Cruising Bali

A few days ago we said goodbye to the wonderful children at the orphanage. We woke up early in the morning and waited by the front gate and said goodbye as they departed for the day. Some kids walked to school while others were picked up by their friends on motor bikes. There are so many young kids driving these things! Later that morning we were picked up by Dewa our new Balinese friend. Our friends Charlie and Christy connected us with Dewa. Charlie and Christy have a business in the states called High Sierra Wood Carvings (www.highsierrawoodcarvings.com). All their products are hand made by Balinese craftsman. I recommend checking out the beautiful carvings on the website. Dewa manages the Bali side of the business. We rented a car for a few days and Dewa showed us around this gorgeous island. We made our way through the town of Ubud, known for its artistry and rice farming, our home base. From there we drove East Lake Batur and Batur Volcano. Then we drove to the north part of the island to the town of Lovina where we hoped to swim with the dolphins. I (Craig) went for a swim, but no dolphins were seen with the exception of the statue. Later we went for a dip in the hot springs. The next day, February 5th, Dewa took us to the East Coast to snorkel at Tulamben. This was a highlight for Mariella and I. Off the shoreline is the coral encrusted wreck of the U.S. cargo ship “Liberty”. We snorkeled with all kinds of beautiful fish. We were blown away by the creative beauty of the neon blue fish among others. While we were swimming around the wreck a massive school of bright silver fish a couple feet in length engulfed us like a cloud. The schools of magnificent fish were above us, below us and on all sides. Crazy! The fish were not scared by our presence and were within arm’s-length. Side note: When in Bali, prepare to meet some “polici” with motive to extort money, without shame from locals and tourists alike. We’ve grown to dislike the police corruption. During the past couple days of driving we’ve been stopped by police who just point cars to the side of the road and ask for money. There is no law being broken they just demand money. People just give them the money they ask for. It is ridiculous. The sums of money is usually not large, but significant for the Balinese people. These police are making a ton of money. One police officer was sitting in a parking lot where we were having lunch. When we got in the car it was pouring rain. Instead of coming to the window to ask for money he told the parking lot attendant to get money from us. We had to pay for parking and pay the lazy corrupt cop who was sitting under the shelter of an awning. Other than the Police incidents, Bali is great. We are having the time of our lives. We like hanging out with Dewa learning about the Balinese culture through his knowledge and experiences. The conversation is seasoned and fruitful. Thank you Dewa! Tomorrow, the 7th, we hope to leave Bali from the east coast town of Padangbai where we will head to the island of Lombok and then to the Gili islands. We’re not sure what internet connections will be available. We’ll keep you posted as we can. Many blessings!

Hanging out with the Kiddos

We are having fun with the youth at the orphanage. There are about 48 young people at the orphanage with an age range from four years to twenty years of age. The kids go to school during the day so we usually hangout with them in the afternoon and evening. We've been taking the moto to the beach while the kids are at school. Here are some photos of the wonderful children.

Bingin Beach, Bali

Written on Sunday, January 31st: Mariella and I had a great six days hanging out at Bingin Beach. We met many wonderful people who were vacationing and working on the beach. I (Craig) loved snorkeling each day. The beauty of the creatures living on the reef is breathtaking. Today our French and Austrian friends were kind enough to drive us to an orphanage 1.5 hours north of where we were staying. Our new friends own and operate a crepe restaurant in France. We hope to try their crepes one day. Thanks guys for letting us hangout with you. We were greeted at the orphanage by Dewa a friend of our friends Sacramento. He gave us a tour of the orphanage and organized our stay for the next five days. We hope to love on the kids and help them with their school work. Check out the orphanage web page and facebook: http://thebaliorphanage.com/ Mariella and I are really enjoying the Balinese people and their culture.

Beautiful Bali!

We arrived safely in beautiful Bali. Thank you Jesus! Mariella and I went to the busy tourist town of Kuta for the first night of our stay. It was crowded and the beach did not appeal to us. The next day we took a taxi south to Bingin. We are staying at a beautiful beach hut run by a Frenchman. Charlie and Christy thank you for recommending this paradise. Awesome! Wayan, Juniati and their daughter smiled wide when I told them about knowing you guys. There are less than thirteen visitors on the whole stretch of beach. Luckily it is the offseason and there are not many surfers because the break is not great this time of year. The “Dreamland” break is just to the north of us and the “Impossibles” break is to the south. We’ve met some nice people during our stay. We’ve spent a good amount of time with a family visiting from England. A highlight for me was spear fishing with Chris (the Dad). We went out night spear fishing yesterday and also this morning. I speared my first fish! Nice! We gave to fish to the grateful locals. We hope to stay in this location five to seven days. We will be in the Bali area for about one month. The warm weather, beaches and snorkeling are great. We only wish we could teleport the ones we love to this location with us. It would be so much better to share this tropical paradise. We need to put on more sunblock. Check out the photo of the sun burn. Ouch! This world is a beautiful creation and we thank the creator for the gift given us.

More Photos:

Looking Forward to the Beaches in Bali

We leave our friends in Cambodia and head to Bali tomorrow. We hope to spend some time on a beach called Bingin near the surfbreak called "Dreamland". Praying for safe travels. We are not sure if there will be internet access. We will keep you updated as we can.

Last of the Cambodia Photos:
Mariella and Jenny made some good salsa. We had fun cruising the streets of Phnom Penh on Jenny's moto. A group of us went dancing at a club the evening before which was a good warm up for church the next morning. The gathering of Cambodians were singing and dancing for Jesus with great joy. Thank you Jenny and Aimee for an enjoyable and encouraging time with you.

A Cambodian Street Workout...

This evening we walked down the street to Olympic Stadium. Mariella and Jenny got a nice workout before the sunset. The other photos are from tuk-tuk rides and hanging out by the riverside. Jenny does pretty good driving with three of us on the moped motorcycle. We pray before during and after each outing on the street. Craziness!

Around Town

Here are some photos of the country side when we went from the Northern town of Siem Reap to the southern city of Phnom Penh. We've had fun motorcycle rides. Usually the taxi drivers get lost when we ask them to take us somewhere (language barrier!) There are a couple photos of other moto drivers helping our moto driver find the Australian Embassy. Mariella received an Australian visa.

Our friends work with two human rights organizations that fight human trafficking in Cambodia. There is significant sex trafficking in Cambodia and other East Asian Countries. I.J.M. works to prosecute sex offenders and helps free young women, often enslaved as sex workers. One organization is called International Justice Mission (I.J.M.) and the other is called Chab Dai.

www.chabdai.org

www.ijm.org