Thank you, Asia "Bali" (63 days left in HK)

In September 2013, our family had the privilege of traveling to Bali, Indonesia for a week.  Bali always sounded like an exotic place, and it was.  I have a full blog on our stay but will hit a few of the highlights that come to mind even eight years later. 

The traditional Balinese costumes, dancing, and storytelling are quite distinct.  The women begin quite young learning how to look left and right with their eyes just so.  And they train their hands to arch back to a 90 degree angle.  It is quite precise and unique to Bali.

Also unique to our experience in Bali was visiting a Civet Tea operation.  Apparently wild civet cats sometimes eat coffee beans and then 40 minutes later poop them out.  Harvesters find the scat and process it into super expensive coffee, known for its mild flavor.

We also took a bike ride with fellow KIS colleagues down a volcanic mountain through villages, rice fields, and by a humungous banyan tree. 

 Our tour guide showed us his home and discussed at length Balinese cultural gender expectations.  We met his whole family, who's hand-crafted wood carvings were unbelievable.

We very much enjoyed our 2-story villa in Ubud, snorkeling off of the northern part of the island, and a beach before leaving.

We were surprised to find the only black sand beaches were ever encountered while on our travels.  

A dead pufferfish on the black sand beach

Volcanic rock created black this sand beach.

Very memorable was both the Monkey Park - filled with monkeys, of course  - 

and cremation ceremony which took place in Ubud while we were there.  This ritual takes place once every five years and is solemn and celebratory with all attending (even tourists). 

Bali is a place I would be happy to return to given an opportunity.  The place and people were both lovely, the culture was rich and interesting, and the opportunities to experience the culture were numerous. 

Hot Springs to bathe in, and we did.

A banyan tree to drive through.

Balinese architecture

Thank you for these amazing opportunities, Bali. 

Photos by © Brenda Brayko. All rights reserved.

Sri Lanka for Spring Break

Our family had the good fortune to travel to Sri Lanka over our Spring Break.  Even more fortunate was that we were able to tour the small island country south of India with the father of a friend of ours. Gary is an expat who has lived there for many years.  He and Recika, a driver and friend, planned our entire trip for us.  It was amazing to arrive off of the plane and have a van and 2 new friends waiting for us.  The week that followed entailed many, many hours on the road (pretty slow roads) traveling up country to see many major sites.  What an extraordinary experience it was.

Sri Lanka has varied landscapes; we were not on the coast but inland which meant that we experienced the tropics and jungle and mountainous regions.






Among my favorite experiences

The elephant orphanage

The tea plantations in the mountains

 The two dozen monkeys at one of our resorts

 The varied religious representations: Hindu . . . 

 Buddhist. . .

 And Christian.  We were there on Good Friday and were surprised to see the Catholic churchyards filled with parishioners all in white, as well as witness an angel parade in the street!

 The 1/2 day safari

 The botanical gardens near Kandy

 the Indian Ocean

Roadside pineapple (for under $1) and King Coconut

Seeing how Batik is made

The Old seamstresses using the OLD Singer sewing machine to hem Anna's sari. 

 Food and People!

We so enjoyed our week in Sri Lanka!