And today's home is?

The sounds of frogs and geishas at night...The roosters and children in the early morning and banana pancake served on our deck for breakfast....Yes, we are back in Ubud, Bali!

It is 30 degrees and very humid - hot even for the Balinese they tell us! The rains have not come yet and they will be a welcome relief from the mugginess whey they do.

We were met at the airport by Made, who was a beautiful and very welcome site in her traditional dress after the ordeal of entering the country. In January of this year, Bali introduced a $25 US visa charge. It took 1 1/2 hours standing in first one line to pay for the visa and then another line to clear 2 immigration officials (one checks the passport and the other to stamp the visa!). Then a carryon luggage scan and then a customs lineup for luggage! Not a good introduction to an island already reeling from a dramatic drop in tourism due to terrorist actions. A bomb in the tourist area of Kuta (not the action of Balinese people) frightened tourists away 2 years ago, and more recently, just as business was beginning to recover, a bomb outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, has caused governments around the world to issue new warnings against travel to Indonesia which includes Bali. The new fees (which go to Jakarta and do not stay in Bali) and the arduous lineups, which really did nothing to enhance security, can only further the downslide of tourist income so vital to the economy of the peaceful Balinese people. For the first time in all our visits we hear locals comment that Bali would be better off if it were independent of Jakarta glimpse of events to come? Time will tell. I do know that all of our travel has given us a heightened sense of our surroundings and we feel very safe here. Granted, we typically do not stay in areas that are mainly tourist destinations, such as the Kuta beach area here. Listening to our instincts and to the people around us have been good barometers in past. We did not feel welcome in Morocco a year ago and were rightfully tense in Sri Lanka. Here, we feel safe.

Enough on the political climate of Bali and on to our agenda for our stay here. We are staying in a family owned 'compound' in Ubud run by a remarkable woman named Made Pramesti and her backbend. She has given us "our" room in one of the two 2-story bungalows (any pictures will have to wait till I have a connection in Bangkok). We have a big bedroom, bath and a deck overlooking the garden and ricefield, and with our breakfast included, it costs us 70,000 rupee (about 8.80 US) for both of us. A favourite restaurant just down the road for dinner last nite - I had Cap Cay (veg and chicken) and Jim had glazed pork and with 2 Lassies (fruit drinks) and tip, we cam away feeling good at just under $10. Bali is still a bargain!

Some of you may have seen the beautiful doll-puppet that I shipped to Canada last year. Because we had so little time then, I bought the doll from a retail shop. Today, with Made's help, we are going to the home of the couple that make them to custom order some. Tonite we are off to a ceremony at one of the temples. Tomorrow we plan to walk! If you have ever heard the beckoning calls of shopkeepers trying to entice you into their shops to browse their wares you will understand that we are going "loooking, looking, looking"

All for now from Ubud.

luv

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