Longest Holiday Ever in our Lives

We are back! I figure by the time any "regular readers" come back from your holidays and check us out it'll have been a few months since you read our last blog. I haven't touched the blog for over a month and so hopefully I won't drone on and on. I'll try and keep it interesting and I will do it the best way I know how: through photos.

The first photo is of Matt and Abby at the front of a fiberglass outrigger, which we took (with a guide) to check out a few snorkeling sites. I haven't snorkeled before, at least not properly, and it was awesome. Figured I'd have to search out the fish and as soon as I jumped in I was surrounded. My euphoria lasted until the 2nd stop, where I was feeding a school of fish some dried bread and one really big black fish came and bit me. The little turkey drew blood! The second photo is in between sites, with "Pingky" our guide at the back (spelling intentional).

The best snorkeling took place on Lombongan Island, and I think the views were quite incredible, too. I can't say that there were any BAD scenes in Bali but Lombongan Island stole me. Tris and I, along with Bruce and Ben, rented some scooters and bombed around the island. We saw isolated white sandy beaches, abandoned (because of bankruptcy by Australians) hotel footprints in perfect locations, seaweed harvesting during low tide (used for cosmetics and seaweed jelly for consumption...blech), and finally, a beautiful sunset that I couldn't quite capture on my dinky digital camera. I love the background of Bruce & Ben's photo because of the layout of the squares of drying seaweed, the palm tree shadows on the road, the grass hut and the blue of the ocean and mountains in the background.



















Our villa was high on a hill, and the volcano photo you see is the view from our bedroom. We could lay in bed and that's what we'd wake up to if we kept our doors open. My favourite time in each day was when Judy and I would get up before everyone else and take a walk. One morning we walked through the lower village along the sea, and after that we found a road that took us into the upper village. Compared to where we normally live, the air was so fresh and "oceany," and sometimes we'd even get frangipane or some other flower on the wind.


In the seaside village we saw so many people harvesting seaweed; some were sorting it, others spreading it for drying. It's like the work was never done, because even at 4 in the morning we'd see lights bouncing on the ocean while families collected their weeds. In the upper village people it seemed like people were friendlier, and we're not sure why. Judy and I have a variety of theories relating to religious oppression in the lower village, prior idiot tourists passing through and just plain exhaustion from working all the time. Regardless, it was kind of sad.




















Our villa itself was great. The Comries had their own bedroom/bathroom and so did we. Because each room had only one double bed, we kicked....um....suggested to our kids that they camp out in the main living area, where there were two large day bed/couches and one foamie. They were quite happy to because technically, they were sleeping outside. There was a roof but no walls, and they could wake up with the sun. My one concern was not really that valid, and that was that they don't sleepwalk into the 5 x 3 meter pool that was in the front of the living area. Now, a pool in our living room was COOL!

It was a really difficult time for the kids...there was no tv and we limited movies. Unfortunately, all there was to do was to swim in the ocean, snorkel, collect shells, swim in our own pool or the public one below (each hotel has its own small pool), read, play ping pong, play games and talk. They were trying times but the kids were troopers.

Did I mention the option to sleep was also available? I think we napped 3 times a day on that leg of our trip. The photo of the girls and their big hair was probably taken around 2 pm, and they were still in their pjs!

There is so much more to share with you, yet I think that I'll just stick with Lombongan Island for this posting. The final photos are of us and our mode of transport to the island from Bali...we had to watch the waves and make a run for it, sometimes with a little help from the locals.

Thanks for reading!