Bali

So it has been over a month since I last posted, wow, where has the time gone? We had a nice Halloween here and now it's straight into Christmas lights and blow up dwarves on the street corner. We thought we would sneak away from the cold and have a Thanksgiving trip somewhere warm, and that destination was Bali. Though there's a major credit crunch, we could be out of Asia next year and wouldn't we be so bummed if we hadn't done some travelling in this part of the world.  So, Bali, here we come...first of all, it's not as close as I thought. It's a seven hour flight from Tokyo, longer than to Hawaii from here. Close to Australia and Singapore. It's a strict kinda place. The sign at the airport as you are getting your VISA says, "DEATH to drug traffickers". And they are serious. I wanted to take a picture of that sign, but there was a no camera and cell phone sign. I interpret that as "DEATH to picture takers".  Security is tight on the island as the terrorists who orchestrated the bombing a few years ago that killed over 200 people, most Australians, at a night club were just executed.  On our entry into the gated Four Seasons Resort, the car (from the resort) had to turn off it's engine, pop the hood and trunk and two armed men along with a bomb sniffing dog circled the car.  I guess I was meant to feel safe after that. Also, note to self, try not to leave compound.

But actually we did leave one day on a guided tour of nearby villages that sell stone and wood sculptures, saw some traditional Barong dancing, and took the boys on a safari park ride.  But you can just literally do nothing but lounge around the beach and pool and feel quite contented. It's low season in November so the resort was quiet (and maybe credit crunch added to that as well). So it was honeymooners and us.  The boys absolutely loved the pools. We had a little plunge pool in our villa that they were very happy to pop into at 8am before breakfast.  Then it was off to the other pool near the Kids Club. Then as we got braver, we ventured to the adults pool at the top of the resort..the "quiet pool".  They looked very small paddling around this great big pool. Aidan fancied himself like Michael Phelps. He hadn't been in a deep pool before, but now armed with the floaties, he just jumped right in from the little ledge and kept wanting to do that over and over. He likes to stick his head under water oddly enough.  Conor became braver and was paddling around by himself, but doesn't have natural recklessness that Aidan has. All in all, it was a fantastic 4 days, we got a little sun burned and a few mosquitoes got through the netting, but we would definitely go back again.