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| We spotted this friendly neighbor (no English) making bowls as shown in her hands that are used for offerings at the Hindu temples. |
“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”
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| This flat-bottomed fishing boat wafted by a few mornings ago. |
OK, I’ll stop whining, or “whinging” as the British and Aussies say in this slang expression, about the wifi problems in Bali. Although no rep has been here to make repairs yet we were able to manage a weak enough signal last night to download today’s photos which took a few hours. The result? A workaround for now.
I’ll shut up about it. If you don’t see a post at any time over the next 19 days, you’ll know why…no signal at all. We looked up the worst wifi locations in the world and Indonesia was #4. Now we get it.
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| Each time we walk by her home, a few blocks from the villa, we find her working. |
With few remaining suitable tourist venues for us to explore, we’ve decided to save these for our next period in Bali beginning in September. For now, most likely we’ll stay put other than embark on a few short road trips during these remaining 19 days.
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| This is a temple in the neighborhood where locals congregate for prayer and meditation. |
We have plenty to do in the interim, especially if the WiFi comes back stronger (oops, sorry) after the supposed upcoming repairs. We have several future bookings to arrange which we’d planned to tackle while here, poolside in the shade of the cabana. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do as many as we’d hoped on the outstanding “to do” list.
One year from now we’ll be arriving in Minneapolis, give or take a few days. We’re hoping to rent an RV in Seattle, returning it in Las Vegas with approximately a five or six-week stay in Minneapolis in between. Once we arrive in Nevada, we’ll return the RV, rent a car and stay with son Richard in Henderson.
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| Low tide from the second story of the villa. |
With our US arrival less than a year away, we need to book one of these vehicles soon when many RV rentals are snapped up well in advance for the busy summer months in the US.
An extended one-way rental contract requires a phone call to make the arrangements. We haven’t been able to remain on a Skype phone call long enough to make the arrangements. We’re hoping for a better scenario at one of our next locations to wrap this up before we head back to Bali.
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| Abandoned old barns and buildings may be tucked away behind vegetation. |
Over the next few months beginning on June 28th we’ll be busy with many flights and experiences taking us to a multitude of locations in Southeast Asia, part of which is included in the Mekong River Cruise:
1. Fly to Singapore – stay 7 nights in a hotel (apply for three visas at various embassies)
2. Fly to Hanoi – stay 5 nights in a hotel (cruise/tour starts on the 3rd day)
3. Fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia – stay 3 nights in a hotel (part of cruise/tour)
4. Mekong River Cruising to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – 7 nights on the riverboat until cruise ends
5. Ho Chi Minh City – stay 2 nights in a hotel
6. Fly to Phuket, Thailand – stay 41 nights in a vacation rental
7. Fly from Phuket, Thailand back to Bali, Indonesia for another 59 nights beginning September 1st.
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| Most Hindu homes have an elaborate family temple on site. |
Whew! This all transpires over a period of 124 days. This may be one of the busier travel periods in a short duration we’ve experienced to date. Although, as I write this while discussing it with Tom, he easily rattles off an earlier busier period in 2013 when we were on six cruises over a 69 day period including only one flight from Dubai to Barcelona.
When we look back at our past posts which we do almost daily, not only as we’re posting but, also for our personal enjoyment, we can’t believe what we’ve done so far. How did this happen? How did we do this?
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| We enjoy walks in the neighborhood although early mornings are best before it gets too hot. |
We’re undoubtedly mindful of possibly boring our readers with our lazy days by the sea and/or pool but we need only look back at where we’ve been, what we’ve seen, and what we’re yet to see in the future. Hang on, folks, the adventure continues…
Photo from one year ago today, June 8, 2015:
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| A year ago today our ship docked in Suva, Fiji. The Fiji Police Band played on the pier as a welcome to the ship. The band was undercover due to the pouring rain. We didn’t get off the ship when we had an upcoming one-month booking in Pacific Harbor, Fiji, later visiting Suva on a few occasions. For more details, please click here. |