Bali, Indonesia

We are back from eight wonderful days in Bali, Indonesia. We stayed in the beach town of Seminyak, which is on Indian Ocean, and made a few day trips to the mountain town of Ubud, of "Eat, Love, Pray" fame, where were able to avoid large groups of Australians on Julia Roberts' movie trail tours, and still see authentic Bali. We loved it.

Indonesia is made up of thousands of islands. It is the world's fourth most-populated country, and is predominately Muslim, with the exception of Bali, which is more than 90 percent Hindu. It was incredibly interesting to see the temples and architecture, and learn about the culture and customs.

Trip highlights: riding elephants, swimming with dolphins, running from monkeys, watching the fire dances, and the food, including the seafood, traditional noodle dishes and mongoose pooped-out coffee beans. Yum.

Tradition of not packing light and
documenting it as the first photo taken on the trip: check and check.

We stayed in a wonderful villa in Seminyak. We had a
private pool that our babies swam naked in first thing after waking up.

Every morning, the staff made us breakfast, which was one
of the day's most-anticipated events. It was pretty delicious.

Eri ordered a chocolate-filled pancake eight mornings in a row, and twice on Day 5.

Swimming in the Indian Ocean.

Oops.

Sunset.

Geoff and Eri went white water rafting on the Ayung River in Ubud.

Geoff and Leo riding "Agnes," which is also Geoff's grandmother's name.

Eri and I are on "Cindy," who does not share a name with
 any of our relatives, but did play the harmonica with her trunk for us.

At the end of our ride, we fed Cindy fruit.

We went to the Monkey Forest in Ubud, where the monkeys are famously
aggressive and visitors are advised not to look them in the eyes.
(Seriously, that's a posted rule.)The monkeys jump all over people,
snatching food, sunglasses, and whatever is in their pockets.
Geoff was holding a banana, so I guess he was asking for it.

The squealing in the background is Eri and I, really hoping
no monkeys touched us. If they were cuter and much smaller,
I would've been OK with it. Also, they have really pointy teeth.

Keeping a safe distance and ready to run. 

Boat ride to go swim with dolphins.

Eri and I getting a kiss and a hug from "Ricky Martin."

Eri and Ricky. 

Indonesian Food:

Typical Indonesian food is very delicious noodle- and rice-based
dishes. This is mie goering with shrimp.

Geoff ordered duck whenever possible.

This is a mongoose at one of Bali's coffee farms.
These animals are fed coffee beans, which are then collected after being pooped out,
washed (I hope), roasted, ground and brewed. People LOVE it.

We gave it a try. It's a little thick with a flavor
that can best be described as "exotic."

This coffee, which is considered a high-end luxury
(I mean, a mongoose can only sh*t out so many beans a day),
reminded us of some of our best friends John and Nikki Speer. In a good way.
We could definitely see John and Nikki ordering mongoose-poo lattes at
Starbucks someday. Until then ....




... Check your mail, Speers! We miss you guys!  

Sampling a flight of teas.

Mmmm.

We stopped at a cocoa farm / artisanal chocolate shop, where we
pillaged the sampling room and signed-up to make our own chocolates.
(Just to be clear, none of these cocoa beans were pooped out of anything.)

Eri is making little chocolate elephants ... 

... while Leo is doing some more sampling.

Indonesian Culture:

In Bali, car seats and seat belts are definitely optional and as many as five people
are legally allowed to ride on one moped. The streets are crowded and traffic is heavy.

Wood carving by hand is seen throughout the architecture and art in Bali.
It's amazingly intricate. This man, who holds blocks of wood between
his feet and uses both hands to carve, made us a little Vishnu elephant out of sandalwood.

More wood carving. Looks like a casino, but it's the outer facade of a store.

Cock-fighting is a prevalent pastime and
on fight days, owners display their roosters in public. Somewhat
unsettled by this cultural tradition, I was assured by our guide that
the fights were over very quickly because
razorblades are attached to the roosters' feet.

Practitioners of the Hinduism leave daily offerings for their deceased ancestors
on the sidewalks everywhere. They're everywhere. But unfortunately for those in the after-life,
it was hard to keep our two small children from picking out the little crackers and candies
in those offerings.

We saw several small Hindu ceremonies and street parades.

These little guys are dressed up for an outdoor ceremony.
We gave them packets of goldfish crackers and dried, sugar-free apples
to add to their ancestors' offerings, but they ate them instead.

Hey. 

Sweetest little boy in any country.

My pretty girl in our "We love Bali" selfie!



Happy 4th of July!



It's been several years since we've celebrated Independence Day because, understandably, it's not that important to Brazilians. South Koreans probably don't really care either, but it was a big deal on the U.S. Army base in Seoul, where we live. Geoff and I attended a party hosted by the U.S. Embassy one evening, and on the 4th, the four of us went to a huge event for the thousands of military families here. It featured a series of K-Pop concerts (this just means the genre of music with either four or five super hot Korean girls wearing super hot shorts who sing, dance and flip their hair) and culminated in a fireworks show. 

 

 

 

 

 

Tidbits

Lower, right:
The Steeves family's biggest news this month: Eri, 5 1/2,  lost her first tooth. She refused to pull it and just let it fall out on its own, so she already has her first adult tooth in, too.

We put her baby tooth in this little cloth tooth holder, which sits on a battery-operated tea light so the tooth fairy can easily find it in the dark.

 It worked! Eri woke up to find $1 and 1,000 Won (about 91 cents) on her nightstand.




MERS:
As Korea tries to contain the Middle Eastern Respiratory Virus, I try not to freak out (or touch anything). Eri attends an international school off-base and it was closed for a week, though it was work as usual for me and my Korean co-workers. (Geoff and Leo stay on base.) It's still OK to ride the subway, though everyone is taking precautions.

This is my MERS mask. I am frowning beneath it.




Household goods:
After nearly seven months of anticipation, our household goods have arrived. I wish they had been lost at sea. We really need to downsize.

This is a picture of our kitchen waiting to be organized. I am frowning here, too.



Baseball Game:
We recently attended a Korean baseball game with Geoff's co-workers and their families. The games are a big deal here and a lot of fun. Very lively, to say the least. I can't remember the name of the team we root for, but we're huge fans, as evidenced by our Steeves 1, Steeves 2, Steeves 3 and Steeves 4 baseball jerseys.

We are numbered by age, not importance.




Father's Day:
Koreans celebrate "Parents' Day" in May, but on the U.S. Army base where we live, it was Father's Day just like in the states. Eri made her dad a photo-box pencil holder for his desk at work. Leo made a hand-print craft at preschool, where Geoff attended the "Donuts with Dad" breakfast with him.



Not going to his usual classroom in the morning really threw Leo off his game and he cried rather than eating donuts with his friends and their dads.




Ouch:
Although it looks like we're dressed to pick up trash along the highway, these are actually the spa clothes where Geoff and I recently got a couple's massage. This is a noteworthy cultural experience for two reasons: Before you get your massage, you soak your feet in a pool where little fish nibble the dead skin off (I didn't get a lot attention, though Geoff's feet were pretty much completely covered with fish. Anyway.) Secondly, massages in Korea are not a relaxing, tranquil experience, but rather meant to loosen and realign you, while testing your pain threshold (I think). A tiny, yet freakishly strong person kneads, twists, bends, and pounds, often using his own knees and elbows as leverage. Instead of listening to a CD of a babbling brook and birds chirping, you hear the sound of skin slapping and sometimes a sharp cry (probably mine). Geoff, however, thoroughly enjoyed "just the right amount of pressure."

This picture is five minutes before I know what is coming. And it's not good.