Day 134, Year 3: “Free and Easy” Day with a Bull Race and Time with Friends
Date: Hari Sabtu (Saturday), Bulan S�pt�mber 20, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Beautiful Day . . . Again
Location: Lovina Beach, BALI, Indonesia

What a beautiful life! We spent a great day with Justin and Jo and tonight we talked via Skype with Heather, Jed, and Sam with the video cams running so we could see Sam and he could see us. That in itself makes for a wonderful day, but add to that a really fun and spectacular bull racing event in a rice field and an evening spent with new and old friends. It is hard to beat. On the downside of things, I now have the cold that Mark is recovering from and I’m afraid Justin might be getting the same. But other than that, things are going great.

After an early morning swim, Justin and Jo went to shore to get one of the famous Bali massages. Evidently Jo so relaxed that she fell asleep! While J & J were ashore, I did a laundry and then actually took a nap. That is almost unheard of, but unfortunately I am getting the cold that Mark has had. I’m feeling fine, but a nap today was a good thing. Once the kids came back, Mark and I went to shore to go to a Balinese bull race. Oxen are used here to cultivate the rice paddies and today’s race was a showcase for these beautiful animals. A pair of oxen are donned with elaborately decorated headdresses and a yoke is put over both animals that is also elaborately painted and accentuated with gold and silver. The pair is then run through a rice field by one man that is sitting behind. The rice field has been flooded with water so it is a “squishy” event-quite fun to watch but I’m not sure I’m ready for the ride behind.

We had a lovely walk back to Lovina and stopped to make arrangements for a day of fun tomorrow. Justin and Jo are going to rent motor bikes to ride the 65 kilometers from here to the western end of the island. Robert and Tina of Shirena and Mark and I are renting a car and driver to take us the same distance. We will have Komang, the same driver that took us south to pick up Justin and Jo. We will visit the national park and if time permits, we will take a boat out to an island in the marine park to snorkel in what is tauted as one of Indonesia’s best spots. On the way back to Lovina, we plan to visit a Buddhist monastery and the holy hot springs nearby. It should be a great day.

Tonight we had dinner with Robert and Tina of Shirena and Stefanie and Marin from Canada. Stefanie and Marin are not sailors, but are traveling around the world by plane. It is always interesting to meet world travelers, no matter what their mode of travel. After dinner we had our Skype connection with Heather, Jed, and Sam, and then it was back to Windbird.

Earlier today Mark checked our website and we had two very special messages. One was from Jo’s parents saying how great it is that they can follow Justin and Jo’s travels through our logs and the other was from Justin’s best friend from grade school, Sandeep. Sandeep’s parents were originally from India but have lived in the United States all of their adult lives. Justin and Sandeep have kept in contact over the years and evidently Sandeep reads our logs from time to time and discovered that Justin is traveling with us for now. It is always wonderful to hear from family and friends, but hearing from Jo’s parents and from Sandeep was a very special surprise.

080920 Day 134 Bali, Indonesia–Bali Bull Races (Sapi Gerumbungan)