Gili Trawangan

Hello! Here are some photos of our stay in Ubud. Many homestays and restaurants were located in or next to rice fields, making for some pretty great scenery where we ate, walked and slept. We visited “monkey forest” in Ubud. Mariella continues to handle the animals. She won’t listen to Sean Michael’s warnings or my own. To her defense, these monkeys approached her without much coaxing on her part. Dewa, our new friend in Bali, was awesome! Thank you for driving us all over Bali and taking us to the good roadside restaurants. Dewa also showed us a great beach located in Padangbai where we caught a boat to the small island we are currently on. We left the paradise of Bali for the paradise of Gili Trawangan. It is oh so gorgeous. Mariella wakes up each morning and walks around the island with some friends we’ve met. It takes them about one hour to get around the island walking briskly. Photos of Gili Trawangan are near the end of the slide show. We are staying in a bungalow near the beach for $11 a night including breakfast. Wow! Mariella and I are blown away by the sea life. We’ve seen a bunch of giant sea turtles and rays with blue leopard like dots. I have seen a reef-shark and a few bright greenish blue lobsters. I think my co-worker, Rachel Zaragoza (a diving enthusiast) would be happy to hear that I am working on my open dive certification. While doing the certification we will go on four dives over four days of training. Breathing underwater is great! Our stay in Gili Trawangan is better because friends we met on Bali have gathered at the beachside bungalows we are staying at. We are overwhelmed by the natural beauty that surrounds us.