Beautiful Bali

My friends - Becca, Angela, and Ashley - and I have been trying to believe that we were actually in scenic, green Bali only a week ago, relaxing in the sun with our books or journals, marveling at the scarcity of tall buildings, concrete, 4-lane roads, expressways. What was left? An abundance of green - banana trees, rice fields occupying terraces stepping high above or far below the narrow, optimistic 2-lane roads in places, bushes that engulf whole walls with a beautiful natural wallpaper, beautiful flowers that emit heavenly scents, and, of course, PALM TREES, still one of my favorites!

Particularly after the adventures we experienced to finally arrive on the tropical island of Indonesia, which echoed the old Candy/Martin movie, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Bali really did seem like heaven. Our travels from Korea to Nagoya, Japan, by train and plane, followed by our unexpected detour by train to Tokyo Station and, eventually, by taxi to Narita Airport, Japan, amounted to about 14 hours of travel and a night's sleep of three hours on those comfy airport benches before awakening at 6 AM to the pitter-patter of little Japanese heels scurrying to their posts for work. But, hey, we boarded a plane for Bali at 11 AM on Saturday!

The people were the most rewarding part of the trip, with their limitless daily allowance of warm kind smiles. We split an unbelievable villa on a hillside outside of Ubud complete with four employees - a cook, Lastri, expecting her third child in about four months; a maid/cook, Wenli, who also did our laundry; Pipin, a soft-spoken guy our age, originally from Java, who was basically in charge of the villa while the German artist owner was gone; and Chandra, the older groundskeeper with whom I immediately felt a bond through our incredible affinity for high-fives and the thumbs-up. Lastly, of course, we have Nyoman (which means "3rd child" - the Balinese name their children according to birth order), who was our funny, charismatic, and borderline creepy (flirtatious with Ashley) driver. He had a great sense of humor that allowed us to joke around with him and be sarcastic without it going over his head. Common Nyoman phrases included the following: "Are you happy, Christin (what most people called me there)?"; "No problem!"; "Whatever you want, boss?" We tried not to let this go to our heads. :)

Our last night, we invited the above five to eat dinner with us to show our appreciation for their kindness and hospitality that seemed to reach beyond what one would expect of cabin or villa staff. They humbly accepted and were rather surprised - during dinner they shocked us with some stories of how previous villa guests have treated them. How could anyone be so rude to such wonderful people? That night was probably my favorite - to sit and enjoy the DELICIOUS Balinese food and coffee prepared by Lastri and Wenli WITH the cooks and other staff.

Other Bali experiences included a monkey forest where memories of my last encounter with wild monkeys, on Gibraltar, came flooding to the forefront of my mind. I observed their monkey business from a distance... Another day we enjoyed a long drive to the Tulamban divesite where I dived a WWII shipwreck and a reef wall, both resembling mature underwater gardens, just without the scents, while the others snorkeled. We did some shopping, our villa located outside the Balinese town known for its traditional handicrafts. It was so nice to not see the golden arches, Starbucks, or KFC for an entire week! We also experienced a rip-off, being told that we NEEDED to take a boat to a secluded beach and snorkeling cove, only to find that it was a 5-minute walk from the port where we left... tsk, tsk, tsk. However, WE WERE IN BALI, so nothing could bring us down from our... Cloud Nine villa!

More later, including an excerpt from my journal about our day that included a Hindu ceremony at our driver's village near a volcano and five sacrificial cows... it's a little something I like to call "Holy Cow!"