Batik, Burns and Boredom (Not!!!)

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Samir's article. It was a dark and stormy afternoon... but before that, us kids went to a batik class. (And it wasn't all that dark). Batik is when you put wax on cloth where you don't want it to be dyed, and it ends up with a neat stained look. We all made T-shirts and our teacher was very nice and helpful. (By the way, this was still in Bali.) After that though, we got caught in a rain storm, which was a bad way to end our travels in Bali. The day after Jamil's birthday, which we spent mostly on a nasty ferry to Lombok, Mom and Dad let Jamil pick out a semi-deluxe resort to say at for only $105 dollars for two rooms per night (not that bad at all). We stayed there two nights, mostly hanging around. Me and Dad tried snorkeling twice. The first time, we found nothing but sand. The second time, we found a small coral reef with a few fish, mostly black. The next day we switched hotels and rented two mo-peds for two days. The first day, we were delayed by rain. When it finally stopped, I had to skip the ride to do something else. (Hint: it rhymes with bath). On the second day, we rode through a lush forest and saw a lot of monkeys. But when we stopped to take a picture, one of the bikes fell and burnt Alia's leg. We rushed to the doctor and doctor said to not get her wound wet. That was the day before we left on a cramped boat to Gilli Air (pronounced I Ear), famed for it's amazing snorkeling. You can probably guess that Alia was pretty upset. Yesterday (our first day), we took a horse drawn cart (as there is no other transportation besides bikes) to find a hotel. When we did, we rented bikes and pedaled around the island (very challenging on sand roads). Today we rented a glass bottom boat so Alia could still view the fish infested coral. Our "captain" took us to a coral field bigger than the island, where we saw clown fish, lots of blue fish and more. Tomorrow we're taking the same boat at night to catch fish (and probably eat them to. Blah!) More later!!!!

PS Sorry for the lack of pictures. Digital camera doesn't work underwater

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Photos

Me, Underneath the Glass Bottom Boat
(not using snorkel)

A Blur of Colours
At a Balinese dance
(something I haven't really been talking about)