Bali Holiday

Our most recent Indonesian adventure took us to Bali for our 2-week fall break (Muslim Idul Fitri/Lebaran), of which we still have a week left, but we arrived home on Saturday. We spent one week relaxing and touring around Bali and had a wonderful time! Please check out our latest pictures!

The first place we stayed was called Club Bali Mirage in Nusa Dua (rather popular tourist area but still away from the main area of Kuta), which was a very nice beach resort, with the pool just across the sand from the ocean! Since the hotel was all-inclusive, we had most of our meals there and spent a lot of time at the hotel, participating in water sports such as swimming, snorkeling, jet-skiing, canoing, etc. Also, somehow the hotel got the impression that we were on our honeymoon, so we had a cute little heart-shaped cake waiting for us in our fridge that said "Happy Honeymoon Mr./Mrs. Moore." Quite a nice thought. It was quite relaxing to spend a few days in the water and sun after a hectic final week of the term at SPH.

Our final day in Nusa Dua was spent with a hired driver, who drove us over the mountains to the north side of the island where we took a long, narrow, lobsterish-looking boat out into the ocean to look for dolphins. And did we ever get a good show! We saw many dolphins and followed them around in the boat to watch them for about an hour. Sometimes they were swimming right next to us! Also one time they jumped out of the water and did a few flips! Pretty awesome for wild, untrained dolphins. Definitely a new experience for me (Christine).

After the dolphins, our drive gave us a guided tour back through the mountains, and turned out to be a wealth of knowledge on Balinese culture. One of our stops included a Hindu temple, where we had to climb a series of stairways to the top of a mountain to reach the main part of the temple. Since we were the only ones there most of the way up, it was a little disconcerting, considering the statues and offerings all around us, but it was interesting to experience nonetheless. Thinking about the many statues and "gods" of the Hindu religion, we were reminded of Moses and Pharoah in the Bible, and the power God had exerted over the pagan "gods." All quite fascinating.

Once back on the southeast side of the island, our driver made a final stop at Turtle Island, where we could watch, feed, and pet some giant sea turtles! So many cool animals in one day!

Finally, after we had checked out of our hotel, our driver took us to our next destination where we would spend the last 3 nights of our trip: Kubu Bali in Candidasa. Here, in a more secluded area of Bali, still with more than a few shops and restaurants on the road but much more "in the wild," we stayed in a bungalow that was at the top of a large foothill. All the bungalows of the hotel had been built into the side of this enormous hill, and as it happened, we were the one at the VERY top. 162 steps to reach it, as a matter of fact. Not a bad climb, but rather taxing when doing it multiple times a day. We didn't mind it so much since from our vantage point at the top we had an amazing view of the ocean.

Our first excursion was scuba diving, the day after we arrived in Candidasa. We had a brief lesson and then were given equipment and taken to a rocky/beachy area where we could just walk into the water and swim out from there. I (Christine) made it out a little ways, and saw some cool tropical fish I had never seen before, but then had to come up because of ear pressure troubles. Eric completed two dives and was able to see a sunken ship, and a lot of neat underwater life! What a neat experience.

The last two days of our stay in Candidasa we spent swimming, shopping, eating a little Italian food, and also visiting a traditional village nearby and buying some handicrafts. We had a tour guide in the village, and he took us to his house to show us many fine linens woven by his mother, as well as wooden carvings he had made of the Hindu calendar, and some Hindu stories. We didn't buy any carvings, but bought some lovely woven clothes, a purse for me, a woven basket and some cute coasters.

The other thing we did with our time at Kubu Bali was to play with the monkeys who visited us everyday! We left our pineapple "welcome drinks" out on our first night, and the following day, the monkeys were at our front porch finishing them up for us! Eric then fed them a pastry so they would stick around, and we got some really cute pictures. On our last day, we made the mistake of leaving our wrapped restaurant leftovers out on the porch, and in the morning, we emerged from our bungalow, only to see the monkeys sitting on the roof, package in hand, eating our french fries one by one! Cute little devils.

All in all, we had a fabulous vacation, and surprisingly enough, our flights went quite smoothly and most things pretty much went as planned. It was hot weather, and we had to deal with a few unexpected glicks throughout the week, but we felt so excited and blessed to be able to travel to such a fun and exotic place! We were able to have a much-needed break from school, and now that we are home, still have another week of vacation before school starts up again! Praise the Lord for providing us with all we need and so much more!

Other than our recent excursion, things are going well at school. The end of the term was a little stressful, especially for Eric, with last-minute grading, and getting all the final grades logged, and having parent-teacher conferences. However, we feel very happy after our trip and contented just to spend a week at home resting for the 2nd term.

We want to again extend our thanks to so many of you who have continued praying for our ministry here; we feel so blessed to have so many friends who are supporting us in our journey here. We feel like we are having a positive impact on our students and our friends around us as well, and are excited to see what the next leg of our journey will bring.

Please send us an email to let us know how you are, what is new in your life, and how we can pray for you as well. We really appreciate hearing from you and being able to share in our blessings and trials.

In His Service,

Eric and Christine