Bali

---

Bali was a 41/2 hours from Adelaide. We arrived in the late afternoon. Was met at the airport and taken to our resort in Nusa Dua. If you look on the map it is on the southern end of Bali and we stayed at the Laguna. It was a little rich for both Christine and I but Martha had booked it and we both decided we were worth it and enjoyed the luxury of it.

Bali is very much like Hawaii as for as the trees and flowers go but it stops there as it is a very poor country and depends totally on tourism. Mostly Australian and that was hurt very badly when a terrorist blew up a restaurant a few years back that was frequented mostly by Australians. Ir hasn't quite come back yet. Although we also heard alot of Russian and other Asian or Chinese while we were there.

We booked a tour one day that took almost to the top of the island to the volcano Bedugai. We ate at a restaurant that sat right on the edge overlokking the crater which has a lake and farms. You could see where it had last erupted in1999.

On the way we stopped at a coffee farm that has possum poop coffee. It is the most expensive coffe in the world and was mentioned in the movie "Bucket List" The possums eat the ripe coffee beans and during digestion disolves the covering of the bean and then poops out the bean covered in a substance that looks like a gelatin. they go and collect them and wash that off and roast the beans and grind into coffee for brewing. We tried it and couldn't tell any difference. It figures out to about $100.00 a pound.

The rice paddies are dug out of the ground instead of building levees between them and they are just beautiful and so green. We saw fields in varying stages of growth from just planted to ready to harvest and most of the work is done by hand unless they are wealthy enough to share a buffalo to plow the filed after harvest.

We went to the monkey forest and got to feed the monkeys and watch the tiny new babies less than a month old and would have fit in a tea cup.

In between our tours we were able to walk to shopping mall about 10 minutes walk from the resort. They also had massages there for $20.00. Christine had one everyday and I had one every other day. they were really good. 100,000 rupiah was worth $10.00. Another shopping area was about 20 minute walk and along the beach were alot of little stands where you could barter for all kinds of clothes .jewelry. carvings and souveniers.

When it got to hot at the beach we would spend time in the pools which had some shade. the resort was built as if it was an island with pools surrounding it. You could walk right off your deck into a pool. To go to eat we had to walk over bridges and past waterfalls. It was really gorgeous.

The second tour we took was a white water rafting trip. We had to walk down 600 stairs to get to the boats. There were 6 people in our boat. 3 Russians who spoke littel English, Christine and and the guide. Our guide was Budhi and he was so much fun. Had a wonderful sense of humor and spoke very good English. One of the boats flipped before we got a mile down river and we were the rescue boat, so we helped right the boat and get them back in. The trip was 2 hours and 12 kilometers long. The longest drop was a meter. There was plenty of rocks to go around and it was so much fun. We laughed all the way thru. Then the killer, we had to walk back up 525 stairs. It sure proved that my heart is in good shape. When I got winded my heart rate came right back down but my legs sure didn't get stronger. Budhi helped me the last 250 steps or I would still be there. They were like they were made of rubber. the only consolation I had, Christine was just as sore as I was the next day(and we still are) as I was and she is 50.

After the white water rafting they took us to an elephant sanctuary and were got to ride on an elephant and feed them. Their skin is like touching suede leather. It is so soft but 1 inch thick. They have hair that is about 3 inches long and very sparse across their bodies. We were on a female and they are smaller than the male but we were still a good 12' off the ground. It was like sitting in a rocking chair as we rode.

Our flight back to Adelaide was a Killer because we left at 1:30 in the morning and got into Adelaide at 6 am.
We went back to Martha's and picked up somethings that I had left there and headed to Christine's which is in the hills above Adelaide. She wanted me to see her home and meet her children. It was great because we had a beautiful salad out of her garden and fruit off of her trees. I am looking forward to the time she comes here. We became great friends in a very short time.

---