we started to hike up two days ago..down was definitely better (although I did slip again..)

So we ended in Tegannan Village and did a little shopping and then heading back to the hotel for some swimming. It was really hot/humid again today but I think we are getting used to it alittle. After about 1 1/2 at the pool we decided to get another massage.

I have to say this next experience almost tops our India one..so the massage type was called "Dasa Balance" it started by us undressing and putting robes on and then sitting next to each other while we got our feet cleaned/scrubbed. From there we had to go to our massage tables (luckily we had our own..although in the same room) and we started the process. The first was a exfoliation treatment which was very nice but ended in us having to take a shower to clean off the excess lotion/mask stuff. Notice I said a shower - 1 for both of us. From there we had a balinese massage and then a volcano body wrap with a vaporizing sleeve - very fancy for we are going to rub some rough lotion on your body, wrap you in a sarong and then zip you up into a sleeping bag contraption that looks like it is from outer space..oh and don't worry the sleeping bag heats up really hot. The leave us in this while they gave us a head and scalp massage. It was nice until they started to pull our hair and then I was lucky enought to end with some light slapping to the face.

And here is the best part...we finished with this and then they had this beautiful bath drawn with flower petals and milk powder treatment, again only 1 bath. So Linda and I said what the hell and jumped right in (to our own corners). After a mild laughing attack the ladies come back in and brought us tea and a jar of cookies for us to eat while in the bath. As we poured ourselves some tea we laughed thinking about how funny it is that we are in a bath together and how much more funny it would be if my mom was with us. So we laughed some more and then Linda looked at me and asked "Does this tea cup and flowers make my ass look big" I was dying laughing..

So gotta run - talking to a cute Aussie boy..sorry if spelling is bad : )

What an AMAZING day!

2009-03-03T04:44:00.000-08:00

Oh man we had such an amazing day today..I have to say I think I am falling in love with Bali! So this morning we woke up and headed to our friend Mr. Patra's house. His house is unbelievable and it was so cool to be able to experience a Balinese home. Balinese Hindu homes are typically walled in and have a small temple so that the family members can pray each day without having to travel to a temple. Mr. Patra's home is huge and immaculate, the detail of the carved stone and teke wood was unlike anything I have ever seen before. He has 1 main home that was 2 stories and very Balinese from the outside and modern on the inside. There are 3 other smaller homes that were also made of carve sandstone, teke wood and marble. The homes are part indoor/part outdoor and most of the carvings tell a story of some sort. They also have a temple in their home that was made from lava stone (from the Mt. Agung eruption in 1963) and the temple was huge and beautiful. When we arrive we had to dress in a sarong and have a ribbon type belt (very traditional) we then sat around and visited with Mr. Patra, Madra (his wife) and their adorable 5 year old daughter, Putri. She is so cute and speaks English better than I do : ) She sang Baa Baa Black Sheep, Edelweiss and some Balinese songs for us (don't worry I joined in) and then her and I colored for awhile, until she decided to show us her ballet and modeling moves.

After about 2 hours, we left with Mr. Patra to go out "hunting" aka shopping. But first we stopped to have some traditional Balinese food. We went to this small restaurant and started our meal with fresh coconut juice (I mean the whole coconut). Then lunch was a red snapper fish (with the eyes and teeth still), the fish was seasoned with lemongrass, red sugar and some other traditional spices and then wrapped in banana leave and grilled for a couple of hours. It was served with red rice and some steamed vegetables and red chili sauce. I have to say both Linda and I were a little gun shy about how to eat this meal so we patiently waited until Mr. Patra started. And well they eat with their hands here as well, Mr. Patra said that this is to help find the bones, but I have to say 1) I couldn't use my left hand and 2) I am not very coordinated with my right hand so I think more of my meal ended up on the floor/my shirt then in my mouth. But, after I got over the fact that the little guy was staring at me it was actually quite delicious and definitely a once in a lifetime experience!

From there we continued on our shopping adventure and drove past several of the towns in Bali. We stopped in Ubud to check out the hotel where we will be staying next. It was so cool, we have an outdoor shower/bathroom and a little garden area in the front. I can't wait to get there..

So off to bed for me, we have 7:30am date with the rice paddies tomorrow.

Last two days..

2009-03-02T02:50:00.000-08:00

Alright so we finally got some sleep...although we did wake up around 2:30am the first night and were up for a long time reading about Bali, not sure if it was jet lag or just excitement..

So I didn't really explain Bali very well in the last post. Bali is very very beautiful! Everything is so green and the landscape is amazing because of all the terraced rice paddies. We are staying a Rama Candidasa (Candi = god Dasa = ten); Candidasa is actually the town we are in as well. The hotel is really nice and is literally right on the Ocean, it is also right in the backyards of some Balinese Villages. In fact when we wake up in the morning we see the families cleaning their homes and usually cooking, dancing, etc. It is very cool to see but it a little weird too. Our rooms are nice and we sleep under mosquito nets at night. The weather has been very warm and humid. I would say today was about 100-105 degrees if you consider the humidity..it also has rain everyday so far. Today we were at a royal water palace called Tirtagangga (means "holy water from the Ganges") and it started to down pour! We were soaking wet for like 3 minutes and then the humidity dried us right up. Everyone here is really nice, the only problem is that English with a Balinese accent is very hard to understand.

So as far as other things we have done - yesterday we woke up and went down the to pool and laid out for a few hours (We both got a little sun burnt..oops!); after that we heading in the the town of Candidada (it is very small, less than a mile long). We shopped a little but really just got out for awhile. We came back after that and got massages. They were really nice but I have to say my Aunt doesn't always have good luck with here massuses - - the one yesterday was a female with quite a lot of chest hair. After that we had some dinner and then when to sleep.

Today we woke up and then headed out for an adventure. We started first at Tenganan Village, the village is made of 150 people and the village is completely walled in. We walked around and we saw a lot of roosters caged for the cock fights that they have and then also saw some beautiful basket weaving and double-ikat textiles. It takes anywhere from 1 month to 1 year to make the textile and it is believed that it protects you from evil, they are worn for ceremonys or displayed in home to protect. Very cool! The ladies we saw making them were very nice and spent time explaining their designs to us. From there we were able to see some village houses, temple and meeting hall. We attempted to climb up (they call "trekking") a 4 mile hill. I would say we made it about 1/2 of the way at which point we had stepped in buffalo droppings and were dying from the heat! So we turned around and heading back into town. From there we had the driver take us to Amlapura to see some temple and Ujung for some of the same. And then to Tirtagangga and Puri Agung where we were able to snap some amazing pictures.

Once we got back from the adventure we quickly jumped into the pool and that leads me to now..we are off to dinner and then sleep.

Tomorrow we are heading to Patra's house to take part in a ceremony..of what we aren't sure but we do know that we have to wear sarongs..

More to come!

oh and btw, everyone here knows Obama..

I need sleep..

2009-02-28T04:21:00.000-08:00

So we made it to Bali; we figured that we had been traveling for 24 hours by the time we reach Hong Kong last night (btw, love it there!!). So long story short I woke up at 4:45am on the 26th to snow and cold weather. Our first flight was at 9:00am to Vancouver and then we got on the long flight (15 hours) to Hong Kong early afternoon. Quick funny story..when we were at the SeaTac airport, my aunt and I were standing in the security line and the man in front of us had a bag with a zipper open..I know doesn't seem funny and really it wouldn't be except for my Aunt's next comment. My Aunt nicely taps the man on his shoulder and says "Excuse me, your anal pocket is undone." I quickly move my head (kind of like the dramatic chipmuck - for those that have seen that youtube video) but neither my Aunt or the man looked shocked by the comment so I simply thought..man I must of misheard her (although if I am adding anal into conversations there are some clear problems). Needless to say, once we got through security and we making our way to the gate I asked my aunt, "Linda, did you tell that guy his anal pocket was unzipped.." she paused and then through tears of laughter said yes...pretty hilarious.

Anyway, back to the flight. It was long! Enough said.

We landed in Hong Kong around 10:30pm HK time (6:30am US time); we got checked into the hotel and then decided we couldn't sleep so we adventured out to Lan Kwai Fong (pronounced Lang Qu-way Fa-ong) our cab driver told us the "foriegners (sp?) street" It was so cool, so many people there. The place is basically 5 blocks or so that are block off from cars and the streets are lined with bars, clubs, restuarants, etc. There are people on the streets in costumes and dancing and of course drinking. The streets stay open until 6am and it is definitely a must see! Linda and I had 1 drink at the Whiskey Priest (I know hard to believe it was just 1). We then cabbed it back to the hotel and got in about 2:30-3am and got up at 6:00am to get ready to catch our flight to Bali.

We got to Bali around 2:30pm and Linda's friend Patra (a native from Bali) picked us up from the airport. We got to our hotel around 5:00pm, got checked in, relaxed by the ocean for a little bit and had a quick bite to eat and now are off to bed...

So I will fill you in on more soon..oh btw the weather is hot, humid and we had lots of rain today and tonight we have had thunder and lightening..(if you don't know or remember I am very SCARED of thunder and lightening..wish me luck!)

Love you all!

D