Perhaps I will begin blogging again. Now that I am having new adventures and all! Welcome to Bali Friends!

Hello gorgeous friends and family!

I have had several requests to add to my blog since I know there are some who live a tiny bit vicariously through me and are interested in the random adventures that one can have across the world.

So, being that it's been over 2 years since my last post, I will hopefully be able to share with you, in a nutshell, what types of events you missed, and also what new adventures I might be heading towards.

1. Since my last blog post I have run in two half marathons and am training for my third.
2. I was able to act in a musical pantomime in Hong Kong - the story of Robin Hood - where I made many great friends and from there did two spring shows, a musical and a monologue.
3. In the last year I tried my hand at teaching high school as I moved into the drama teaching role (and a variety of others, teaching ages 9-18 in 6 different subject areas).
4. The big one... I left Hong Kong in the summer of 2013 and have relocated to Singapore.
5. I teach wee tiny Kindergarteners (much smaller than those I'm used to), and I am generally up and down between thoroughly enjoying it and pulling out my hair.
6. I visited Thailand where I gained my open water diving, and Cebu where I earned my advanced diving.  Additionally I took more trips into China with high school students, took some same high school students to Cambodia for my second trip there, and am looking forward to taking more trips as I continue my time in Asia.
7. While in Hong Kong I bought a dog and a scooter.  The dog came with me to Singapore and is my favourite comfort, and my scooter was left behind but I am in pursuit of a suitable replacement!

Those were the big notable adventures I think.  The trouble is that I have had many small adventures which I would love to share, but can never remember if I'm not writing them down immediately.

Therefore, I will not backdate any further but will move on from this point with new goals, new plans, new directions, and wonderful new adventures to experience.


So on that note... BALI!  I am in Bali, Indonesia and having a great time.
This week at work, while we have fall break, I also have to write report cards, create e-portfolios for 20 4-year-olds, and plan an epic lesson for an evaluation on Monday, but I thought... put all that on the side for a bit, and let's go to BALI!

We arrived on Monday after enjoying a reasonable afternoon flight (no red-eye's this time!), and grabbed a cab to our resort.  I may be spoiled from some of the resorts I'm used to, and this one is certainly not winning for it's awesomeness.  I tried to go to the gym this morning only to be told it was two blocks away.  The shuttle to the airport (which is commonly free) costs double what our taxi cost, and it's laid out like a tall open air hotel, but not like a resort really.  That being said, they are very kind and considerate and we're getting free breakfast.

No worries anyone on the hotel (or "Sing can can" which is the Indonesian phrase for "no worries"), because we are having a crazy great time!.  We spent our first evening out on the beach, watching the sun set, listening to waves  as the tide came in, and eating a variety of beachy foods.  I'd say that was a pretty successful start!

Tuesday we woke up bright and early as we had booked a private driver/tour guide who picked us up at 8.  We had found his name on trip advisor and he had 148 5-star ratings.  We were worried he would be booked, and thank the good Lord, he had a cancellation for one day only!  Surprise for us!  So we jumped on it, and booked him because when you have that many 5 star ratings and zero bad ones, you must be pretty great.  And he did not disappoint.

Our tour took us first to a temple.  Apparently there are 20 000 public temples within the island of Bali and on top of that, Balinese people have family temples in their yards where whole extended families will gather.  Its' pretty fascinating.  We saw one that was carved and established in the 11th century.  I was amazed with the quality of the sandstone carvings.  Some looked almost new.

We moved on then to my personal favourite part of the tour which was the "Monkey Forest".  There were Mecac monkey's all over the place, running freely as it is indeed a forest sanctuary for them.  The big ones can be mean and pushy and the rules of showing them you have no food and of not looking them in the eyes apply.  However, the little ones are great!  Our fantastic guide brought "Monkey crackers" (which looked suspiciously like Ritz crackers) and we were able to lour cute monkeys on to our shoulders for photo opportunities which I have not experienced up to date!  It was amazing.  They were far softer than I might have imagined.  One of our group, Sharon, did get bitten....  It was a misunderstanding on both her behalf and the monkey's but she ended up with iodine all over her arm for the majority of the day.

We moved on to a market where I purchased my first piece of art.  Yes, it's a print.  Yes, I do not know the artists name.  Yes, I think it's AWESOME.  Some others in my group (consisting of Sharon, Lynn, and Donna (all new teachers with me in Singapore)) also purchased art work, house decorations, small gifts, and fun "island style" pants.  These pants are really not acceptable any where other than warm tropical places, I could not get away with wearing them in Singapore at all.  But, for whatever reason, in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and several other places... you can wear the most comfy and brightly coloured or pattered pants!  If I retire, I will only wear these pants.  They are so comfy.

When I was getting my art though, I had a show-down with the shopkeeper to bargain for it.  I know they bargain here, and the price that the guy told me at first was WAY to high.  But I was out of time, so I went in with my highest price (the equivalent of 60 dollars).  He dropped his only a little at a time, and I kept saying "come on, at this price, we're both happy!" and he replied "only you are happy, I am not happy!" I said "You have barely moved from your starting price"  he replied "You have not moved at all from YOUR starting price".  "But I start with my highest price... I don't play games", I grinned. We eventually settled on 70 dollars.  Better than his 120, worse than my 60.  He asked when he was packing it up how I was so tough and good at bargaining.  I told him I have lived in Asia a long time.
It was a very amicable bargain.  Very fun.

After market bargaining we stopped at the rice paddy fields, which were gorgeous.  There are few things in the world more beautiful to me than greenery and these rice fields did not disappoint.  They are breathtaking in some ways.

Quick stop there, as it was starting to rain so we continued up into the hills and pulled over for lunch at a restaurant which overlooks an active volcano.  It was also beautiful.  SO much beauty I really can't describe.  And the photos I took also can't describe.  It's difficult.  just too beautiful.

We ate traditional Indonesian food which turned out to be pretty good.  Not too spicy and quite a few dishes which everyone could eat and enjoy.  I tried a friend banana again.  I figured I might like them since my first travel days to Peurto Rico with Continentals... nope.  Still not my favourite thing.  But one that I really enjoyed was the spinach chips.  Pretty much baked spinach dipped in an thin egg batter to harden it.  I appreciate any meal where I can get veggies that taste great.

We moved on to the coffee farm/plantation.  This was fun.  First of all, unlike farms I'm used to seeing, the farms in Indonesia are a smattering of various different crops all mixed up together.  We took step after step and our guide pointed out each tree as being a different crop.  Cinnamon, tapioca root, ginger, guava, papaya, coconut, mandarin, coffee, pepper, cacao.  My goodness, they have no traditional fence lines and it seemed as though one would need to walk into the forest, see which plants were in season, pick them, sell them, and then go back and see what else was there.  This being said, it was fun to see the various plants where some of these foods come from.
Another neat fact.  Turmeric is really, "yellow ginger".  It's a type of ginger from a similar tree but different enough that they called it something else.
We did a coffee tasting with their coffee beans,  I don't know if you've heard of Lumbok coffee?  The traditional Balinese coffee where a bob cat or mongoose collects the best beans, digests them, poops them out and then farmers use these choice beans to make coffee?  It can cost up to 50.00USD for a cup.  Well, I tasted it for free!  And I bought some for Christmas gifts.  Huzzah.
It is very very dark tasting.  That's all I'll say.
I did taste several other mixed flavours of coffee which I enjoyed thoroughly.

Finally, after the farm we stopped at one more temple where I got to see some more 11th century carvings.  Apparently only re-discovered in 1923 when some archeologists first stole a statue and then used it as a historical site.  It is built into a cave and so we walked into the depths of this mountain to see different dug outs in the rock walls for meditation or shrines.  Interesting.

That was a full day.  Thank-you and a plug to our guide Agus as he was brilliant.


Today, I went to the fitness center (two blocks away), and did a run as I'm still in training for this half marathon. Ate my fabulous and free breakfast, and then spent most of the remaining portion of the morning and the early afternoon at the pool.  RELAXING. Something that I feel I do not get a chance to do enough.

Tonight we're taking Lynn out to the "Rock Bar" which is apparently built right onto a cliff and has an ocean view.  Then seafood dinner.  Shhhh, Lynn doesn't know yet.  Don't tell her.

I'll catch you again soon and let you know how the trip finished, and some more adventures I'm having now that I'm in Singapore!