On our fourth day of the trip Lee and I flew to the island of Bali. Bali is one of the many islands that make up Indonesia and it is the most touristy (is that a word?) of all the islands. We were really looking forward to a little rest and relaxation. Mom and Dad traveled with Adam, Natalia, Grace and Berthis for a couple of days before they joined us in Bali.
I have to take a minute to commend the tour agency we went through for this trip. It is called Escapes Unlimited and the tour agent's name that set up our trip is Jane. The agency is based out of Santa Ana, CA and they specialize in the Asian-Pacific area of the world. They will set up trips for you all over the world as well. This was such a terrific agency to work with! Jane bent over backwards for us, made sure we had someone picking us up from the airport, driving us around the island where ever we wanted to go, and answering any types of questions. The price for the entire trip was unbelievably reasonable because Escapes Unlimited is such a reputable agency and gets good deals with the airlines, hotels, etc. We will definitely use them again for our next trip!
Back to Bali... There was a driver waiting for us at the airport to pick us up and take us to the Bali Hyatt when we arrived. His name was Made (mah-DAY)... such a nice guy and a great first impression of the Balinese people. I have to explain the names in Bali because they are interesting. The following is an excerpt from the book, "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. She does a great job explaining this...
"In Bali, there are only four names that the majority of the population give to their children, regardless of whether the baby is a boy or a girl. The names are Wayan (pronounced "Why-Ann"), Made ("mad-DAY"), Nyoman and Ketut. Translated, these names mean simply First, Second, Third and Fourth, and they connote birth order. If you have a fifth child, you start the name cycle all over again, so that the fifth child is really known as something like: "Wayan to the Second Power." And so fourth. If you have twins, you name them in the order they came out. Because there are basically only four names in Bali (higher-caste elites have their own selection of names) it's totally possible (indeed, quite common) that two Wayans would marry each other. And then their first would be named, of course: Wayan."
So our driver, Made, (who must be the second born) drove us to our hotel resort. On the short drive he explained the Hindu religion and some of the customs they have. Hindu's believe in karma... so everyone on the island is genuinely nice and friendly! It is wonderful. They think something bad will happen to them if they are mean or destructive. They believe that friendship is more important than money or material goods. Wouldn't it be amazing if everyone in the world thought this way?
The Bali Hyatt resort was beautiful and spread out. They greeted us with leis, a tropical drink, and banging on a gong. Here are some pictures of the resort...
These guys were always in the open-air lobby playing their instruments. The unique instruments looked like a xylophone and wooden recorder... but with specific names. At the bottom of this entry you can hear them play.
Lee and I when we first arrived at the resort.
The open-air lobby.
There were beautiful flowering trees all over the resort.
The spa at the Bali Hyatt was the BEST... with great prices. We had one massage a day!
Some pictures of the beach and ocean.Click on the play button for a tour of the resort.
Click on the play button for breakfast with Lee and Erin :)
Click on the play button for a tour of the spa.
Click on the play button for a taste of Balinese music.
1 comment:
Erin, I love your little tapes..it adds so much to the experience to have the music and the movement on certain things. You don't realize it until you see how much it adds..I am so glad that you have the technical smarts to make this happen! Mom
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