Bali Pictures

Okay, it's been a week already so here are some of the better pictures from Bali and the last intended update from the trip. Most are taken in and around Ubud as this was the only city we stayed in. However, we did manage fun side trips a few of the days. Ron, the guy running the studio had arranged a day cruise for us which was a lot of fun. Not knowing what exactly to expect, we quickly found it was a cruise to nowhere, also known as a "booze cruise". But how could we complain as we sailed back and forth between Sanur where the boat was anchored and the islands off the SE of Bali (Nusa Pendia, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Lemgbongan) drinking and eating bar b que. Back and forth then back and forth again but how many times I cannot say since the main itinerary seemed to be only drinking and getting tan.

On other days we arranged more strenuous activity to amuse ourselves before heading to the glass studio. We took a bike tour from one of the volcano tops, along some back roads and though some small villages. The kids went wild when they'd spot white people on bikes riding down the road and they'd line up, sticking out their hands wanting to get slapped "five." I'll say, when you slapped one of those little kids' extended hands five you wouldn't believe how they'd spin around like a top and howl with delight! At least I hope they were exaggerating to show their excitement and that we weren't actually spinning those kids around and hurting them- they did seem to enjoy it and would try to slap every rider five. It's amazing that even on Bali, easily the top tourist destination in Indonesia by numbers alone, once you get maybe 10 miles out from even a small city like Ubud you're a major attraction and source of entertainment just because you're white and on a bike...or maybe it's just that you look so out of place and sticking out you become a source of amusement. I'm sure this is much more common in other parts of Indonesia less visited by tourists. Last year I was on a remote part of Bintan Island- many people just go to Bintan for the giant resorts facing to Singapore- and we would get stopped just because we were white! Stopped not because they were terrorists trying to kidnap, harm, or blow us up us as the outstanding travel advisory for US citizens in Indonesia may suggest, and not stopped because they were corrupt police trying to get bribes from us but stopped just because they wanted to take a picture with us! What a strange feeling.

The only other major activity was a white water rafting trip. This was actually a pretty short ride as the water was moving fast but the rapids were no more than class 2 which is pretty mild. There were some unexpected dangers though. In the briefing before the ride the guide told us there would be several low bamboo bridges we would have to duck under to avoid. I didn't know how serious he was until we came to the first one and we really did (seriously) have to lay all the way back in the raft to avoid hitting our heads and even so it seemed like there was only a few inches of clearance. In reality maybe it was more like 6 inches but that seems pretty close. So what if you don't duck? I guess you get knocked out. As some people say- "Asia's full on" and personal responsibility is really stressed, mostly out of default in that people aren't going to care if you do something stupid and hurt yourself and there isn't another lawyer around every corner like in the U.S. to sue someone if you do hurt your self (no offense, John!). It's the same thing with the sidewalks around Ubud. Randomly the middle of the sidewalk will be opened up to the water drains below- maybe a two foot drop. You just have to pay attention when you're walking around.
That's about it. The other days were pretty relaxed, hanging out in Ubud and relaxing. So finally, some pictures:

A shrine right outside my hotel room/villa

view of the rice paddy dividing the hotel grounds

spend'n G's: it's easy when the exchange rate is just under 10,000 to 1USD

some of the wildlife wandering around town...

Some of the many rice paddies around the island

Ron's back yard is nice

We did not eat this pig... but someone will. Bali is not a Muslim island like the rest of Indonesia. It's Hindo but with special Indo Hindo rules which let them eat all kinds of things some Indian Hindos couldn't

a giant garuda

Quite a few pictures. It's a lot to look at. But I think it's easier than posting them all on a seperate website...

Bali is nice. I want to go back some day.