Welcome to BALI, INDONESIA - the first stop on our spring break R&R trip.
Last year at this time, we took a short jaunt to Guam, USA to relive my younger years and give the entire family a taste of my life (and have some fun in the sun while we were at it. This year, we chose Indonesia and Malaysia. Mostly we chose Indonesia and Malaysia happened to be a stop on the way so we took a couple days there and we're not sorry we did that.
Anyhoo...the choice was chosen because Barry's mom and stepdad are there for 3 months. Susie took a volunteer pastorship at an English speaking christian church in Bali. And so there is a most excellent excuse for going somewhere the kids had not yet been. Both Barry and I have actually been there before, but we were seriously feelin' the years as we talked about how long ago that had been. I think it had been 17 years for me and even more for Barry. Since I still actually think I'm 17, it was little confusing to think that I was there as an infant. Ok, I was 18. Don't even think about adding that! All that to say, a lot had changed in Bali since our last visit. Our second reason for visiting, was to hop up to the island of Sulawesi where my Aunt Barbara (mom's younger sister) and Uncle Timothy have lived for almost 25 years.
Anyhoo...the choice was chosen because Barry's mom and stepdad are there for 3 months. Susie took a volunteer pastorship at an English speaking christian church in Bali. And so there is a most excellent excuse for going somewhere the kids had not yet been. Both Barry and I have actually been there before, but we were seriously feelin' the years as we talked about how long ago that had been. I think it had been 17 years for me and even more for Barry. Since I still actually think I'm 17, it was little confusing to think that I was there as an infant. Ok, I was 18. Don't even think about adding that! All that to say, a lot had changed in Bali since our last visit. Our second reason for visiting, was to hop up to the island of Sulawesi where my Aunt Barbara (mom's younger sister) and Uncle Timothy have lived for almost 25 years.
And so the story begins. We stayed at the hotel where the church was housing Susie and Jim - right on Kuta beach - nice. The christian church there owns the resort and helps to train locals in the hotel service industry. Bali is a very big tourist town, especially for Australians and Europeans. Their tourist industry has taken a big hit in the last year or two, though, because of the relatively recent bombings there. It seems that I like to go places that have terrorist attacks - NYC, Manila, Bangkok (did I mention I was in Bangkok when several bombs exploded in the city? That was fun.) and now Bali.
All that aside, our first day was rather relaxing: mall to check out the handicrafts available in Indonesia, Starbucks for some true Indonesian adventure (did you know they do RASPBERRIES and cream fraps there with chocolate chips blended in?! to die for!), and Hard Rock Cafe for lunch to get a necessary Hard Rock Bali T-shirt or two. The afternoon was spent relaxing on the beach. Susie was home relaxing because she was down with typhoid! Thankfully not a horrible case of it - just flu-like symptoms and very low energy.
All that aside, our first day was rather relaxing: mall to check out the handicrafts available in Indonesia, Starbucks for some true Indonesian adventure (did you know they do RASPBERRIES and cream fraps there with chocolate chips blended in?! to die for!), and Hard Rock Cafe for lunch to get a necessary Hard Rock Bali T-shirt or two. The afternoon was spent relaxing on the beach. Susie was home relaxing because she was down with typhoid! Thankfully not a horrible case of it - just flu-like symptoms and very low energy.
The next day we headed for an artists' area called Ubud. We were seeking adventures - particularly white water rafting, but we found out there is really no white water
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