Bali Day 1

The girls and I have just returned from a solid week in beautiful Bali, Indonesia. Let me just start by saying that I have thought about what to blog about this wonderful trip and I think I will have a hard time expressing how amazing this trip was for our family. I will give it a try though! As a matter of fact I may be typing about Bali for a while. Another thing I would like to say before I get started is that the religion of Bali and much of Indonesia is Hinduism and Islam. Christians in this country literally endanger their lives by openly professing belief in Jesus. Knowing this, the girls and I were careful to stay in the Word and pray every morning before stepping foot outside our room. Each morning we started out with a wonderful Balinese breakfast of Banana Jaffles, fresh baked bread, fresh cut tropical fruits, juices and deliciously strong Balinese coffee along with a chapter reading from the book of Daniel then prayer. One of the girls pointed out that a verse we read from Daniel seemed to describe the culture we were in to a tee. It is Daniel 5:23 which says "And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your very breath in His hand and owns all of your ways you have not glorified."
Our first day in Bali we woke up early and went with our guide on a long walk through the rice paddy land. He taught us all about how rice was grown and harvested and the extreme importance of rice to their culture. Rice is eaten with every meal! The Balinese have been growing rice the same way for many generations. It was a hot long walk but a great introduction to the Balinese way of life on our first day there. Afterwards our guide took us to his home where he and all of his extended family live in their own compound. We found that this was very normal for them to all live together in one small area, complete with it's own family temple for daily prayers and offerings. They took us in and fed us fresh fruit, served in banana leaf boats, and green banana pancakes with fresh grated coconut and honey on top. The girls enjoyed being served cold Coca-Colas out of glass bottles. We then went back to our hotel to cool off in the pool for a while. It's HOT in Bali!! After swimming Gracie was begging to go see the monkeys. Our hotel was only a block away from the sacred monkey forest, so off we went to visit the monkeys. These guys are not even a little bit afraid of humans and came right up to us. This being our first time visiting the monkey forest, we were a little hesitant to get very comfortable around them. We simply observed and stood very still. After lunch at a little cafe nearby we loaded up and went furniture and jewelry shopping. Our first taste of shopping was a little strange. We quickly learned that the price of everything is negotiable. Caitlin bought a beautiful hand made silver ring and Holly bought a lovely aquamarine and silver pendant. Later that night we went to see a Kecuk (key-chuk) dance at the temple in town. We felt very awkward as we watched, and we ended up leaving early because it was too scary for Gracie. Truth is I was a bit freaked by it as well. All in all it was a wonderful first day.
Each evening at supper the girls and I would write down all that we did that day. I would ask each of them a question for that day like "what is the most interesting thing you saw today?" or "what new thing did you learn today?" For day 1 I asked "What did you enjoy most about today?" Caitlin loved jewelry shopping, Holly liked visiting the monkeys, and Abbie and Gracie enjoyed swimming at the hotel. Personally I loved the rice paddy walk and learning all about the Balinese way of life. All of our pictures from the trip with captions can be viewed by clicking the Picasa web album link to the right. They are labeled by day. Enjoy and stay tuned for Days 2-7.