Christmas in Bali 2009

We spent a wonderful ten days in Bali on the North Shore, South Shore, the Island of Lombok and Gili Tarawangan over Christmas. The kids were not with us for the first time in the Briggs Family Christmas history and we really, really missed them. I hope this is the last Christmas we have without the kids. As a way to get through without them we went back to Bali. It was wonderful, but it would have been more fun with the kids. I had some trouble loading photos to the blog so they aren't going to be in any particular order. Sorry about that - enjoy anyway.





















Sunset in Lombok at the Qunci Villas. These candles were on the beach and I couldn't resist a photo.




















View from the airplane flying in on the puddle jumper from Denpasar (main Bali airport) to Lombok Island. It was only a 20 minute flight, but was the worst part of our journey. The airline would win the award for the most disorganized airline. Unbelievable. That combined with 8 drunk Russians was almost more than we could handle. We were sure glad to get there.















We dove with Tarawangan Dive on Gili Tarawangan and had three wonderful dives. If you ever have a chance to dive in the Gili Islands, use Tarawangan Dive and ask for the manager Amy! They do a great job and are wonderful, wonderful people.

This camera did not do justice to the color of this anemone. It was the brightest pink I have ever seen.

The dive princess with her matching scarf to keep my hair out of the way!

Sunset in Lombok from the Qunci Villas.

This is the outdoor shower at the Qunci Villas. It was wonderful. It reminded me of the outdoor shower my folks have at the ranch in Carey, Idaho, but the air was a balmy 90 degrees.

The bed and room at the Qunci Villas. Wonderful.

The wonderful Amy, the manager of Tarawangan Dive on Gili Tarawangan. She is a good friend of our friends Kerry and Lee. We met her briefly at Kerry and Lee's wedding. Who would have thought we'd see her again half way around the world. She's a jewel and her family is lovely.

This is the sunset overlooking the pool from a fabulous resort we stayed at on Lombok. It's called the Qunci Villas. I would highly recommend it to anyone. The rooms were awesome, with a private outdoor shower, and the food and service was top-notch. Very reasonably priced for what you got. You could even rent a villa with a private pool.

This is the Ayana Resort (Denpasar Bali) that we stayed in on Christmas Eve. It was the most amazing place I have ever stayed. It helped that when we checked in they said they were upgrading us to a suite!! Oh, how the other half lives.

Here is Van at the Rock Bar (which is perched on the rocks so you can watch the waves crash below you. It was an extraordinary place to have a few Christmas Eve cocktails. Here's Van taking a hit off his cigar! Notice the reflection of the sunset and pier in the glass.

One day in Lombok we hired a driver and went to see some of the island. We stopped at Kuta Beach to see what it was like. It was probably like Bali used to be 15 years ago before it was developed. On the way back through the little town a woman was selling smoked fish.

On our way to Kuta Beach on Lombok, I had the driver stop. This darling native girl was having a bath in a barrel. Her parents gave me permission to take her photo, but she was really shy. How fun to take a bath in a barrel.

We stopped on our way to Kuta to see the textile weavers in a small town. They work on the cloth for months and months. We bought a hand woven table runner that is really beautiful. It was nice to see how it was made so we can appreciate all the hard work that went into it.

Not a sight you see every day. These women were planting a rice paddy. I couldn't be in water, bent over, doing what they did all day that's for sure. My back aches just looking at them.

Here is the view from the front of the Qunci Villas to the pool and ocean. The beach was really rocky and shallow. We went out to swim and ended up deciding it would have been easier on our feet with dive booties. We spent most of our time cooling off in the pool.

Here is the view from the cliff looking down at the Indian Ocean from the Ayana Resort. The water was beautiful and we had a nice sunny day - Christmas Day.

View looking south from the edge of the cliff at the Ayana Resort. The rock bar, another pool, and a restaurant were below and to the right. You can see the pier that was reflected in the photo of Van smoking his cigar in the middle. You could arrange to have a romantic dinner on the end of the pier.

Ahhhh... Christmas Eve cocktails at the Rock Bar Ayana Resort. I had the mango/peach daiquiri and Van had the blueberry mojito! Both were cold and delicious!!

Santa made his appearance at the Rock Bar and we had our photo taken. His mustache was falling off and he was a little darker than your average Santa, but it was fun to see him on our side of the world.

One of the pools at the Ayana resort. This pool cascaded into another pool below it. Both were beautiful. The poolside food was just like American food. They even had pork sausage! Woo hoo!

At the Ayana when you picked a chair by the pool, they laid out your two towels and brought you a tray with an ice cold wash cloth and spray bottle and a dish of snacks.

The Ayana had an 18-hole putting course that Van and I played twice while we were there. He kicked my butt both times. At one point, I almost won when he had a 10 on a hole, but the bugger birdied the next three holes. It was totally unfair. I'm sure he cheated - LOL.

Here is the lower pool that the pool above spills into. You could walk underneath and look through the falling water.

When we checked into the Ayana early on Christmas Eve morning our room wasn't ready yet so they upgraded us to a suite and it was SWEET! It's the most beautiful room I have ever stayed in. Here is the living room.

Here is the view towards one of the two bathrooms.

Our bed - the first time I've ever slept in a bed with a canopy over it.

Sunset on Lombok Island.

A horse pulled recycling truck on the way to Kuta Beach, Lomkok Island.

Statue in a Bhuddist temple in North Bali.

North Bali had a hot springs that we went to. We never got in the water because we were already hot (and it didn't look that clean), but we stayed long enough to have a drink.

We stopped and hiked to a waterfall in North Bali. These two boys (complete with Spidy Man underware).

We stopped by a roadside stand that had bats, an iguana, mongoose, snakes, etc. Here Van is holding a very, very cute river otter.

This python was beautiful about 6 feet long.

Here is Van holding the bat! The girl clipped the bat's claws to Van's sides and handed him the wings to hold. Interesting...

I loved holding the iguana. It reminded me of Joe's pet iguana Iggy! When you touch his sides, he leans into your hand for a nice pat. I wanted to take him home. Van was set against it!

Here is Van with the mongoose! I've never seen a mongoose before. They were quite wonderful.

Ulun Danu Temple is a Balinese Hindu Temple located in Beratan Lake of Bedugul Bali. It was a beautiful site and well worth the trip to see it.

Here is another part of the same temple.

This very cute Balinese boy was dressed up to visit the temple and found time to play on the playground at the temple.

Another view of the temple with a nice bed of Salvia in the foreground. The grounds were beautiful.

The lilys were magnificent and with this one I caught a bee going in for some pollen.

Chiang Mai Thailand

Our long time friends Steve, Nancy and Shawn came for a visit from Boise, Idaho, and we spent a nice, long weekend in Chiang Mai, Thailand, celebrating the Lantern Festival and Loi Krathong. This old festival is held on the full moon night of November and is said to be the most charming of all festivals in Thailand. In Chiang Mai, a procession of floats with beautiful maidens sitting on them goes through the city to the bank of the Mae Ping River, where hundreds of people assemble to float their banana-leaf containers (krathong) decorated with flowers and candles onto the river to worship the Goddess of Water. Moreover, Lanna-style hot-air lanterns are launched which are believed to help rid the locals of troubles. It was great fun. Above a group photo op at the Mae Sa waterfall park.

Chiang Mai is a fairly large city with its full compliment of scooter traffic. I do believe the scooter drivers here are less reckless than their Malaysian counterparts.

New to us were the Tuk Tuks which were a three-wheeled motorcycle-type contraptions. As you can see, the only way Van fit was to lie down. Even at that, it was very hard to see what was going on around you which was a little frustrating when you want to see and experience a new area. It is not the preferred mode of travel for BIG people!

Our hotel, The Chedi, which means spire, was absolutely one of the best hotels we've ever stayed in. The atmosphere was one of luxurious peace and calm. The water, lighting, colors, harmony, and balance were perfect. We were welcomed with lemongrass scented cold wash clothes and their own special blend of iced tea to drink. There was no standing at the counter to check in. We got to sit on these comfortable cushions overlooking the candle lit reflecting ponds.

The rooms each had an outdoor area with a small table and a cushioned lounge for two. At night they lit the floating candles and it was breathtaking.

Ah, the pool. Each lounge chair had "two" long plush towels, an adjustable cushion for your head, and they brought you cold wash clothes and ice water with fresh sprigs of mint in it. Awesome!!

Another view of the pool with its surrounding lily ponds.

On our first night we had dinner at the Chedi restaurant and got to witness a wedding below us near the pool. Here is the beautiful new bride. It was a good reminder to us of the words we spoke to each other almost 30 years ago.

Surrounding the pool were lots of water lilies. In the morning sun, they were fully opened and stunning, but as the day got hotter, they'd close up and hide.

Van perched high above the jungle on Poos Alot his own private elephant. Poos Alot lived up to his name and I got a birds eye view since my elephant walked behind Van's almost the whole way. One really outstanding thing about the Mae Sa Elephant Camp is that the trainers grow up with the same elephant from the time the elephants are babies. Some trainers have been with the same elephants for almost 40 years. That's longer than most marriages!!

Laine thought we were kidding when we said the elephant above painted the picture below, but it is absolutely true. You could buy this elephant's original work of art for 2,000 Thai Bhat. (about $50 US).

Amazing - an elephant painted this with a brush held in his trunk!!

We stopped at Mae Sa Waterfalls, the largest and most spectacular series of waterfalls in the Chiang Mai area on the way back from visiting the elephants. This multi-tier waterfall system tumbles over no less than 10 levels, some of them small and private near the top while others are large chutes of water that even look great from the lookout point near the car park. It was a good hike that kept us all sweating as you can only do fully while hiking in the tropics.

The fresh fruit at the night market was amazing. We had a great time walking around checking out all the local wares for sale. Van was the king of bartering. At one point, he realized he was bartering over 10 cents! That brought it all into perspective.

Here is one of our lanterns going up with our wishes and prayers. They were really quite large and fun to send up. There were thousands of them that lit the night sky. It was one of the most amazingly beautiful things I have ever seen.

Van and Steve found a fireworks vendor on the street and bought the Thai version of our Roman Candles along with some mortars. I must admit that they looked like Malatoff Cocktails and with the language barrier I wasn't entirely sure what they were buying. All went well. Only one exploding mortar that sent Van and Steve running for cover - the tube to launch the mortars blew up from too much use. The only thing missing was our other pyromaniacs Laine and Joe. Above is one of the prayer flags on the dock illuminated by the sparks. Very pretty.

We went to play with the tigers. Van got to hold the three month old baby tiger which was much more fun than petting the sleepy adult tigers. Van doesn't like cats, but really has a thing for tigers.

When we went to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep temple, there was a beautiful native girl doing a traditional Thai dance.

Wat Phra Thart Doi Suthep temple is set amongst the peaks of Doi Suthep. It has a lovely setting with a panoramic view of Chiang Mai and the Mae Ping River valley. Although Wat Doi Suthep is the most recently built of the temples dating from the Lanna Thai period, it is the symbol of Chiang Mai. The site was selected by sending an elephant to roam at will up the mountainside. When it reached this spot, it trumpeted, circled three times, and kneeled down and thus interpreted as a sign indicating and auspicious site. The temple had the most beautiful statues and was built in 1383.

We purchased bells with hearts on them, put our name on them, and hung them up in the temple. Here is Van and my heart/bell. His name is on one side and mine is on the other.

Here is a beautiful statue that contrasts with the gold leaf adorning the temple facade. They were doing some repair work and there was scaffolding set up all around the chedi (spire).

You can see all the rafts floating in the water and the reflections of the lanterns floating in the air. It was a beautiful night.

Our hotel had an amazing show complete with fireworks and lanterns. It was really a lot of fun and the food was excellent as well as the entertainment.

Up, up and away. Our lanterns take flight.

The inside of our lantern as it takes flight.

It was a great trip and I would really recommend it for someone that wants to get a really good taste of what a Thai festival is all about. It was utterly amazing.