Last days of Bali...

We finally made it up early enough to catch low tide.  The reef stretches out

a hundred yards or more from the shore, and with the early morning calm,

 it was perfect for looking for fish.  We went back to the hotel and got the girls and our

swimming goggles--not as nice as snorkeling masks, but better than nothing!

 At low tide, someone came and set down a Hindu offering:  flower petals, some fruit and a stick of burning incense.

 Many Chinese tourists come here, so the grocery store had special apples--

"congratulations making money" which is the ultimate best wish for the Chinese.

We also saw many Russian tourists.

 We fixed our own breakfast in our room's little kitchen, but ate out for other meals.

I wasn't sorry about ordering the King Burger, but did it really need a fried egg?

The meat patty was different--not really sure what kind of meat it was,

but it was tasty.

 Indonesian money is the rupiyah.  These were 50,000 rupi notes, worth just under $5.00 each.

It was kind of handy that the exchange rate with the dollar was 11000 to 1.  

Just drop off 3 zeros and you have the approximate value.

Steve is holding over 1 million rupi (100 dollars). 

When we got money out of the ATM and it gave our bank balance (in rupiyah)

we were suddenly millionaires!  It was like playing with monopoly money.

 There were flowers everywhere.  Our hotel lobby, which was open-air, always smelled like lemon blossoms.  Stores had basins with flower petal art.

Plumeria blossoms littered the sidewalks.  I'd always pick one up just to smell the scent.

The tropics are wonderful!

 The hotel pool was large, with little islands, a volleyball net, a basketball hoop and 

lots of lounge chairs to relax on (or in Kevin's case, study Chinese).  

And it wasn't chlorinated water.  It was salt water. 

 Our last evening, we went to dinner with Jinny.  We met her at church and wanted to get to know her better. She is Indonesian, went to Hong Kong for education, met the missionaries, joined the church, served a mission, and is back on Bali working.  What a lovely young woman!

Then it was back to reality.  It IS still winter, not summer.  

(Funny how I had a hard time remembering what month of the year it was!)

We do have work and school and responsibilities!

It's good to be home.

It's good to have my hair under control again (with the humidity it was so curly 

and out of control no matter how much gel or spray I used).

It's good to have dry clothing.

I feel more fit after all the walking (and walking on that sandy beach was WORK!  

The sand looked like bird seed and each step would sink in several inches).  

And biking.  And lots and lots of swimming. 

Yes, it was a good vacation.  But I wouldn't want to live there.  

We talked with our driver--"have you done the river rafting?"  No, never.

Many of the people we talked to never went to the beach.

Normal life just doesn't include too much leisure.

And that's probably a good thing.