Dear Readers,
This blog is being written to all of you who have been following Eric's blog and Emily and Eric's experiences throughout their world travels. This is being written by two of his committed blog readers who have had the amazing opportunity to travel and live with Emily and Eric and experience all that was written in the blog for thirteen days.
To all who think the blog is interesting to read we can tell you it is also amazing to experience and is more
fun than you can imagine. This blog is written by the infamous Ibu and Bibi (otherwise known as Susan and Penny).
Visiting any country is interesting but living in a lovely native compound (with a cook/housekeeper) rather than a hotel makes you feel less like a tourist. Being awakened at 5:30 A.M. to the sound of roosters is very different than the ring of a hotel wake up call. Opening the doors to the lush tropical grounds of the compound and immediately being presented with a pot of coffee or tea is the perfect way to start the day and goes beyond being pampered.
The first chore of the day is to take your coffee/tea and three course prepared breakfast out the front door along the stone and moss covered walkway, up a flight of stone stairs to the table in the gazebo overlooking a magnificent rice field.
After a leisurely breakfast and making plans for the day you must force yourself to leave this bit of paradise to either visit beautiful and interesting sights or to explore the many art treasures created everywhere in Bali .It's hard to decide where to begin., are you in the mood to watch artists carve stone or wood creations or would you rather watch jewelry and mosaics being made from scratch?
You could also choose to learn the art of Batik or Ikat or simply explore any of the many galleries displaying paintings and sculptures from local artists. Decisions, decisions, decisions, where to shop, and will it fit in the luggage we don't yet have.
There were so many spectacular sights we saw we cannot enumerate all of them here. From the magnificent temples, some in extraordinary settings, to the beautiful rice fields throughout the island, we were always surrounded by natural beauty. We saw coffee plantations, volcanoes, and the waters of the South Pacific from both the North and South sides of the island.
Thanks to Eric's knowledge of the island ( and his ability to navigate the usually treacherous roads) and all of Emily and Eric's preparations for our visit we were able to experience Bali at a level most tourists could never do.
In addition to all we saw we witnessed the amazing way Emily and Eric's jobs and " offices " functioned. Working and traveling takes enormous amounts of dedication, organization and work. There are technological challenges every day but their perseverance wins out because the rewards are so great.
Watching the Emily/Eric duo was one of the most impressive experiences of our trip. They are a remarkable couple, devoted to each other, who have discovered a way to see the world and experience more in a year than most will do in a life time.
These pseudo bloggers (Ibu and Bibi) are so appreciative of the opportunities and the experiences we had in Bali and the time we shared with Emily and Eric. We will always be grateful for the time we had together, the laughter, the warmth and the memories we made.
While Eric usually writes his blog laying on his belly on a sofa we are writing from our seats on a Korean Airliner taking us safely back to L.A. We are grateful we didn't have to leave the beach because of Tsunami waves, we are thankful we were able to change our flight and avoid nuclear exposure in Tokyo . We are most grateful we were able to make this trip and especially grateful that Emily and Eric are and will always be a part of our lives.
Sent from my iPad
