Hi all - Ken here. Colleen's a little behind on the blogging, mainly because we had lousy internet in Bali. So here's a little catch up (I'll let Colleen add pictures later):
1) We stayed a week in our hotel in Kuala Lumpur and found out that even though we successfully rented a nice apartment beginning July 1, we couldn't have furniture delivered until July 8. My wife's solution? The trip to Bali for a week (which was amazing, even Ken the cynic must admit).
2) Bali is entirely Hindu, even though the rest of Indonesia is muslim. The people, as a result of their religion I believe, are incredibly nice. Very spiritual, constantly partaking in prayer offerings to the gods and participating in ceremonies at their many temples. Every house has a private temple built in, and you walk around in the morning and each little statue has some rice, flower petals and smoking incense, each offering and statue with it's own special purpose. Incredibly confusing to follow, but the result was a kind, peaceful gentle people who were pleased when fat, ugly Americans wanted to participate in their rituals.
3) Colleen makes a lot of plans. I've given up fighting those plans. So when she signed us up for the "Eco-Tour" on some island, where you get to live like a real villager, I didn't fuss. When I finally checked the guide book it said "If you're going to go on one expedition, make sure to go to Lembongan Island." Only problem was, we were going to Cennigan Island next door. It turns out the villagers' life, and Eco Tours, kinda suck. Apparently in 1984 a Japanese man showed the villagers how to farm seaweed, and they've all made a living doing that ever since. Seaweed really smells. We were in a cramped, hot, fanless room adjacent to some of the largest ant colonies known to man, on top of the only road. Whenever a motorcycle roared by (often), it sounded like a DC-7 landing in our living room. Every time we wanted to go anywhere, the guide had to run around and try to find 3 villagers with motorcycles willing to give us a ride. On the plus side, all of my kids got to ride on motorcycles without helmets, which they thought was pretty cool, and the snorkelling was amazing.
4) Approximately 8 times in the three weeks we've been here, people have stopped us on the street and asked if they could take a picture of them standing next to Abraham. It happened again today with people from Bejing. I'm convinced he's the next Dalai Lama.
5) Malaysians do not use mustard, decaf tea or ziploc bags. They do have 20 different types of dried fish.
6) Nanny, Papa, Uncle Patrick and Brendan have arrived. The kids are in heaven, and even I get occasional half-time kid duty as a result. Also, Pappy and Brendan reminded me that alchohol is an important part of vacation. Nanny and Papa have struggled a bit with the time change, but that's to be expected, and we're all looking forward to 10 days in Penang and Malaysian Borneo. We will have stayed in our apartment exactly 5 days since our last trip. Whew! -ksf.
