Things that go boom in the night....or day.

Random stuff
....Stealth Bomber crashed on takeoff from Guam a couple days ago. I had nothing to do with it, but I can think of better ways to blow 1.2 Billion dollars. The 2 pilots are reported to be safe after ejecting, but I assume will have to pay off $600 Million each over the course of several years. They are rumored to be coordinating a Brownie-Bake sale. $20 Million per brownie.

....Also, an EA-6B prowler crashed off the coast a few days before the Stealth went in. All aboard were rescued via helicopter.

....Lastly, the local US military report has issued a Strong Gravity Warning for Guam and the coastal waters for the next week, with a slight chance of falling satellite debris in the afternoons.

Last Bali Day

So sad to see us go. Bali was a wonderful trip, and we can't wait to go back. Matt and Vicki are coming out to Guam in May, and although they don't know it, they are going to Bali with us as soon as they get settled.....or maybe before that.

Fortunately, our flight was late at night, so we still had a chance for one more $6 hour long spa massage. Katrina got a face lift, or facial or whatever girls get. I had a Balinese lady beating up on my body for hour. Good stuff. I felt like jell-o for most of that day, and the bruising is mostly healed. The bones take 4-6 weeks. Just kidding, but they do have really strong hands for their 90 lb frame.

We walked around a different section of Ubud for a few hours, scored some sweet Hindu t-shirts and a couple milkshakes. We spoke with a teak furniture shipper/importer that gave us a couple thoughts of furnishing an entire house and patio with handcarved and finished teak furniture. It is just so nice and cheap and high quality.

Well, we finally made our way back to the Bungalows, got packed up and left for Densapar, and the airport. A guard offered to let us through security for a bribe, since the ticket counter was inside security, and we didn't have tickets printed. Dave muscled his way through the security checkpoint much to the dismay of the bribe-seeking guard. The rest of us followed. Only 4 more security checkpoints before we finally reach the plane. Grab a quick bite, board up and sleep our way home.

Bali Day 3

This was my favorite day of the trip. Fried bananas not once, but TWICE for breakfasts. That's right.....2 breakfasts and both were fried bananas. Heavenly.

Oh, there was also an awesome 20+ mile mtn bike tour of the country side that started off near some magnificent volcanoes and lava flow and winded through some rural villages and rice patty fields and temples and stopped at some master wood carvers home for a tour of his artwork, as well as a tour of a family compound that reminded me of how fortunate we are to be from such a prosperous country. It also reminded me of how little happiness has to do with wealth.

Although the terrain wasn't challenging. Mostly jeep roads and paved stretches, there were some killer hills that I managed to show up the 2 guides and let them know who was the boss on the bikes. On the last one, the guide screamed "Like a Bull" at me as I passed him. I guess Balinese bulls are pretty good climbers, too. I've never seen an American bull climb anything steep. The last 2 months of running, lifting and biking the hills in Guam are finally getting my fat butt in shape, I guess.

The guides invited us over their home for lunch after the tour. The women in the compound cooked us up a feast that was the best food we had that week. There were several curry dishes and chicken satay and fried corn breads and a bunch of stuff that I probably shouldn't know too much about, but that was still really good.

After lunch/dinner at the guides home, we went back into town and did some shopping. It seemed like a fair trade to me (mtn bike for shopping) and we picked up some sweet looking incense burners. They look like lion heads with feet. It seemed like a great idea at the time, and we came back to Guam with 5 of them in our 1 bedroom apartment.

Other than that, the day was uneventful. Dinner was at a chic little restaurant that came highly recommended from a French tourist and a local guy at the hotel..... Cafe Wayan. It was great, like all the other places. There wasn't ever a bad meal, or even an ok meal. Balinese cuisine is just soooo good and flavorful. Of course the dinner drinks are also good for making dinner seem even better.

We ended the night at a Reggae joint, which seemed odd so far from Jamaica. But we stayed there for awhile. Jack D made an appearance and hung out for most of the night. Wouldn't have thought Jack would have been much of a reggae guy. He proved me wrong once again. After our fill of Bob Marley, we packed it in for the night.

Bali Day 2

Again our day began with a super breakfast at the bungalows. Each day began under the breakfast pavilion with coffee or super strong tea and a plate of fruit. The breakfast entree the first day was an egg omelet with tomatoes and onions and toast. The second day we enjoyed egg sandwiches with cheese, tomato and onion. It probably doesn't sound like much, but Guam tomatoes are not the best and the ones we had in Bali were exploding with taste.

Now full of good food, we headed out in a tour bus to go on the Elephant Safari. Let us note, elephants are not native to Bali (all of this is info our guide gave us). These elephants were from Sumatra, where they and the guides/trainers used to work logging. With the rise of machinery in the logging industry, they took three days to transport the elephants and their families to Bali - since the tourism market is so much stronger there. We watched the elephants be bathed - since they like to roll around in the mud during the night, and then we saddled up and went on a 40 minute trail ride along a ravine and back. All three elephants ate along the way, Ria (our elephant) even ripped out part of a garden in front of the gardeners.

The ride was precarious at parts. You never feel like you're on level ground and that sensation is worsened by going up and down hill. I had death grip white knuckles for parts of the ride - imagining our bench twisting around Ria's side and Stephen and I being sent down the ravine of which we could not see the bottom. So it's sort of like mountain biking.

When we got back to the beginning, the guides made one of us get off and the other sat on Ria's head/neck....and she took us into the "pool" (ie the bathing pond with dookies floating about) to spray water for photos. Stephen went first and was a natural - me, you can't tell from the pictures if I'm enjoying it or terrified. The elephant then did some stunts - getting on small pillars, climbing pillars and sitting down. Quite impressive that Ria didn't notice my nails digging into her head. Ria even let us sit on her knee for some photo ops...though the larger male was pushing her, and thusly me when I first sat down. It's scary when an elephant uses their cheek to push you away. Then it was lunch time for us at the elephant safari place- it was only 10:30, but we all ate it up and headed back to the bungalows.

The best way to spend that $6 bucks in your pocket in Bali is a massage at a spa - no happy endings! Stephen and I headed to one of the nicest spas up the road and for about $12 total, we each got a massage that removed all the aches and pains we'd accrued over the past few years. The rooms each have a shower and a bath tub and are half opened up to the rice paddie next door. Birds cooed, the breeze whispered and it was the most relaxing place we'd ever been.

Totally refreshed, we hit the stores and market again finding some summer shirts and a Will Farrell from Wedding Crashers bathrobe (still looking for the nun chucks) for Stephen and some sarongs and a dress for me. Upon return to the bungalows, our travel buddie Bonnie seemed to be rushing back from looking for the local nurse. We had missed the excitement of Dave cutting open his foot. A while later the nurse showed up, spoke no English and was looking forward to sewing up Dave's foot. After some difficult negotiation, Dave's foot was cleaned repeatedly with some unknown solution and then iodine, then wrapped up in sticky bandages. Later that night we took him to the pharmacy where they gave him three prescriptions (none of which when googled came up on English language websites). A true trooper, Dave still went out to dinner with us and then to the market to pick up some more Bintang.

Dinner was a long drive out of the main area of Ubud. We had wanted to go to one restaurant that had a crab night - but they were out when we got there, so the transport driver took us to his friend's place. Stephen had a curry dish in a coconut and I resorted chicken satay (again). The more interesting part of the evening was the open air part of the restaurant and the visiting geckos. By this point we're used the little guys everywhere (they're everywhere in Guam too), yet something caught Dave's eye. He kept talking about how big one of them was - it was around a corner I couldn't see, so I was thinking instead of four inches long it's five inches long. Nope. It was definitely 10 inches long and the wide part of it's head was probably 2 inches wide. We even got to watch it stalk some prey and gobble it right up. The locals must have thought we were crazy Americans as we almost cheered when it pounced.

All in all, a great day in Bali.

Bali - First Night and Day 1

Stephen writes.....
Bali is a must see place if you are in this part of the world...it's beautiful, the people are friendly, and it's pretty economical for a trip. On this trip there (because we're sure we'll be back) we went with our new Guam friends Ben, Meghan and Dave, and Meghan's friend from home Bonnie.

We got in to Bali in the evening and had our driver meet us at the airport. Once we cleared customs and got visas and exchanged cash, we met up with him outside the airport in a sea of chaotic taxi drivers looking for fares.

The ride to Ubud from Densapar was eventful. We felt like our heads were on swivels...partly because of curiosity for our new surroundings, but mostly because we felt like we were going to run over somebody on a moped. Bali's main source of transportation is the Vespa, or some other similar scooters. They are everywhere, sometimes with 2 adults and a couple children per scooter. They drive absolutely crazily. They weave in and out of traffic and you can barely see them at night. The roads are fairly well maintained, although I don't think I saw a yellow line anywhere. Occasionally you'd see a dotted white line down the middle. It didn't matter, though. The scooters ran down either side of you, down wrong way streets and were like those little summertime knats flying around you. Quite literally, it is chaos.

We arrive to our bungalow. Our driver, who also manages the bungalows, tells us to get some rest and we can check-in the next morning sometime. Our bungalow is sweet, as Katrina will soon describe. We are promptly brought a message from our friends we are to meet. They are down a block or two, enjoying some local evening refreshments. We still giggle at the name of the local brewery name.....Bintang. After relaxing from our flight and (now amusing) drive, we are all enjoying our little slice of Bali. By the way, the pizza is bad there. The Bintang is good, although Katrina didn't much care for it. Everybody else did. I guess it evened out the night.

Katrina writes...
We stayed at the Ubud Bungalows on Monkey Forest Road - in a double superior room, which means it had AC. It was awesome, a separate little bungalow for us, with a huge bathroom and shower, a porch and a vaulted ceiling. The door and window coverings - which I forgot to photograph but you can see similar ones on the temple photos, were intricate carvings with all the details painted. It included some of the best breakfast I've had in a long time and only cost $40 US a day.

Stephen went out for a morning run, and explored the local surroundings before anybody got up. After breakfast on the first day, we explored the reason for the name of our road - the Sacred Monkey Forest. A small fee and purchase of some bananas and you're in. It is an area filled with monkeys, all wanting those bananas you purchased, and being a little aggressive about it. The guides just say - give them the bananas and when you don't have any more they'll leave you alone. Unless you're Ben and the guide has you sit down and hold your arms out with bananas. There was a little tail in mouth action there. The monkeys (once you're out of bananas) are a little curious about you, but go on with the daily activities of grooming, chasing each other and harassing Meghan. We went into the temple there and checked out the amazing carvings on everything, as well as the monkey's licking the walls - we think for the moss but we're not sure. On the way out we just watched the other tourist who'd just entered with their bananas and laughed. It's sort of funny when they monkeys aren't climbing up your body.

From the Monkey Forest, we headed up MFRoad and had lunch on our way to the large market. The market is one deal after another - Stephen is the master of offering a price and pretty much walking away to get it. In many ways it is sad because people are almost begging, but they are also asking for multiple times what they are selling is worth. So is the begging an act? They will also use the "for good luck" phrase to make a price sound good, and Stephen will still walk away to get his price.

Stephen writes:
Dinner was fantastic, as this would be a recurring theme throughout our stay. Great local foods, and a whole lotta local beverages of many sorts. I actually nearly had the entire beverage menu by the time we left. I fell a couple short, but was happy to have passed on them the next morning. I didn't go jogging the next day. Everything is so affordable there, despite steaks and appetizers and drinks, the dinner bills averaged $15 per person, most of that tab being liquid. The steak dinners themselves were only $5 or so. After dinner, it was back to the familiar watering hole from the previous night before hitting the bed.

Earthquake Feb 7 1:12 am

Awoken in the night from a pretty sound sleep, I couldn't figure out why the bed was moving slightly. My thoughts: weird dream? A few seconds later the bed giggled, and I looked at the clock, almost 1:15am, I know Stephen's still at work. Then it happened a third time.

I was super confused and in disbelief that an earthquake had awoken me. It was like someone had shook the bed, but for an extended period. My state of sleep didn't help either - it was solid sleep mode for me and you know that when you awake from that nothing makes sense.

So in the morning I checked it out - thank you USGS for the reality check. (yeah, click on reality check and it'll show you the USGS page - I just learned how to link).

A 4.8! Just 14.9 miles down, about 120 miles away! How cool! If you look at the local map of the quake, we live one village north of Hagatna.

Okay, so nothing broke, which is good, just the shaking. Of the people we know here (that I've had a chance to check with), the only other one on island at the time slept right through it!

31

It was a fun filled birthday weekend - even though Stephen's had to work a lot (but only at night).

In between Stephen's naps on Saturday, I went to see "27 Dresses" with new friends Meghan and Catherine. I could not have laughed harder while it still being a girlie movie. When I got home Stephen suggested a swim in the pool and was a bit pushy about inviting the others to join us. I'm thinking - we just got back from the movie, maybe they'd like to do something with out me. Then he drops a "well, it'll be an awful lot of ice cream cake for the two of us to eat." So Catherine, Meghan and Ben joined us for cake at the pool, then Catherine and I swam for a bit and chatted in the setting sun.

Saturday was also the day I got my birthday present from Stephen - the best ever Ukulele! Yup, I think I'm officially an island girl now. We had visited JB's Ukulele Hut a few days prior to check them out - looking for a possible hobby for me to fill some time here. The one Stephen got me had totally caught my eye that day - being reasonably priced (yeah, it's not the one that costs $3300!) and beautiful. Just look at that striping. That night when he went to work, you know I was on line trying to figure out how to play it. I have to schedule the lesson it comes with this week and see what the lesson package covers. I'm hoping that when we return home to CT, I'll have mad Ukulele skills to show off by the patio fireplace. And just so we all sound super traveled and smart - it's not uke-a-lay-lee, it's oo-koo-lay-lee.

Sunday (the actual Guam time birthday) was begun with quiet time (Stephen had gotten home at something like 4am) during which I did my nails and watered the plants. Once up, fed and going, we decided to swim over to the island that's off our condo's beach. The current was heading out at the time and I'm not the strongest swimmer, but I made it there and back okay. There is the ability to touch the bottom almost the whole way for Stephen - if you can find a clear patch with out coral or vegitation (people here aren't like at home about not touching coral but we're definately trying to not harm it), and about half the time for me - with the rest of the time being that depth where the waves go right up my nose. We saw the prettiest blue starfish (an intense electric blue, with skinny arms), some of the black and white striped fish, the little blue ones and the long skinny ones that are blue/clearish and have the needle nose - yes, I will learn their names at some point, just haven't found a book called "what's in the waters of guam yet". The island itself still needs to be explored. The tourists have left some trash on it, and it was spider filled so we'd want some t shirts for protection, but it's on the list to be done.

Upon return to land, we joined ben, meghan, jake, and his daughter at the pool for a few hours of sit and relax in the pool. A quick pasta dinner and Stephen went back to work. I hit Jimmy Dee's with Catherine, and a few other people for the fire show - the youngest is a nine year old who rocks out with these crazy fire stick moves, the oldest might have been seventeen. They even set the beach on fire...note to self, that beach there is full of gasoline or lighter fluid and should not be played in.

So far so good at 31.