Gilli Air (Aug. 27)

The Gilis are three small islands off the coast of Lombok, each having their own characteristics.  We chose the smallest one, Gili Air.  Not paradise but not far.  There are no motorized vehicles (little horse drawn buggies do the heavy transportation), the locals are laid back, the snorkeling is great (sea turtles included) and the beach is awesome.  We got stuck in a time warp there and almost NEVER left.

Yes, we do like watching sunsets. They are amazing on the Gillis.

We thought that there boat building  was amazing.

Since we had just got certified for diving we decided to go for one. We saw 3 turtles,  a cuttlefish, Nemo, a rockfish and a pufferfish.

Marek and I decided to liberate a baby turtle on gili Meno.Its part of a turtle rehabilitation program.

                                                            Watch MiniMe go home.

Four on the floor.  AWD.

Gandhi Ahsram, Candidasa (Aug. 15)

It's time to eat!!  The kindy children get breakfast every morning after one hour of instruction. It can get a little crazy a times.

Soccer was a big hit, especially with the little boys.

They all have a great time in class.

While we were in Candidasa we spent time "helping out" in a kindergarten class located at the Ghandi Ashram.  The Ashram offered all sorts of classes (yoga) to tourists and also had guest houses.  We didn't stay there but thought it would be fun to help out and see a kindy class south of the equator.  It's noisy!!

White sand beach

In Bali, life's a beach.

hmmm, I smell wabbitt.

Another one bites the wave!

If you want to find a great beach near Candidasa, go to the white sand beach. The family really enjoyed it. Let the pictures do the talking...

Amed - What a dive...

These are pictures of a distillery that produces a local brew called Arak.  It is derived from the palm tree. Our friend Lash took Rhonda to this spot off the road. Notice the aseptic conditions in which it is produced.  

The ``chief of operations`at the facility where Rhonda and our scuba friend, Lash, went to buy some Arak.  She was clearly the boss. The boys say it tastes nasty`!

These are both of my brother and I and with our dive teacher.

Our funky dive instructor teaching us how to do a pre dive check.

The snorkeling in Amed was the best we have had so far. To make it even more amazing a world class reef was about 10 metres into the water in front of our hotel. We went to Amed with the intention of staying 2 or 3 days but ended up staying about 6. For 2 reasons, the more obvious one was that my brother and I took a diving course and are now PADI certified, we can dive anywhere in the world with a guide as long as we don't go deeper than 12 meters. Before the diving course my whole family took an intro course and we were able to do 2 dives. To top it off our sort of funky dive instructor brought the whole family to the USS Liberty wreck (for more http://www.bidp-balidiving.com/eng/location-tulamben-liberty-wreck/index.html) The other reason was because the amazing diving with tons of interesting fish.

Paru Ponjok Batu

My father is sporting a traditional Balinese head dress (rice on the forehead included)

Nice sarongs.

After 3 weeks in Bali we finally visited our first temple.  Our driver Leo stopped to do his offerings while driving us to Amed. So we joined in and took a look around. To respect Balinese temple traditions we all wore our sarong's.

Lovina Beach - North Bali

Little Queen Saskia,the daughter of the manager at Sri Bungalows, where we stayed in Lovina.  We were graced by her presence each morning for breakfast where she expected to be fed by one of the boys.  It started out by "Mama!! @#$%&*?+!! Pancake!!  Which we interpreted as: Mama I want a pancake, Now!!  She was lovely, so were all the people there.

Gabriel getting on a bemo.  A form of Asian "public transportation" where you still should haggle for a good price.

Fishing boats heading off for the night.

Off to our snorkeling destination.  Yahoo!!

Just another Lovina Sunset...

Lovina was another one of our Bali surprises.  We expected to stay 2 days and had a "not so good" first impression.  However, we found a great little bungalow on the beach (sunset pix from there), met all sorts of really nice people and their families.  Hence, we left 7 days later.

Various Ubud pictures

Sen San's. Great food, great people. The owners are on the right, the guy in purple was our homestay owner (Raka).  He likes to be in pictures.  A family of four can have a wonderful meal there for under 80 000Rph.  That's roughly $6.50.
Unfortunatly not all of Bali is this cheap. 

We complain about the grass not being cut.
The beautiful game...

My kind of spelling

The family gamelan rock and roll band.  Look out Dunster Folk Fest!!!
Our family took gamelan lessons. What fun. What noise!!

The Sacred Monkey Forest

What a zoo!!  The Sacred Monkey Forest is just that to the Balineese...Sacred.  To us fearful white people, it's a place to see monkeys up close and have them try and take things from you. Lesson to Rhonda.  Don't kick the sacred monkey in the butt if he jumps your husband.  The monkey might turn on you. 

Dance of the Barong (and the monkey)

One of our cultural events.  The dance of the Barong and the Monkey.  The girls have quite the intricate eye and hand movements.  Different...

Rice paddies in Ubud

Here are a few stunning pix of a hike we did through some rice fields just outside of a city called Udud. (that's after being chased by a pack of dogs..)