Planes

Well here we are in Bali, we had a wonderful flight from Calgary to Denpasar, 24 hours in the air, 24 hours in Auckland, and 7 hours in Sydney airport. I was the lucky selection in departures in Auckland to have the airport search, Loreen got the lucky straw in Sydney, great fun.

As we landed in Auckland in the morning and could not check in until noon we immediately went and found an ancient volcano to hike, Mount Mangere, and climbed to the top. Not a great altitude climb but steep. The locals actually follow a path to the top but we went straight up steepest part, mainly because we did not find the path.

The area has significant cultural history to the Maori people that live there and has had various tribal dwellings in the past. It is fenced off as a bit of a park and cow pasture!

The process at the airport in Bali was painless, pay for your Visa, and then off through immigration.

Once out of the airport my impressions of Bali were Oh My God!, what chaos, the traffic and congestion. We were picked up at the airport by the hotel shuttle and whisked to our hotel through a million motorcycles. It was like being swarmed at times, every side street would have a herd of motorcycles burst out alongside the van. No accidents, and at intersections no stop signs or lights, everyone just honks and kind of filters through.

Our hotel is a lovely little place, down a couple of side streets, more narrow than the back alleys at home. Very quiet and absolutely the friendliest staff, great pool area and an open dining area. It has a Balinese/western style outdoor bath with all the conveniences of home but open roof, we call it the sauna.

We have been out and about exploring and getting our bearings. The main streets are lined with shops of every designer name possible (and they are the real deal - no knock-offs), and the department stores sell everything. We only got lost three times, but always managed to stay on the island. Taksi's are every where so it is always easy to get home. One has to be a bit careful with the Taksi's as some will not turn on the meter and charge a flat rate, usually twice as much as the real cost. Another trick is when they go to give you change they show you their empty wallet, and say "no more change" - a guy got us for 40 cents yesterday. So far the most expensive ride has been $5.00, probably would have cost $30 at home.

We have been to the beach twice now and they are lovely, hard packed sand and miles of it in places.

Loreen and I both burned a bit on our first beach walk so I went and bought a big straw hat and kind of shaped it western style. The first tout we came across shouted at me "Hey cowboy where is your horse" so I went and got a sarong to wear Balinese style, now they shout, "Hey Bali cowboy, where is your water buffalo".

We went for an early morning walk today out of the main tourist areas, through more residential/village type streets. What a contrast in things. We would walk past a $1500 a night villa, then a steel shed where multiple families live, then another resort villa, a bamboo house with woven matting for walls, rice paddies, cow pastures, and then into an area where there is more substantial homes. Most of the investment is foreign and we are not sure which is the most corrupt the developers or the government, probably about equal.

The cattle are quite different looking here, like a cross between a deer, water buffalo and maybe a Brahma. So I did a bit of research and found there are three major genus of cattle in the world, and that these Bali cattle are a genus, completely on their own and are most closely related to an animal called the wild bentang, I thought that was beer, oh right that is bintang.

Loreen and I spend quite a bit of time people watching and trying to guess what they are about. Loreen is really interested in the European fellow that showed up yesterday with a young Indonesian boy toy, so she is researching that whole culture here.

Then there is the older Aussie with the young family, he is kind of strange, exercises diligently every day and moves like a big cat, I told Loreen he is most likely an Aussie Mercenary.

Well enough for now, will go and figure out how to post this.