We stayed at home today. A day of RnR before Liz and I leave at 5:30am tomorrow for our trip to Bangkok. Dad ordered oliebollen, which is sort of like a donut ball without the American icing, but often topped with fine powdered sugar. It's a traditional New Years Eve food in the Netherlands. A few massages, but other than that we are looking at books and pools, with dinner at my brother's locale Saffraan. One thing we haven't talked to you about, yet, is the duc...

This was a long anticipated day for Liz and me: A Balinese cooking class! It started with a visit to the market and the cooking was at the restaurant situated in the middle of rice paddies. It. Was. Amazing. So we had our 8am pickup and drove at good speed and no shocks (awake!) to the market in Singaraja. This market opens at 5am, so when we got there closer to 9am the good stuff (certainly much of the meats and fish) was gone. You'd never find this place. Its...

It is hard not to relax here. And so, trusty readers, we did just that. For you. We relaxed another day. Massages by the pool arranged by our care team, reading and swimming, leftovers for lunch, more reading and swimming, a pre-dinner cocktail and more delicious dishes for dinner. What can I say, someone's gotta do it. The following day marked the 10th day of our trip, and to celebrate that 7 of us went to Menjangan Island for diving. Known to be the 4th best d...

We took a day off yesterday. I could tell you about the infinity pool overlooking the beach, the balmy breezes, the delicious meals, the waking up late and going to bed early… but there's not really a positive point to that (for you). So we skipped a day of blogging as well. On this 8th day we got restless. We tried to arrange a driver via WhatsApp - text and call. The instant gratification American in me got a little irritated when I didn't hear anything for ...

Galungan is a 3-day period during which Hindus celebrate the victory of goodness over evil. It is also seen as a new beginning, an opportunity to forgive and put behind you any negative feelings you may be holding towards anyone, to move forward with only the positive. There is a lot of visible preparation with a clear distinction of male vs female responsibilities. Males are responsible for creating the penjor. This is a tall bamboo stick that is curved at the ...