Spring Break is almost behind us, and tomorrow we fly back to San Carlos – well, San Francisco Airport to be exact. We’ve had a wonderful week in Bali, and have been here long enough to forget the 24 hours in coach coming here. It’s starting to come back, now that we’ve checked in online… All things said – economy at Singapore Airlines is not that bad – more movies that you can dream of, laptop power, USB charger and things you normally pay top dollar for. The seats let you raise the armrests completely, so we leaned up against each other until Hong Kong, and was awake the rest of the way.
To no surprise the week’s gone by rather quickly. Isabella hooked up with Kayla the day after arrival and the two have spent as much time as they could given that Kayla wasn’t off school this week. Isabella went to pick her up on Tuesday just to see what an international school is like around here. Isabella made a new friend in Pauline from Switzerland and exchanged e-mail addresses with her. They had great fun turning into prunes in the pool, and it was a rare opportunity to catch up on some French phrases.
Monday took us back to Umalas Stables. Isabella could hardly wait to jump on a horse and ride on the beach. She rode Mega – we’re not sure where the name comes from, but as the pictures should indicate Mega was and is no pony…
We ventured out yesterday in a Kübelwagen from VW Bali Tour. A great way to travel up until rush hour. There was no escaping the exhaust from the hundreds and hundreds of scooters around us. Still, we enjoyed the open air transportation and continued to enjoy it even when the rain suddenly appeared and we discovered despite the roof and windows mounted, there was a good amount of rain drops making their way inside.
We primarily went to see sites we’d been at before, but it felt good to be there again and there were excellent opportunities for better pictures since it wasn’t too crowded this time around. Revisiting Tanah Lot gave Isabella a chance to bring the enormous serpent from last time around a hug and a kiss. Hard to tell if it recognized her but it didn’t object. Who would?
John’s been through an enormous stack of magazines, and spent some time catching up on flash photography. Isabella has been a very patient and very good model for a short period of time the last two evenings. The sunset around here is not something you come by every day and it makes a great backdrop.
We’re having dinner with Kayla and her folks tonight before we’re wrapping it up. Isabella is sleeping over at their place while John’s packing the suitcases, so that they’re ready for an 11:00 AM pickup. The massage on the beach is ordered for 9:00 and after that we are on our way the 9,481 miles (~15.200 km) back. A massage after and not before would have been better. The waves at Redwood Shores probably doesn’t have the sound to them.