Day 14-15 (Fri-Sat) - Elephants and Tender Tummies

Day 14 (Friday)

Half way point.

(Tina) It’s official: Bali Belly has struck home! After delicious banana pancakes for breakfast, my intestines rebelled. Ugh. The rain kept us in yesterday though, so we were itching to do something fun, so we went to the Bali Elephant Park. I was worried about having an upset stomach, so I decided to fast a while rather than add fuel to the fire. The elephants at the park were rescued from Sumatra, another Indonesian island, where their habitat has been deforested. I think there are about 30 elephants there, three of which were born in 2009. It was really fun and it seems like the elephants have a good life there. We got to feed them and ride them, and Eliot got to be part of the show. When they asked for a volunteer, I raised his hand up and they called on him. He was embarrassed but happy to get to be a part of it.

We ran into Made on his motorcycle at the top of the lane, so he gave Charlie and Sophie a ride down to the house on his motorcycle. Yes, we let them both ride on a motorcycle with no helmet. What were we thinking?! After getting home, I laid down because I was feeling a little green.  Jim and the kids were going to go for a swim, but a big rain storm came out of nowhere. It even blew in under the big thatched roof porch of the house and bathrooms. It quit by dinner time and I was feeling a little better. Jim however was the sick one now. He managed to eat a little but we were both anxious to get home soon. I ate but wasn’t sure what affect it was going to have on me. I had promised Charlie that we’d get him this rice farmer hat that he’s had his eye on, so we found a shop before heading home and got hats for all three of them. Again we ran into Made at the top of the lane on his motorcycle, and this time he gave all three of them a ride at the same time down to the house. We listened for screams but they made it safely, thank god. I wonder which god they pray to here for motorcycle safety? They put on a little play for us dressed in their hats and sarongs, then off to bed for all of us. Hopefully we’ll all be healthy tomorrow.

Day 15 (Saturday)

(Tina) I’m feeling much better this morning, but Jim is suffering. He had a fitful night’s sleep and was fevered until about 4am. Ketut made us eat dry toast and bananas for breakfast. The kids were relieved that they still got to have fruit salad and pancakes though. After breakfast, Jim went back to bed and the kids and I swam. Later we decided to let Jim keep sleeping so we walked to town for a snack and maybe a little shopping. Sophie got a lacey shirt that the girls and women wear to temple here. She loves it. Charlie said “I am so jealous but I can’t stop looking at her because she looks so pretty, but I am still jealous.” He really wants dress up clothes too and that was what I was looking for most, but we didn’t find anything yet. He’s getting pretty creative with his sarong and hat.

Notes on living outside – eggs are kept on the counter but salt and pepper are kept in the fridge, milk comes in a box with a 4 month shelf life, ants like peanut butter. I doubt this has anything to do with our tummy troubles – it’s just so different than the way things are done back home. And yes, that's a gecko on the wall in the picture. He is more welcome than ants!

Email from Eliot to his class

Hi Classmates!

Me and Dad went shopping yesterday. We bought a monkey mask and a Balinese chess set. The monkey mask is called Hanoman. He is the Monkey god. I learned how to play chess and I beat Dad twice already. I went to the top of a volcano. Instead of lava in the middle of the volcano, there was a lake. Look at this picture of a man riding a bicycle filled with stuff! Isn’t that funny? There is another picture of a monitor lizard on the steps down to our pool. He was over three feet long!

I have a really loose tooth. Mom and Dad told me that the Balinese tooth fairy might bring me a chicken or a pig. I hope it brings me a wood carving instead.

Today we are going to go on an elephant safari and will ride an elephant. Monday we are going to the beach!

Your friend,

Eliot

Day 12-13 (Wed-Thu) - Volcano and "Crappy" Coffee

Day 12 (Wednesday)

(Tina) Ketut, the driver (or “Ketut of the van” as the kids call him. Made’s wife is “Ketut of the kitchen”), took us on a great driving tour today to see Mount Batur, one of the big volcanoes on the island. First we stopped to see a beautiful terraced rice field, so steep that it’s hard to believe that the land would be accessible at all, let alone a prolific rice farm. The second stop was the Gunung Kawi temple where the kids were happy to finally have to wear their sarongs. Ketut bought a bunch of little crackers for us to feed the hundreds of koi fish in the ponds.

Our third stop was at an agricultural tour place. They grow coffee, cocoa, ginseng, and lots of other things native to Bali there. You can see how they make the delicious Bali coffee and even the infamous Luwak coffee. Ketut showed us the Luwak animal in a cage but I couldn’t understand why it would be here or what he was trying to tell us. He kept saying “coffee beans from the luwak poo poo”. Then I remembered that scene in The Bucket List where one guy tells the other that his so-called premium most expensive coffee in the world is picked from the poop of an animal. I had to look it up to see if it was true because Ketut kept talking about it but then would say “not true”. It looks like it is true that they use the beans from the poop, but maybe he’s saying it’s not true that it tastes better. The Luwak is sort of a wild cat that eats only the ripest coffee berries. Since it is so selective in what it eats, supposedly the coffee beans that come out in its poop are perfectly ripe. The stories conflict from here whether the poop actually penetrates the coffee bean outer shell or not, but supposedly the beans sell for over $100/pound. We could have tried a cup for $3. No thanks!

Finally we headed up, up to the rim of the volcano. We had a beautiful view of the center of the volcano from the restaurant where we had lunch. The kids discovered that they love sate (grilled meat on a stick) and about cleared out the buffet of it. I bet they were sorry for only charging us for one buffet for all three of them! The volcano top had blown off at some point so it’s a big crater lake in the center now. I think the kids were expecting to get to a peak of a volcano mountain and be able look inside a small hole to see where the lava would be. We had to explain a few times that we were already at the top of the volcano, this is it. The kids were crazy in the car on the way home. Thankfully Ketut is patient. It was a nice tour and since we trust him, we didn’t feel like we were being led to places to shop so he’d get commission or anything like that. He even took us up the back road to the volcano so we wouldn’t have to pay.

Back at home it was time for nap. Of course as soon as we got them settled in bed, Jim spotted a giant monitor lizard on the steps down to our pool. We decided pictures would have to do for them seeing it rather than wake them up. It was over three feet long! Yikes! Shortly after seeing the lizard in the yard we noticed another one in the tree down the hill from the pool. We're on the lookout now - these things are big. The kids got in a little swimming after nap and before it started raining. When the rain lightened up, we headed to one of the closer restaurants for dinner where they are starting to know us. They love kids here and always comment that we have a “good family” because we have two boys and one girl. Apparently that is the perfect recipe here. The boys stay with their parents even when they are married. The girl moves in with her husband’s family. Since their homes are “family compounds” with several buildings for different family members, living, eating, working, visiting, I guess it’s more like living next door to each other than living with each other. What a different life.

Day 13 (Thursday)

(Tina) Add another creature to the house guest list. Jim saw a mouse in the thatched roof. I’m trying not to look up so I don’t ever see one. Reptiles and insects are way different than mammals, if you ask me.

We didn’t do much today. We got in a little swim before the rain set in, so the rest of the day was kept pretty local. Jim and Eliot went shopping for a carved chess set and got caught in the rain. They found one they liked as well as a cool mask and then found their way home. Jim taught Eliot how to play and drew pictures for the kids. Since we didn’t bring coloring books, Jim is their personal coloring page creator. I’ve managed to find plenty of reading time and have actually read two books already. Normally it takes me 3 or 4 weeks to read a book, so I’ve obviously got some time on my hands. Jim and I are still barely able to stay awake until 10pm, so getting up at 6 with the kids is no big deal. A typical day is:  Up at 6am, play a bit and have coffee, Ketut makes breakfast at 7am, swim, out for some exploration or activity, sometimes swim, lunch, nap, swim, play, dinner, play cards, read, bed. Not a bad life.

This evening the kids had a couple of urgent trips to the bathroom during dinner, so it looks like we won’t entirely escape “Bali Belly.” I hope this is as bad as it gets…

Day 10-11 (Mon-Tue) – Elephants, Monkeys, and Geckos

(Jim) After breakfast we were sitting there looking at the guide books while the kids were making forts upstairs. It was quiet anyway – that’s all that matters. We had made plans to spend a couple days next week on the white sandy beaches of Nusa Dua thanks to Michael’s good discount at the Westin. We asked Made about the different beaches on Bali. We had been to Lovina in the north before, and there was black sand that we assumed was from the volcanoes. Made told us that the beaches on the west side of Bali were “healing”. He had some problem that doctors around here couldn’t cure. So some local doctors buried him in this special sand up to his neck for an hour three times and he was healed. He said that the best “magic” medicine is now done by the Muslim doctors coming over from Java. Bali is the only Hindu island in the Indonesian archipelago.

We decided to get out today to explore. So we called Ketut to take us to Goa Gajah, an ancient Buddhist & Hindu temple also known as the “elephant cave”. A young guy met us at the entrance and guided us around the place, explaining the significance of each section. There was a fountain at the beginning fed from spring waters that are considered holy to the Buddhists. The guide said the water brings good luck if you wash your face with it. We decided “what could it hurt?!” There were tons of steps down, down to a river where a thousand year old stone temple was in ruin from an earthquake. It is amazing how the old stones in Bali turn green with moss and plants. There were some newer carvings nearby that looked just as ancient with the moss. The inner cave to the temple had little cubbies where monks used to sit for months at a time to meditate. That just reminded me – we saw a saffron robed Thai monk on the plane to Korea, and Charlie said quietly to me “Dad, is that one of those punks?”

Ketut dropped us near the monkey forest after Goa Gajah where we found a place to eat. It was a two story restaurant overlooking the rice fields. Funny that we saw tons of ducks in the rice fields and so many people in the restaurant were eating duck.  Sort of like eating seafood at the Shedd Aquarium. There was a tour group from a province in northeastern China filling the room where we sat. They wanted to come up and take pictures with our kids. Charlie is the only one who seems to ham it up on these occasions. He has taken to making the peace sign in pictures the way my friends in Hong Kong do. Afterwards at home Sophie basked in the “movie star” feeling by donning her sunglasses, sun hat, and sarong.

Eliot and I stayed out shopping while Tina took the twins home to nap. I couldn’t convince Eliot to go into the monkey forest – just too freaky for him. But we did have an ice cream bar near the gate and watched some monkeys walking around. Luckily none of the monkeys saw us eating ice cream! We shopped a bit and then were so hot we had to stop for a drink. I forget sometimes the kids can’t walk and walk endlessly with me. At the place we stopped we noticed a huge fruit bat in the tree right by our table. The waiter said it stays there, so I guess it is either a pet or loyal to that garden. I was weirded out seeing that thing flap its wings hanging upside down in the tree. Every day there is some new creature around here!

We shopped a bit more and Eliot commented that he really wanted to buy everything! It all looks like art and this place has a way of making you want to bring it all home. Plus I think he is intrigued by the different stories surrounding some of the statues. We saw quite a few statues of Ganesh (the elephant god) in one shop, many of which showed him holding one of his tusks that was broken off. We had to check Wikipedia when we came home to find out the back story of why he broke his tusk off!

We had an early dinner at home with Ketut making fried noodles. Afterward we walked over to town to see the Kecak Dance (pronounced key-chack). It is an amazing sight with about 100 men dressed in the same style sarong chanting all of the music while the dancers act out the story. The men sit in a circle and sing the “chacka chacka chacka” and more their arms and bodies in a synchronized way. The dance tells the story of Hanoman (the monkey god) having some epic battle. The chanting put Eliot to sleep, but Charlie and Sophie were well napped and enjoyed it all. The dance ended with firewalking – an old man in a trance walked over red hot coconut husks. The scary part for us was that the guy kicked the husks a bit as he walked around, and I was afraid they were going to roll under our seats! Tina envisioned disaster trying to get out of the way with Eliot sleeping on her arm. Luckily it all worked out OK. On the way out Charlie excitedly yelled out “hey nobody died!” cracking up some Canadians behind us. (We will add a video clip soon)

Tuesday – Caught One!

The first signs of the kids’ missing their stuff: Charlie near tears out of the blue “Mommy, I never get to dress up. I never do, I NEVER do. I miss my dress up clothes.” BTW - meant to post this picture the other night. This is us sitting on the steps leading up to Miro's cafe. They put flowers on the steps every night. We had the same picture of Tina 14 years ago!

(Jim) I took a big walk with Charlie, thinking that we might make it all the way over to Sayan Terrace. That is where the Four Seasons Hotel is, overlooking this amazing river gorge with steep rice terraces. Unfortunately I took a wrong turn somewhere and we walked to Singakerta, about 2 miles in the wrong direction. It was still fun, except for my back. Charlie spent quite a bit of the walk up on my shoulders. For a while he was singing jingle bells, which must have been funny for the locals we passed by.  We stopped at the home of one painter who had a sign on the side of the house that said “free toilet.” He and his five year old son were in the main room of the house, so Charlie and I talked with him for a while. He asked if we wanted to go fishing some time – there is a small pond nearby. Charlie was excited to try that – so we’ll have to make the trek back out to the house some day.

(Tina) We finally caught one! Eliot spotted a baby gecko and Charlie caught him in a jar. It was so tiny and cute, barely over an inch long! We were nervous to hold it, so we scooped it up on a piece of paper to take pictures. When the gecko tired of our fiddling with it, it turned over and played dead. We thought at first it must have died from fright so we put him on a leaf, and after a couple minutes it darted off. Whew!

We saw people bathing in the river on the way to dinner. This was right off of the main street! Although most homes have showers or mandis (kind of a mini bath that they just scoop water out of to dump on themselves), many Balinese still prefer to bathe in the rivers or waterfalls. I have fond memories of spotting that the first time we were here… Remember, Linda?

Charlie fell asleep at dinner after his big walk earlier, so we reinstituted naps. Of course he woke up enough to play cards a little. The bat swooped us again so we finished up inside. After putting the kids to bed, we heard a big “thunk” on the table and saw a frog there. The next morning Made told us that sometimes frogs jump out of the roof. Add that to the list of creatures in our space. At least he was kind of cute.

The rain hasn’t been as frequent as we thought it would be, so it hasn’t hindered our adventures or swimming much at all. I’m actually thankful for the rain some because Made told us that the termites swarm around the lights when it’s dry season and that we are very lucky to have come now. Sshhh, don’t tell anyone. The books all say this is the wrong time of year to come. Hey, it’s mangosteen season, so that’s good enough for me! My thumb nails are stained brownish red from peeling so many of them opened. Yum.

Oh, have I mentioned that we have a laundry fairy? It’s great! We just put our dirty clothes in a basket outside our room and at some point they get washed and I find them on the drying racks in the sun. Then if I’m not quick about it, I find the laundry neatly folded ready for us to put away. I have my suspicions who the laundry fairy is, but I don’t want to reveal in case he’ll disappear. J That great benefit kind of makes up for the fact that I haven’t had a good hair day since we’ve been here. A ponytail everyday is my only option. Just about all the women here have their pulled up all the time, so I’m not alone.

Day 8-9 (Sat / Sun) – Hard Walking then Laying Low

Saturday

(Tina) After a breakfast of yummy French toast again (gotta have it when they can get the bread because there’s really only one place to get good bread in town), we set off for a nature walk. We went for a long walk through tall grass fields along a ridge. It’s hard to imagine how steep the hillsides are on either side of the ridges. They go virtually straight up and the grasses on the sides of the hills are growing practically against the ground in order to grow toward the sun. It’s hard to capture the depth in the pictures, too. We end up coming home with a bunch of pictures of green that don’t match what we saw.

We keep trying to get the kids to go on longer walks without complaining. But the heat doesn’t bring out the best little hikers in them. We’ve resorted to treats after a bit of walking – Charlie and Sophie like Fanta now, after our years of keeping them off of soda. They have this toxic looking strawberry Fanta here that Sophie likes, and it gives her little pink spots on the corners of her mouth. Just doesn’t quite compare to the fresh juices or lassis to me! The walk this morning went past a Balinese school where all the children sat in their uniforms. Then we walked past a giant banyan tree and around a temple, where it actually reasonably cool in the shade. Then we headed out through the rice on the side of the hill, on our way up to the ridge overlooking both sides of the hill. After we reach the ridge and soaked up the views all around, we walked back to Murni’s for our reward drinks.

Then we visited our first museum, the Puri Lukisan. Actually so many of the stores here seem like museums, with all of the cool artwork and statues. But this museum had some historic artwork from Ubud, and good descriptions of what was happening in each painting. The kids were very interested in the stories that the paintings told – Garuda eating a snake, battle of Boma, the Barong scenes from the dance we saw…

After all the walking we took a taxi home, then back out to dinner. Tired and hot! Jim and I were talking about how much food Ketut is making us for breakfast and said that maybe we should stop at the fruit since we fill up on that first. Sophie said, “Yeah! Let’s stop the fruit and get right to the pancakes!” We laughed. The pancakes (really they are crepes) are so good, it’s hard to imagine really passing them up. Jim walked to the store to get some supplies and stopped along the way for an hour massage. He was being extravagant spending $10 for his. Casa Luna has happy hour from 5 to 7 and all their cocktails are $5. Yippee! Jim and I had a couple of margaritas again with dinner. There is some spice used in the food here that I’m not crazy about but have no idea what it is. Eliot and Charlie had chicken last night and it tasted like that too. I think I’ll take a cooking class here to figure out what it is.

Sunday

Did you know that you can click on the pictures on the blog page to see a larger version? Just thought I’d share that.

(Tina) Charlie and Sophie had tender tummies this morning, so we just hung out close to home. We took it easy on the pancakes and went for a morning swim. Eliot’s ear hurts, so we might visit the pharmacist tomorrow to see if we can get some drops for swimmers ear. I feel bad because I’ve scared them away from the doctors here trying to emphasize hygiene and drinking enough water saying, “Trust me, you don’t want to go to the hospital in this country.” And Jim told them that the doctors were monkeys (from the monkey forest) but that they were very smart.

Papak comes over every morning to pick up the flowers from the day before and put out new flowers around the house. I don’t know how the yard produces 20 brilliant red flowers every morning! Charlie has taken to helping and now yells “Papak!” when he sees him. I think Papak is hard of hearing on top of not speaking English, but he gives Charlie a big smile anyway.

Boredom set in about 1pm. It’s hard for the kids to do “nothing” but Jim, Eliot and I are content to read or draw or bird watch. There are these brilliant blue King Fisher birds that are almost turquoise with big orange beaks that have been swooping around in front of us putting on a show. Charlie and Sophie were cranky but are taking the “You don’t have to nap” vacation policy too literally. They could use a nap once in a while but they keep reminding me that I said they didn’t HAVE to. I guess they don’t get that having to, needing to, and wanting to are very different things but are all good options.

(Jim) The kids distracted themselves for a while jumping down the super steep hill in front of the house. I was wondering if the local doctor would set a broken bone with a bamboo cast. It makes great scaffolding, why not a cast. But fortunately there were no injuries.

After lunch I noticed that we didn’t have any water. Dang! I figured out that there is a big water tank on the second floor, mostly covered. That provides the water pressure for the house, but you need to turn on a pump to fill it up from the spring water. I finally figured out the combination of the pump and valves to get the water flowing into the upstairs tank, then Papak walked by. He gestured somehow that he would watch it until the tank got full. I guess there’s no automatic shut-off. I peeked through the kitchen door once and saw Papak sitting by the washing machine, cross legged and asleep. A little while later I heard the pump turn off and look out again. Water was leaking out from the upper tank right to where Papak had been sitting. He looked at me with a big smile and said “full!” pointing to the tank. I’ll never look at those Downers Grove water towers the same again.

Dinner was at Miro’s Garden Café. We had been there many years ago and had fond memories. I love how they line the steps with flowers and candles every night.  The setting was a little nicer than the food, though it was OK. Just as we were wrapping up, the power went out. Apparently there are rolling blackouts and usually Ubud loses power every Saturday night. This week it was Sunday. Many of the restaurants and hotels fired up generators and still had light. We weren’t sure whether our house would have power or not – it was technically in the village next to Ubud.  It was still a little bit light out, so we walked down the path from Miro’s to Sama’s Cottages, the first place we stayed in Ubud in 1996. We wanted to check it out before finding some ice cream. That lane has changed so much with many new hotels, spas, and a paved road. We walked through Sama’s place and saw that they now had 10 cottages, a villa, and a swimming pool. When were there it was very rustic, basically in the middle of a rice field. Our cottage then was $12 a night which included breakfast! There was just a ceiling fan (no a/c) and a shower with only cold water. But at the time, it seemed just fine. I’m very glad to have a/c now! We talked with Wayan, Sama’s youngest son, who was holding a baby girl. We have a picture in our photo album of Sama’s first granddaughter 14 years ago, just learning to walk. Now she’s 15! Can’t believe how time flies.

Although we did have our sights on some ice cream after dinner, it started thundering and lightning. That on top of the power outage sent us in a taxi back to the house. I revealed that I had a secret stash of Oreos, so the kids weren’t too sad about missing the ice cream. On the way down our hill by the house, we saw Made riding up on his motorcycle, on his way out to get candles. OK, so tonight will be our first night in Bali with no power – a new adventure. The kids were a little scared of the dark, so after Oreos, the kids played on their Leapsters. Tina and I sat on the porch trying to catch the breeze coming up the hill. We were able to turn on a little music from the batter powered speakers, and the house was lit with candles and kerosene lamps. OK, so music and the glow from the Leapsters was not exactly roughing it. But it was pretty nice sitting in the dark watching the thunderstorm come over the hill. The rain came and went pretty quickly while we sat there. A crazy dive bombing bat on the porch sent inside for the night.  We put the kids to bed by candlelight, and blew it out after they fell asleep. It felt so pitch black, I was anticipating the “Daaaaadddddyyyy” in the middle of the night. Luckily the power came back on at 10pm, so we were able to resort to night lights and air conditioning.

Day 6-7 (Thu/Fri) - Barong and Bird Park

note: sorry if the blog gets out of order. Every now and then I log in and the site shows a posting from a few days ago. I guess it is free software from Google, so I can't complain too much. Just a little frustrating sometimes! Plus, we have pretty sporadic internet connection at the house. The owner has a little modem that plugs to the computer, and connects to an antenna up on the second floor.

Thursday

(Jim) We decided somewhat spur of the moment that we needed to get out of the house today, so we decided to go to the Bali Bird and Reptile Park. Made told us that the village near there performed the Barong and Kris dance every morning at 9:30; so we had a good chance to do both. Ketut was available to drive and picked us all up at 8:30. It’s nice to have someone trustworthy able to drive us around sometimes. Some of the drivers are motivated to take you only to certain places where they get a commission.

When we first arrived, we were the only people at the play and thought we might get a private showing. An Italian couple came in and were fighting, or at least speaking very passionately about something and not sitting next to each other. I took Charlie to the bathroom and the Italian couple left while we were gone. When we came back, Charlie looked around at the empty seating area and said, “Hey, where did everyone go?” as if there had been a ton of people there and they all just left. Funny kid. Later I heard another couple coming in, seemingly from one of the beach resorts. I overheard the wife saying “we come all the way to Ubud and someone forgets the camera!” I’m glad we aren’t the craziest tourists invading this island.

The dance was really fun, and not too long for the kids. The women dress in beautiful costumes, performing this intricate dance with their eyes, fingers, and body posture. The men wore big, scary masks to represent the good and bad creatures in the story. Charlie was a little scared at times and grabbed my arm tightly. He knew the Rangda monster was only a guy in a suit, be he must have been swept up in the drama even without speaking any Balinese. I’m glad the kids got to see a dance performance in the morning. We saw lots of them at night before, and I’m not sure if the kids would make it up that late. We’ll have to stay up one of these days to catch the famous Kecak and firewalker dance. They will love that.

We drove on to the Bird Park, which felt a bit touristy, but was amazing even at the outset. There were fanciful parrots right at the entrance, then some huge crested peacock looking birds walked by. They reminded us of “Kevin”, the big bird from the movie Up. We even saw a couple Thanksgiving style turkeys run loose. After enough fried rice and noodles, I’m surprised the kids didn’t run after it! Many of the rare birds were in aviaries and were pretty fascinating to see. Tina did have some bird anxiety walking through the same confined area with so many birds. It was feeding time for the owls, which was a bit freaky. Cute baby mice. Yuck. We ended up eating lunch there – the restaurant was nice and catered to little Western kid tastes. They even had a small play area. The highlight at lunch was probably when a bright blue peacock wandered through the restaurant right by our table.

It was getting late, so we left the bird park to find Ketut again. He was standing there waiting by the door, and said “don’t worry about the time, you have to see the reptiles!” That ended up being super fun. Everyone but Tina held the iguanas. Even Sophie proudly put out her hands to pose with the big green thing. I was a little freaked out by the guy handling the lizards – he had three inch fingernails on one hand.

We got back to the house around 2 or 3 and had a long swim. The boys are having so much fun jumping and diving under water with their goggles. Reminds me of how much time I spent underwater during the summer as a kid. Hopefully Charlie won’t get swimmer’s ear like last summer. Every two minutes he says “Dad, watch!” and does some new under water pose. We chose a close restaurant for dinner – Murni’s. It’s just across the old Dutch wooden bridge. We had a great dinner and this fantastic black rice pudding for dessert. It is unique to Bali, I think. Wish we could figure out how to make it back home.

Friday

(Tina) Ketut made French toast this morning and it brought Sophie to tears. She just loves the pancakes so much and said she wants them every day – not French toast. Ketut felt sorry for her and wanted to make pancakes for her, but we said no. What big meanies we are! To make a long drama short, she LOVED the French toast and said I should get the recipe so I can make it like that at home. Ha! It was very hard not to say “I told you so”.

Eliot and I went to get a big beaded pot that he’s had his eye on since day one. We stopped to look at some other fun things along the way and bought books on Indonesian Folktales and Bali Stories. Eliot is excited for me to read one to his class when we get back. We wound our way through the big market and eventually found the pot he wanted for a good price as well as t-shirts for him and Charlie and an adorable batik dress with grasshoppers on it for Sophie. A successful trip albeit hot, so we took a taxi home.

Jim took the kids swimming while I went to get my first massage and it was only $8.50 with a very generous tip. Nice! It too was outside like everything else around here, but a beautiful but noisy bird kept me distracted from the heat. It’s hard to believe how strong this petite Balinese woman was. The song ‘Hurt So Good’ comes to mind. Oh and she makes house calls. Yes, I see a very relaxed back in my future. My biggest surprise so far is that the Balinese know how to make a terrific margarita! Yum! I should have known since they use fresh lime juice in tons of recipes. No yucky sweet and sour mix here! At $8.50 a pop, I nearly balked at it (that’s the same as my 1 hour massage!), but Jim convinced me to try it. Needless to say, I guzzled it down and ordered another. That’s a luxury I’m willing to spring for at almost-American prices.

Days 4 and 5 (Tue/Wed) – Big Rain

(Jim) January and February are the rainy season here in Bali, and the forecast every day called for rain before we left. But Tuesday was the first day of rain we had. It started pouring at 3am, but luckily the kids slept until 5:45. Woo hoo! – maybe this is the end of jetlag. It rained off and on, so we still managed to get in a couple swims. I ran out to the market to get stuff for lunch in between rains, but caught in a torrential downpour on the walk back. Luckily the treats I found didn’t get wet. I had gone out in search of some peanut butter, which I found in a teeny jar. But I also picked up a jar of Nutella for our morning crepes, and some Cookie Crisp for the kids. It tasted a little different than the same brand in the States, but still a fun treat from home.

(Tina) We took advantage of the rainy day to do some school work and agreed that we would have “school” on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Sophie was so excited to do her homework that she did more than half of it already. Charlie colored and cut out several of his worksheets too. We’ll have to make up some lessons for them for the next few weeks. Eliot and Jim hung out in the hammock together doing spelling words while I figured out the math lesson. Fortunately the current math sheets were things he had learned already, but I’ll have to spend some time reading through the teacher’s plans before we move on so I can use the correct terminology.

There was plenty of leisure time today which was really nice. I read a lot and am thinking that the books I brought are probably not going to last our full vacation. Jim and Eliot painted with water colors upstairs while Charlie and Sophie drew and colored. Nothing keeps their attention like artwork which I love because they like to do it on their own. Sophie asked me to draw her a pony so I gave it a shot. She was trying to be polite when she said, “Mommy, do you think Daddy is a better drawer than you?” “Yes, I do.” “Me too. I’m going to ask him to draw me a pony now.” I thought mine was a fine pony but Jim is a tough act to follow. I’m ok with that.

(Jim) We decided to go out to dinner to a place we had been 10 years ago - Bebek Bengil. The name means “dirty duck” in Balinese, because they built the restaurant in the middle of some old rice fields and ducks came in from the fields before the concrete floor was dry. The dinner was great, except that I realized I’m not as limber as I used to be. We sat at one of those tables where you squat on a pillow around a low table. It took me a while and a few pillows to get comfy. Charlie and Sophie decided to go western style for dinner with Spaghetti. We order a traditional crispy duck over rice, and Eliot loved it. “Best meal ever” he said. I think it reminded him of carnitas. On the way home we counted geckos until we found a taxi – 23 was the total. Then we stumbled down the path by flashlight and were all in bed by 8:30.

Wednesday morning the weather was sunny, but not too hot right away. So we asked Made to see if Ketut could drive us over to Mas, the village of wood carvers. I figured this would be the place where the kids could see actually carving being done, and pick a good souvenir. Ketut drove us to a couple fancier places where they had a workshop and then a big showroom. The wood carving quality was really nice, with all types of subjects carved in ebony, hibiscus wood, and crocodile tree. The only downside is that the prices were pretty outrageous. Charlie almost bought a small carving of Ganesh (the Hindu god who looks like an elephant), but opted for a simpler gecko instead. Sophie picked up a bunny rabbit. Eliot eyed some large pieces, but we were swayed away by the cost. I figured we could find some cool items back in Ubud for cheaper.

After Mas, we stopped at an enormous, picturesque waterfall. It was a total tourist thing, but still amazingly beautiful. Charlie and Sophie wanted little fans to cool themselves and bought a couple from a lady in the market. On the way back, we were driving up the street in Mas and eyed some more carvings in more humble looking shops. Ketut pulled over and Eliot and I jumped out. He found a very detailed carving of Garuda, a winged Hindu god. He was proud, and advised Charlie and Sophie that it was fragile, because the lady in the shop wrapped it in paper.

After that little shopping jaunt, we were pretty beat. So we hit a very small restaurant (called a “warung” here) for lunch. We all had jaffles, which are these unique little pressed sandwiches. I would swear they were made from some old Ronco device, but I’ve never seen them in the States. We all had different ingredients, and nobody left a bite on their plates. It’s always a nice feeling when all the kids clean their plates. The rest of the day was pretty laid back – swimming and another fried rice dinner at home from Ketut.

(Tina) Wednesday – Some thoughts on outdoor living. Apparently we share this house with several others, but they aren’t paying rent. Ants, gnats, flies, geckos, snakes, spiders, millipedes, beetles, termites, mosquitoes, and BATS. After dinner last night, we were sitting at the table playing Crazy 8’s. The sounds of the night creatures came as the last bit of light left and it was noticeably louder within minutes. Jim and Eliot were both out of cards, so they sat on the edge of the porch watching the night come alive. They awed at the bats swooping to catch bugs, and flinched when one came a little close. The next thing I knew I felt a breeze in front of my face as a bat swooped into the kitchen! Let’s just say I used the Lord’s name in vain and cards went flying as I ducked under the table. (Jim: she really hit the deck – which was pretty funny for us all to reenact the next day!) OK, that was too close for comfort. I like that there are bats out there gobbling up thousands of mosquitoes, but they are supposed to stay “out there”, not “IN HERE” where we are! We grabbed the cards and finished the game on our bed and had some laughs at my reaction to the bat. I think the kids like to see me scared. Later when Jim and I were in bed, I noticed a pretty large gecko scurrying on our wall up by the ceiling. It was Jim’s turn to be freaked out this time.

We talked about how this place is a bit more rustic than we imagined and more than we’re normally comfortable with. Would we recommend it? Yes, but going through a list of friends and family in my head, I was hard pressed to think of many who would love this place like we do. Yes, the bedrooms have four walls, a ceiling and air conditioning, but just about anything can easily get in or out, and we’ve heard that termites are a problem around here and make the houses pretty much disposable. This one was built in the 70’s but I don’t know how long they usually last. The fruit bowl on the kitchen counter has ants and gnats galore, but we don’t mind at all when we get that huge platter of fresh fruit salad that Ketut makes for us every morning. We have a bathroom and a shower, and it’s pretty much outside, so you never know if a gecko will be checking you out while you’re taking care of business. Tiny ants might check out your toothbrush if you leave it on the sink. The kids have their own bathroom off of their room too, so that feels like a luxury even if we do have to wipe our feet upon reentering the bedroom. The path down to the house is enough to rule out several people as good health and good knees are a must just to get here. A lightening bug visits the kids’ room almost every evening, but we just shoo it out. It actually has a really cool green glow, so it’s fun to watch. I thought they might be distressed about the wildlife, but they seem un-phased. This from Eliot who had to be bribed with Legos to get him to eat outside this summer for fear of bees. Just when you think you know your children, they surprise you. And just when we think we know ourselves, we’re surprised too. Yes, I’m afraid of a lot of things, but the magic of this place somehow makes that not matter at all.

Day 3 (Monday) – Damn Roosters

(Jim) The kids came barging in our room at 4am saying “Daddy, the rooster crowed! That means it’s morning! Mommy said we could get up when the rooster crowed.” Actually she said they could get up when the sun came up (closer to 6am). Apparently the roosters want to get a head start because it was only 4am when they started. Ugh. I went ahead and woke up with them so Tina could get a little more sleep.

Eliot and Sophie colored while I relented and was Charlie’s accomplice on the gecko hunt. I remembered those old “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” shows when I was a kid. Marlin Perkins always talked to the camera while Jim went out to wrestle the lion. Anyway, as Charlie directed, he got up on my shoulders so he could corner this tiny little gecko near the rafters. It was quite a sight! We finally knocked him onto the floor, and by the time Charlie dismounted from daddy, the gecko scurried under the bed. We tried a few more tricks with the geckos out on the porch, but to no avail. Maybe next time.

Ketut came over about 7 and made us a big fruit bowl followed by crepes for breakfast. The kids chowed and she was so happy to see them love her food. I could get used to sitting on the patio while someone makes Balinese coffee, tropical fruit and crepes!

We decided to walk all the way to Monkey Forest Road in the morning. I figured that we could walk the kids progressively farther each day without them complaining as much. Well, that was the thought anyway. Monkey Forest Road is about a mile long from one end to the other, lined with cafes and shops, ending at the Monkey Forest on the south end. We stopped at the first restaurant on the north end for drinks. It was still morning, but walking in the heat takes a toll and mango lassis called our names. While we were sitting there, we noticed one of the waitresses folding intricate decorations out of palm leaves. Eliot loves doing paper construction, so we walked over to check out her work. She happily showed them how to fold the leaves, and gave Eliot, Charlie and Sophie each one. Eliot beamed when the waitress said that her name was Wayan, too.

After drinks, we started visiting some shops on our way down to the Monkey Forest. I think maybe the kids were already a little worn out, or maybe overloaded. The shopping didn’t go so well. They wanted everything and kept picking on each other. So we decided to split up with Charlie and I going down to the Monkey Forest, and Tina, Sophie and Eliot shopping a bit more, then swimming.

So Charlie and I headed down the road to the Monkey Forest. We politely said no to the many drivers who asked us if we wanted transport. And we giggled at the carved, painted wooden penises in one of the shops. As we got closer we saw the monkeys at the entrance. Charlie was a little bit nervous after hearing stories of that monkey climbing up Aunt Linda’s dress to grab her bag of peanuts. We steered clear of the first family of monkeys who seemed to be guarding the entrance statue. Then we marveled at 20 or so monkeys wandering around loose on the path. Tourists were buying bananas and holding them over their heads so the monkeys would climb up and get them. Not us. We walked through, alternately switching from amazement to fear. We walked down a cool set of stairs that led through an enormous banyan tree and to a stone bridge over the river. On the other side of the bridge was a sunken pool with a statue of Ganesh and another awesome banyan tree. A group of tourists approached me and asked if they could take a picture with Charlie. I think the only English words they knew were “so cute!” They must not see too many cherubic blonde boys in Jakarta. Three broadly smiling girls each took a photo!

After our fill of monkeys and mid-day heat, Charlie and I grabbed some food from a market and found a taxi back to the house. After lunch and more swimming, the girls went out for pedicures while the boys and I ventured back out for ice cream. We stopped at a shop on the top of the hill and successfully ended the hunt. Charlie bought a small hand made beaded gecko keyring which will soon be proudly displayed on his backpack. Eliot really wanted to spend some of the shopping money, too. But the beaded things that he liked in that shop were a little bit pricey. I advised him to wait and see what else there was. Wood carvings, painting, and fabrics are so inexpensive here. (We won’t be buying any wooden phalluses!)

Back at the house, we swam yet again, before Ketut came over to make a big fried rice dinner. The kids all stayed awake during dinner tonight, so maybe the end of jetlag is in sight!

Time to post to the blog again. We probably won’t write this every day. It’s really new now, but I expect we’ll have lots of similar days swimming, exploring, and eating. I still can’t believe that we are going to be here for 28 days. Holy cow! How did we wrangle such an amazing home away from home!