Bali - the Quick Rundown :-)

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post - I was offline all day yesterday and Drs appointments today. Anyway, back to blogging now - here we go:

The hotel was AWESOME! It was not so outstanding from the outside, but the inside is what counted. We were met at the top of the steps on the lobby floor (which happens to be open to the outside on the exterior walls) and immediately served tea and asked about our trip. Once we were registered and shown to the room, our jaws must have dropped open - as it is about as big as our condo is here - and soooo welcoming. I am just sharing a picture of our living area here as I intend to blog about the hotel later. You will get an idea just by seeing this picture:




Outside while eating (all of our meals were eaten in the hotel in fact) we could look over the infinity pool and out to the surf - it was so romantic and refreshing. We were greeted by name each time we were seated :-)






One day I watched a very young boy surf - isn't it amazing how he stays on the surfboard? He was awfully good at it:




Can you believe we are millionaire 3 times over? Ok, so it was in rupia's but it was still fun :-)

One Singapore dollar = 7211.54 rupiah's
One US Dollar = 10856.40 rupiah's

Yeah, now you know why we were so rich!

We initially got S $500 (US $332.17) and changed it to 3,605771.15 rupiah's!!! We came home with lots of money - I don't know if that is good or bad. You know how much shopping I do... lol... Here is a picture of our 3 million dollars - or rupiah's I guess is how you say it. Confused?

I was too :-(
*note to self, always bring money conversion chart.




This is just a quick overview, but lots of pictures, of what we did. I will get in to more detail in the days ahead. The architecture in Bali is breathtaking:











We went to several temples; Tanah Lot, Batu Bolong and the one under the presidents house. I will have to look up the name of that one, but they were both wonderful temples. Here is another picture of Batu Bolong Temple:




And Tanah Lot - I misstated (is that a word?) the temple name last night:





Can you tell our guide was not a photographer? lol... you get the idea though - we were there :-)


We learned how to pick, roast and grind coffee beans:




We stopped in a rice paddy and the ladies let Steve harvest the rice:




He didn't offer to 'shake the rice' though:



In fact, he didn't do much harvesting!


It is odd, we have lived in rice country for years and had no idea how it was done! However, something tells me in the states it is done a bit differently ;-) These women worked extremely hard with only knives and boards to harvest.


We saw layers and layers (terraces) of rice paddies:




We went to a Hindu play which represented the eternal fight between the good and evil spirit:








The music was live and wonderful:




And of course, we took time to relax and play games - which were in the hotel room for our use :-) The hotel also provided us with an iPod with music, more games, dvd's, and fresh fruit daily.




It was indeed a wonderful trip. I will start breaking it down bit by bit over the next few days. We learned so much and had such a wonderful experience - even though we were pained to see the poverty the islanders live in.

We were blessed to be able to meet the Balinese people and share some of their very difficult lives. I cannot say enough about how friendly the people are - and how much they desire to please you. It was the most relaxing, rewarding, romantic, and reality checked weekend I have ever had. We are very blessed; both here and in the states. More on all of this in the days to come.

I have had many finger tapping notes to update my blog. Though I have not had time to edit my pictures, I knew I needed to post them to keep your interest ;-) I hope you enjoy my travels as much as I enjoy traveling.