Bali Update!

Hello All!

Ahhh. Just came up for air. It was a pretty whirlwind ride to this place. We flew Qatar Airways which was lovely - plenty of legroom, yummy food (great vegan options!) and gorgeous stewardesses. We drove ourselves to Dulles at 3pm Monday and then a 13 hour overnight flight to Doha Qatar. We rented a room at the airport hotel - so calm and restful. They had a beautiful lap pool in a bubble and a jacuzzi with shifting color underwater lights (named by Elsa: Ice, Majestic and Lime). We got dinner, Elsa played on a Tom Otterness play structure and hung out by a GINORMOUS 6.8 million, 35,000 pound 23 foot canary yellow bronze TEDDY BEAR impaled by a lamp (we actually got a free upgrade to a room with a 'Teddy Bear' view - i kid you not - one has to pay extra for that!) Hmmmm. Don't worry, we got the requisite pic our our kid posing with it. It'll be coming your way soon my friends as with many others! We are loathe to admit this BUT we have promised friends and family that we will actually be picture-takers this time around - and guess that means picture 'post-ers' also, so they will live outside the cyber ether....

Then a final overnight 9 hour flight delivered us to Bali. It was a tremendous experience hovering over the Bali Sea as the island came into view - a glorious vast swath of green with cliffs going down to the sea and the volcanoes speckling the island. The clouds were those kind of iconic fluffy white cotton bunches drifting below the plane. Elsa sighed and said "oh, it looks like paradise!'. We circled a few times over the island which was a bit concerning and frustrating, not sure why it happened but I can tell you - lots of freaky reasons ran through my plane-air addled mind. When we landed, the plane erupted with whoops and claps of joy!

We got our luggage, breezed through customs, grabbed some rupiah and met our driver -- all super smooth. The Bali airport is a fancy new thing with flowers and grasses growing everywhere inside, garuda sculptures and costumed Balinese dancers hanging around on the dirty curb outside (???). The air was all frangipani, jasmine, clove cigs and car exhaust. Ahhhh, Bali. Crazy driving as always - flip-flopped, bare-headed folk on sepeda motors (scooters) and tons of super skinny mini-vans. Traffic was abysmal and we all went in and out of dosing. Opened the windows when we got closer to the country and smelled the bali small -- even the trash burning smell smelled good to me. Being delivered to our villa was super fun and mysterious in the night. Big sounds of crickets, gekos, and all manner of critters. Got some dinner at a local warung - yummy bali food! That first night of sleeping was trippy - we all woke up at 3am raring to go! We took a LONG walk yesterday all through our village and into Ubud, probably a total of 5 (hot)miles there and back. It is so - different - so much more congested and commercial (think: starbucks and nike warehouse shops) than before. This of course made me kinda sad and not sure how to feel.

We visited out old haunt 'Casa Luna' on the main drag for breakfast - yay Bali Kopi (thick and rich and dark coffee)! and then we powered on....Wandering towards what I remembered to be the street that my friend/teacher/mentor lived on. All was so developed and crowded! What used to be a hidden path through bushes and trees was a cleared walkway beside a big whitewashed house. So surreal for my brain to recalibrate. It was a good feeling though - to be so close to my friend. I felt it was right. D'Ayu knew I was coming to Bali but not exactly when. I wanted to surprise her and to savor that moment. So - we walked on in and there she was! We all hugged and laughed and it was so fun to show her our kid! She brought out super yummy piles of Bali snacks, some soft white mango, durian (ugly smelly fruit), sweet hot coffee and tea, dixie cups of strawberry ice cream, cookies and soft shredded coconut breads. We sat with D'Ayu and her husband, Ida Bagus and talked and reminisced and ate and sat and talked and reminisced. It was so wonderful. We made some plans to hang out and have some offering making lessons for Elsa sometime soon. Today - it's off to the library and Monkey Forest!

There's is so much to say - but more later.

I'll give y'all some pics and sign off for now! Thanks for reading - comment as you like!