Dana picked us up the next day and we traveled back to the main city of Bali where we had spent so much time shopping for our house about eight years ago. The motorcycle traffic was incredible with many more scooters than cars. Those little guys carry loads that are incredible. Sometimes the load is a happy family. Not sure if those glasses are for fun or for real!
We went back to the furniture store where we got so much of the furniture for our new house. It was about 95 degrees and 95 % humity in that huge, warehouse type building so I didn’t stop to take many pictures. The Ridds found some things that they really liked and we did too. The manager took pictures of each item we liked and we are waiting to see how much it will cost to ship them.
Here’s an nice old table we liked (it’s actually just a side-table) and a collection of hand carved bowls!
It was a delight to see our old freinds there as well as at the wood-carver’s workshop. All those years ago we bought a horse sculpture there that serves as our coffee table in our bedroom. It is amazing fine art with five horses carved from a singe root of a tree and holds a glass table top. The Ridds bought similar horses for Randall’s office by the same master artist below who has since passed away.
The statues in Bali are incredible! Most are stories from Balinese mythology but this one was created by a compnay in the city. This is what a huge wall of whimsical young women looked like as we drove by It was almost a block long.
Let’s take a closer look:
When we asked where all they found all these magnificent artists, we were told that basically everyone is an artist in Bali. When we see things like this, we believe it!
Rick/Dad suddenly decided that we needed a birdcage. Dont’ know where that came from because we definitley aren’t getting a bird but the hunt was on for just the right bird cage. Dana took us to a place that not only had hundreds of bird cages but also thousnds of beautiful birds in those cages!
Poor things! Can’t help but feeling sorry for them!
For the first time in our memory, we talked Dana into eating with us for lunch. We were at the famous restaurant on the gorgeous beach in Seminyak called Ku De Ta. It was wonderful food and we were glad that Dana could find something he liked. as he explained he usually likes to just bring his own lunch because he doesn’t like restaurant food, but he seemed to be delighted with his lunch. He explained that it was something that his wife cooks at home but she makes it just a bit better than the restaurant! We love this great guy!
My lunch was a restaurant specialty, squid salad… yum!
On our way home we were delighted to see two men planting rice seedlings which we had never seen on any of our other trips to Bali! They were so nimble as they planted those little guys one at a time. Wish this was a video because it looked fascinating, as well as backbreaking!
The next morning we bid Randall and Tamina a fond farwell and checked out of our peaceful hotel.
We were staying one more night at another hotel and then going back to Perth for an EO speech and to speak at a church meeitng.. Randall and Tamina stayed for the day, had fun in Ubud and then flew for home!
Dana took us to The Oberoi, near the airport, where we enjoyed a perfect evening in an enchanting room on the ocean. It was pure luxury and it was great to kick back, enjoy the women’s final at The Aussie Open and get our clothes and hair ready for a speaking assignmnet in Perth.
My Rick loves comfort and that is just what we got!
This was our bungalow and below is our room:
We enjoyed an evening of delicious food, lovely Balinese entertainmnet and a gorgeous sunset!
Early the next moring we took off, grossly overdressed in our Sunday clothes as we boarded the plane with about fifty excited kids with their families going back to Perth to start their new school year (after their six week summer vacation). Tatoos and short shorts abounded on that plane ride as parents and kids came off their holiday to go back to the real world. It was a raucaous ride!
But we were looking forward to meeting new friends and enjoying our visit to Perth and then Brisbane for another eight days before we took off for home.
