Better Late Than Never

Well, I had certainly planned to have this trip be the resurgence of my blogging, but of course, the Universe often has other plans. This is my 5th day here and I am worried that I can't remember everything that we have done so far. But I will make my best attempt at this exercise because it's worth documenting. Everything here has been so very special.

I would say the 2nd leg of the plane ride was rough on everyone. Perhaps the layover in Korea was too short to stretch and get your circulation going. At any rate, we arrived at Denpasar, Bali at around 12 am on Saturday morning. We cleared immigration, changed some money and got in a car for another hour to get to our destination. We arrived to this view and it's been our evening view ever since.



Call it jet lag, call it excitement, but after no more than a few hours of sleep, we were all up. We started the early morning in awe of our new surroundings! Words like "lucky", "surreal" and "spectacular" earned the most used awards for that morning. We were greeted by Ywan, the de facto executive chef of our private hideaway, who wanted to know what we wanted for breakfast and if we wanted coffee. I thought, "Is she talking to me?" She was! Breakfast was great and the food will get it's own special piece a little later because we have come to LOVE this woman's cooking and her sweet, caring conscious energy.

During breakfast Iris surprises us with a pool side massage that I will not elaborate on here as I already mentioned it on FB. I don't remember the last time I had a massage (which is not a good sign) and it was healing and needed. And worth the donning of The Pareau- also mentioned in FB. There were a couple of hours of swimming and then our first trek in to town to begin our experience of the sites and sounds of Bali.

Two Balinese women watch peek through textiles to watch the market action.

Many of the streets are such that cars, mopeds and pedestrians share the road.

 

That was our Saturday. More later.

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And the Adventure Begins.

7/12/12

My 1st long vacation in over 10 years... It begins with much excitement and a badly twisted ankle about 3 mins after I got to the airport. Don't ask me how I managed to do that. Totally embarrassing. But I am grateful to be traveling with some of the best people I know. It's humbling actually, having to be assisted and cared for. My self- talk is going crazy trying to predict what they surely must be thinking: "OMG, drama so early in the trip!" or, "This is why we don't travel with her!". But really I know they aren't thinking any of those things. They aren't like that... i can be, but they are not. LOL. And did I mention that this is after the initial misstep of me not printing my itinerary, which I need to clear immigration in Bali. Definitely not the world traveller. I mean people still print? So I have a long flight to pray that we can easily find a business center at the Incheon airport to sign into my email and print my itinerary. I'm in charge of everything everyday, but apparently my brains and physical coordination go on vacation when I do. The plane ride is painful. Note to self: do not twist your ankle off before getting into a plane that will fly at 40,000 feet. It puts a new spin on swelling and poor circulation and throbbing. The only thing making it bearable are my excellent traveling companions who so far have arranged for me to have two seats so I can elevate my leg, pestered the flights attendants a few times for bags of ice to ice my foot, rubbed vibuthi (most of you wont know what that means and I won't stop to explain) on my ankle, prepared vibuthi water for me, given me Reiki, and massaged my foot. Right now they are talking to the flight attendant yet again to see if a wheelchair can meet us at the gate so I don't have to walk. They are the best. They are Stephanie Mew, Iris Asao, Sandy McRoberts, Theresa Kong Kee and Vicki Villaluz. They love me, thank goodness- and I love them. Steph, Sandy and I celebrate 20 years of friendship this year. At any rate, as soon as I'm comfortably upright, again, I hope to return this compassion and caring at some point in our next 12 days together.Finally, can I just send a shout out to Korean Air! Fabulous jet with great legroom- i mean for my short ass legs it is a chasm between me and the seat in front- ridiculously attentive AND pleasant service. You can drink anything you want FOR FREE... Includng wine! Have mercy! Alrighty, I'm out for now. Next stop Bali!

 

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