Mom's WORLD JOURNAL - Bali We're Bali bound! A place we considered skipping more than once based on feedback from other travelers. We had really mixed reviews of Bali…some absolutely hated it while others adored it. It was right smack on our way to Sydney, so we decided to check it out for twelve days and if we hated it we would change our flight. We found that most of the unsatisfied Bali travelers, unless they were surfers, hit the tourist beach of Kuta, so we headed inland to Ubud. Ubud is an artist village in central Bali with amazing shops, artists' galleries with a variety of painting styles, gourmet restaurants and tons of charming hotels and bungalows. Mark made a reservation at a place that sounded awesome and we were excited to see it. The driver, Gusti, picked us up at the airport and drove us 60 km to the villa in Ubud. On the way we passed several villages each with their own specialty, silver jewelry, woodcarvings, puppets, masks, or galleries. As we turned down the narrow dirt street to the villa we wondered silently if we made the right decision. We were in a local neighborhood with no town in sight. Motorcycles littered the street as their owners eagerly watched the fighting cocks prepare to devour one another. We entered the walled community and were pleasantly surprised to see our new digs. It was absolutely charming! Separate bedrooms on either side of an open-air living room and kitchen, and two open-air walled bathrooms containing lush flowers and greenery made showering outside an adventure! It was getting late so we walked to town, which was closer than it originally appeared, for a bite to eat. We ate at Casa Luna and it was amazing. Gourmet Balinese food, thatch-roofed restaurant and incredible desserts. Most of these fabulous meals were around 9,000 ruppiah, under one dollar! We walked back to the villa, put Max to bed and tried to get comfortable in the humidity, as the villa had no air conditioning. Suddenly I had that feeling mothers often get and decided to check on Max, who was already tucked in his bed. I went to kiss him goodnight when I noticed hundreds of termites dancing on his headboard and pillow. I yanked him out of bed and we all slept in our small double bed, sticky from the heat. The noises outside were incredible…cocks screeching, yelling geckos, frogs, crickets and a variety of other band members each with their own loudspeaker! That was the end of our beautiful villa, we checked out the next morning in search of a new home, which Mark found the next day with a little help from Gusti and his motor scooter! Speaking of scooters, we bought Max a folding metal scooter in Bangkok, all the rage in every large city we experienced. It was part of his Christmas present and had been introduced to him by his cousin Ryan prior to leaving on the trip. He just HAD to have it five months ago but just HAD to wait since scooters and the Himalayas of Nepal just don't mix! The locals just stared at him, followed him, folded and unfolded it, but were scared to try insisting it was dangerous. After much persuasion, we had the entire staff slowly gliding on the scooter, giggling like school children. What a gas! We spent the afternoon walking the streets of Ubud, and checked out another awesome restaurant, Ary's Warang. The "tomato and goat cheese terrine with ginger jelly" was stiff competition for the "caramelized banana tart with fresh-pressed ginger ice cream" for dessert…under $3.00! I'll put my diet plans off until Australia! We took in a local dance show performed nightly in Ubud. Masked dancers and beautiful Balinese women dressed in colorful sarongs danced to the enchanting instruments in the theatre, built in the sixteenth century. The rhythmic music nearly lulled Max to sleep as he fought to keep his eyes fixed on the dancers. The walk home was dark with the narrow paths and hanging trees creating a perfect setting for a screaming horror flick. It is sometimes difficult to find a room for three, so we rented two hotel rooms separated by a stairway. I was nervous, Max sleeping in a room alone where I could not hear him, but Mark convinced me that it was okay. I tucked him in and he locked me out! Uncomfortable for a fearful mom but great for him, he felt like a teenager in a room with his own television. I slept with my eyes and ears open straining to hear every peep over the election chatter on CNN, Mark's new addiction. "Who would be the next president, recounts, recounts and more recounts, dimpled ballots? Gusti picked us up early the next day for a fabulous tour of Ubud and the surrounding areas. Bali is incredibly green, green, and green…every shade imaginable! The multi-terraced rice fields, palm trees, flooded rice patties and thick lush plants, against black volcanoes and deep blue mountains are something else! We passed little villages, toured several Hindu temples with their scary intricate stone carvings at the entrance. The statues wear a black and white checkered cloth around their waist for protection against evil, the black representing evil and the white good. Each day the locals prepare their offerings to the Gods, small baskets woven from palm leaves with rice and other goodies inside, good for the Gods and stray dogs alike! The women march to temple festivals in their colorful sarongs, intricate lace blouses tied with a sash and towers of fruit in a bowl perched high atop their heads. The Balinese people are so polite and smiley! Beautiful small boned people with dark youthful skin, white smiles, bright red lipstick and humble dispositions. The men wear batik styled sarongs in dark colors with bands tied around their heads, really quite handsome. They are adorned with sticky rice after praying, on their foreheads for the mind, and below the neck for body and spirit. Day after day the offerings were placed in various locations around the hotel, incense was burned and a small prayer said for a blessed day. A very nice ritual indeed that we enjoyed observing as we consumed our "banana jaffles" and dark roasted Balinese coffee for breakfast! All afternoon we went from art gallery to art gallery looking for the perfect painting at the right price to adorn our North Carolina home. We LOVE art, but Max was bored stiff and preferred game boy in the back Gusti's car and complaining periodically to remind us of his terrible shopping experience. Our reminders of "all we do for him" were blown off with an exaggerated roll of his bright blue eyes. There is so much art you actually get dizzy viewing stacks of art in each gallery, so we left empty handed…well almost. The next day, while I worked on the journal, Mark went walking with Max and saw a painting he admired. As the gallery owner chatted up with Mark, they became fast friends and he invited us to his wedding the following week, which we gladly accepted. The wedding was outrageous, the women in their beautiful Balinese wedding outfits with colorful gold threaded sarongs and large golden headdresses, heavy in the humid weather. The ceremony is at 6:00 am and is strictly for the family. Immediately following, friends by the hundreds come and go bringing their handmade offerings and wearing their finest sarongs. The bride and groom who ushered us to our seats and joined us for a long conversation greeted us with a plate of goodies, black rice with sugar, pudding and caramel cake. There was another ceremony soon after we arrived that involved a duck wrapped in a lavender ribbon, a hair snipping ceremony for the wedding party, songs and prayers, and a coconut filled with holy water splashed by the priest on the wedding party. As Max was struggling to get a good angle from which to film the event he was helped to the front by the grandfather. Their kindness to Max and their generosity towards us was eye opening. The friends and ceremonies continue until 6:00 pm followed by a big party. An amazing event! Back to the art…we came back the next day and bought the abstract Balinese dancer painting, which will forever remind us of our wonderful Balinese wedding experience. No more art stores for Max…on to the beach! We left Ubud after a glorious seven days, vowed we would return someday, and headed to Lovina beach. Lovina, in northern Bali, claimed not to be overrun with tourists and promised less hassle from the sarong venders than the beaches in the south. The sand is black and volcanic and practically ungroomed, unless in front of a hotel. Half a day spent to find a hotel, our pattern, and the other half exploring the town. Lovina is actually a beach region enhanced by a string of towns along the shore. The boys snorkeled and enjoyed the bright blue starfish, rainbow colored angelfish and the transportation, a narrow canoe like wooden boat supported with bamboo poles for balance. Max collected seashells, coral, dirt and hermit crabs making them a home in a lovely plastic container, which is not allowed in the room. Meanwhile Mark and I enjoyed a coconut oil massage on the beach while the Balinese girls laughed and giggled about us. We ate, swam and just relaxed, a vacation from our vacation. That night, Mark became deathly ill! You name it, he had it from top to bottom. I felt so sorry for him but he did not want me to call a doctor. He stayed in bed the entire next day, tried to take a small walk in the evening, and couldn't make it. Every few weeks the same event occurs, ever since we visited Nepal and I suspect it is Giardia. We will identify the bug in Sydney, where we can ensure a clean needle for a blood test! Then again, it could be that he ate an entire fish, a whole duck and a half chicken in one three-meal stretch. We'll see. We stayed in Lovina for three hot and humid days and left the next day to catch our 7-hour flight to Sydney, Australia for some "roo on the barbie and crocodile stew!"