WE’RE BACK....from Bali

Sorry that we have not been blogging.  It has been a month of missing home, family and friends.  I have honestly not felt like blogging.  Also most of our regular students went home for the break so there wasn’t much going on around here.  However, none of those things are real reasons.....just excuses for being lazy! so I sincerely apologize and ask that you please forgive me!

Now onto Bali !
Island of the Gods
landscape of hills and mountains
white sand and black sand beaches 
 rugged coastlines
lush rice patties
barren hillsides caused by volcanic ash
country rich in religious history
modern beside old traditional
A country of contrasts

We were very fortunate to be able to make a 3 day trip to Bali to rejuvenate and help celebrate the birthday of a special friend we have made here in Malaysia.

Her name is Janice and we met her when we first came and were visiting churches.  She is a Malaysian native but lived in the US for several years going to the University in Kansas City and then staying to work for Hallmark before moving back to Malaysia. She has a heart for student ministry

We flew Asia Air which is a low cost airlines in SE Asia.  You do not even get water free on this airplane.  No free luggage unless it is a small carry on.  However, it is cheap and every Friday they run specials.  So we found really good tickets. 

 When one of the students found out we were flying a 3 hour flight to Bali, they asked, “Is that cost effective?”.  It might not have been cost effective in dollars but it was definitely cost effective in what it did to rejuvenate me (and Dennis!)

Our meals on Air Asia that we had to reserve and pay for in advance.

 Pictures I took from the plane as we were coming into Bali

 After standing in line at immigration for approx 45 minutes we are allowed into Bali officially!

We made it to Bali!!!!!   YEAH!!!!!!!

Pictures taken at the airport

I don’t really know what I was expecting when I went to Bali but what I saw didn’t seem to fit what I thought it would look like.  Now when I hear Bali, I think exotic location....It was beautiful, no doubt about that but also very third world but yet so commercialized at the same time.  Hard to explain for you to understand.  We did not stay in an expensive inclusive resort. 

 We stayed about an hour from the airport (it actually was not that far in distance but the traffic was horrible, horrible, horrible)

It was a hotel that generally catered to Europeans....Germans to be more specific.  It was out of the way......at least 30 minutes from civilization and it was a surfers haven.  There were at any given time a dozen surfers in the water.  The water was also very very rough.....so it was not good for swimming.

Our hotel:

The Beach

Looks like a beach in NC except for these two shots

This is actually pretty clean compared to another beach we saw!

 Have no idea what is coming out of these troughs but it ran this way day and night.  I hated to walk through it but this guy is washing his surf board in it.  What do you think it might be????

The area surrounding the hotel

These are jars of gasoline.

Place to put offering to the gods

Guess I can’t complain about where we stayed!

 An offering laid out for the gods

A little background info about Bali -
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the western most end of the Lesser Sunda Islands --- to the west of Java.
Bali is 8degrees south of the equator
It is approximately 95 miles wide (EW) and 9 miles long (NS)
It is NOT a predominant Muslim island.  Bali is hem to most of the Indonesian Hindu minority. 
About 93% of Bali’s population practice Balinese Hinduism which is a combination of existing local beliefs of animistic traditions, Indian Hindu influences and Buddhism from mainland SE Asia and South Asia.
There is a belief that gods and goddesses are present in all things.  Every element in nature possesses its own power, which 
reflects the power of the gods.
A rock, a tree, a dagger or a woven cloth is a potential home for spirits whose energy can be directed for good or evil.
The rest of the population consists of 5% Muslin, 2% Christian and 1% Buddhist.
Bali is the largest tourist destination in Indonesia.
It is known for it’s high developed arts ---
Balinese dance
Sculpture
Painting
Leather
Metalworking
Bali has an active volcano and the island is surround by coral reefs
Beaches to the south have white sand
Beaches to the west have black sand
The major crops of Bali are rice in the south and coffee to the north.
If you are looking at a map of Bali find the southern most point then go up the left coast and find Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Kerosokannn and Canggu and that is where our hotel is..
I wish I could adequately describe the ride to the hotel so you could understand.  Once we got out of the “city” we were down one land roads which were used as 2 lane roads.....I do not know how we kept from knocking mirrors off.  Also, add to that many many motorbikes in the process who could not help but pass in-between the cars and on the left and right of the cars.  It was very very very scary.   I couldn’t even take a picture that would adequately document it.
Some views of the scenery as we drove to the airport --

For my builder friends

 

 not as many people as we saw in a truck bed but the only pic I could get

Dinner at Jimbaran Bay
For Janice’s birthday we went to Jimbaran Bay to eat seafood on the beach and watch the beautiful sunset ---
However the whole time we were in Bali the weather did not cooperate with lots of sunshine nor gorgeous sunsets. AND the beach was absolutely disgusting with trash!

Janice the birthday girl

dinner on the beech

Even this trash laden disgusting looking beach could not ruin these sunset views

The delicious meal

I get so excited when the food comes that we are usually halfway through the meal before I realize.......hey! I never took a picture of the food!
We had crabs with red chili sauce
Lobster
Prawns the length of Dennis’ hand, grilled fish
Greens.
Do I need to say it was Delish?!?!?
The meal, also, came with entertainment

 (Sorry for the fuzzy picture)

Anyone want to guess how much our meal cost?

Quite a few of these...........1,225,000 rupiahs 

Pictures from our walk down the beach after the meal ---

The grill on which our fish was cooked

What could be better than an ear of corn from a cart on the beach --- seriously I had never seen this before

 The remains of a meal really enjoyed

Read this sign and then look at the picture below --
Does anyone else see the incongruity?

On this note I am ending this blog..........don’t let my pictures of lack of being enthralled by Bali keep you away.  I hear there are part of Bali that are absolutely beautiful and breathtaking........

Check my next blog for some more on Bali..

till next time.................