A Day with Dad....and the Elephants

Jeff, Jin and Sun hit the beach and the elephant park on our second day of vacation while Qi and Mom stayed back at the hotel, catching up on work and coloring many, many pirate pictures! Riding the elephant named Rama was indeed a highlight, and Sun was very impressed with the size and sound of the elephant's plops. See the photo of Sun with the elephant plops in the background. If you know Sun, you will certainly know that this photo was her idea! A job we decided we don't want is to be the guy who has to fish the basketball sized plops out of the river with a net!

The threesome also stopped for a cool drink in the shadow of a volcano.

Bali is really a spectacular place. The Hindu religion is alive in every aspect of daily life -- every business and home has it's own temple and offerings to the Gods are made daily. Many people are busy constructing enormous paper sculptures called Augi Augi which will be used in the Balinese New Year celebrations next month and then burned as an offering to appease the Gods. We are learning more than we ever knew about Hindu beliefs, including Karma and Reincarnation. I have entered several stores with fairly expensive merchandise to find no one minding the store. When I asked our guide if they were worried about theft, he said that Karma would ensure that the thieves get more than what was coming to them and that the victims were more than compensated!

Stay tuned for another post about the famous coffee -- the beans of which are first digested and excreted by a small cat-like mammal! Hard to enjoy knowing the source!

Jin meets the King of Denpasar

Happy Year of the Tiger! Happy Valentine's Day!

We are enjoying a tropical vacation in Nusa Dua on the southern tip of Bali!. It sounds like paradise, and it is, but we got off to a rough start. Qi Qi got a second degree sunburn during the first 3 hours in the sun (we were careful, but obviously not careful enough), my knee gave out for no apparent reason and I couldn't walk for two days, and Jeff fell down and hit his head, leaving a big gash! We are the walking wounded, but much better today. Yesterday was the first day that the whole family could be together. We found a driver who we hired for the day to take us to Ubud, a beautiful town with beautiful little shops full of silver, batik, wood carvings and other things. On the ride there, we passed shop upon shop of the artisans making incredible wooden furniture, stone statues, glass sculptures and silver jewelry. With a background of plush greenery and a forground of beautiful handcrafted artwork, Bali is a tough place to beat for a vacation like this. Oh, yes, and them monkeys that roam the streets like dogs, are interesting too!

On this day trip, we simply HAD to stop at the Harley Shop that was on the route in order to get our fathers their Harley paraphenalia. We got very lucky while we were at the shop, as a big group of serious bikers pulled in for a break. One guy was particularly cool looking, so I asked if I could snap his photo. Our Driver, Martin, told us afterward, "That was the King of Despasar, the capital of Bali." Well, that is about the best we can do for you Opa and Grandpa -- a photo of your grandson with a Balinese King in Harley gear. Our work here is done!

There are so many more photos to share and I will upload them here. It is hard to take a bad photo here. I know this is somewhat obnoxious posting these beautiful pictures of a tropical place when you guys back in the midwest are still suffering through the snow drifts. Forgive me!

Jasmine's Little Flower with Teddy!