In June we traveled to the small island of Bali. Bali is one of the Indonesian islands located just above Australia.

Getting there was quite a journey; 1 hour to Chicago, 4 to LA, 14 to Hong Kong, 5 to Denpasar. To break up the trip we spent our first night in Hong Kong. This is image is actually a post card taken from the top of one of the nearby mountains. For a couple of dollars you can ride a tram up to the top and enjoy a beautiful view of the city. The one thing that surprised me in Hong Kong is that I can actually get better Chinese food down the street from my house than what I was able to find there.

One of the highlights of our trip was hiking to the top of an active volcano on the northern part of the island. These pictures are taken from a roadside viewing area. The picture on the left shows three of the islands volcanoes. The two largest ones are now extinct and have begun to grow vegetation again. But the dark area at the base of these is actually lava from the third volcano which last erupted in mid 80's and is still very active. If you look at the end of the yellow line, you can see steam erupting from the mountain.

The picture on the right is the largest fresh water lake on the island. After this picture stop, we drove to the base of the volcano and hired a local man to guide us on our hike. For 100,000 rupiah, he lead us on a 4 hour hike that took us from the base to the top of the mountain. The yellow line is approximately the path we walked.

The last quarter mile was up a steep grade of lava rock. Here we are taking one of our many rest breaks on the way up. We must have taken 20 pictures since this is the only way we could get our guide to let us stop and catch our breath. While we walked Jeff assured me that this was not real lava rock because you can only buy that in Wal-Mart for your gas grill.

Once we made it, we found it to be well worth the effort. The picture below shows the 10 ft. diameter hole that glowed with hot, firey lava. While we were at the top we were fortunate enough to witness the instense rumble of the volcano, something that film could not begin to capture.

The picture below on the left is one of the many temples on the island. The people of Bali take religion very seriously. To enter temples we had to wear these green skirts around our waists. On the right is a picture of the terraced rice fields that covered much of the northern part of the island.

Days 3, 4, and 5 were spent in Ubud. Ubud was a small, artsy village in the central Bali. Our accommodations consisted of thatched roof bungaloos. No glass in the windows, just bamboo bars. Fortunately the higher elevation kept this area somewhat cooler. This picture taken from the back property line of the hotel shows a man working his rice patties.

Our last three days in Bali were spent at the Melasti Beach Resort on Kuta Beach. Kuta Beach is famous for its surf and many young Australians and Japanese were there to take advantage of the continuous 7-10 ft. waves that crashed the beach and the warm water of the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately it wasn't until the last day that we found the excitement that could be had by taking a piece of foam and letting the waves carry you into the shore; a.k.a. boogie boarding.

Our last night at Bali coincided with the grand opening of a wonderful new italian restaurant on Bali. Our guide Gusti invited us to the party and we're very happy to accept the invitation. The celebration consisted of traditional Balinese ceremonies to bring the business good luck.

The friendliness of the Bali people was unbelievable. The picture below the restaurants' managers; Dickey, Hooley-Dooley, and Jack Ford. We would all like to thanks them for their hospitality and graciousness. And if you've ever seen the movie "Cocktail", you could appreciate the talents of the bartender (center of picture).

If you ever get a chance to visit, Bali is well worth the 20 some hours travel time it takes to get there. With the strength of US currency, Bali was the bargain of a lifetime. At 14000 rupiahs to 1 US dollars, we felt as if we were spending Monopoly money. Meals for the four of us averaged around $10 for very good food, drinks, and dessert, not to mention some of the bargains that were to be had on clothing, furniture, art, etc.

If you have any comments or pictures you would like to contribute, please e them to me at rhammers@hotmail.com

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