I came. I saw. I conquered Bali. Well! At least the roads. When we made our plans for this trip, my recollection was that the roads here were good quality and the traffic was tame. But I would not drive in Java. To congested. Crazy drivers. Well, now I realize it has been 30 years since I was last here and Bali is the new Java! So I'm driving a mini size passenger van, stick shift with right hand drive--they drive on the left here. What a site. Me. Impeding for space on the road with millions os motorcycles, overloaded trucks, and a few cars. I got my bearings pretty quickly, bit it was Helena who was looking down the steep cliff as we were navigating a very narrow road with two way traffic along the edge of ancient volcanic craters! What an adventure. Something I can look back on and say, "I did it!" but would rather not do again. And I won't have to as we will have drivers for the next two legs of our trip. Bali is as beautiful as I remember it, despite the traffic, and the hoards of tourists. The town of Ubud was our second stop after overnighting not far from the airport near the beach. Ubud is lush, so green, and is in many ways the cultural center of Bali. It was a sleepy village 30years years ago and now is cheek by jowl with tourists. But in typical Balinese fashion, you only have to get off the main roads to see the beauty of the place. We walked through several villages, stopped to listen at a kids music class where per-teens were practicing the gamelan music that we had hear the night before at the dance that Helena mentioned. The kids were amazing. Then we took another walk in the highland town of Munduk. The quiet of the villages that we walked through reminded me very much of the little town of Talisayan in the Philippines where I lived as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Just the wind through the trees, roosters crowing, occasional conversation coming from the front steps of small huts. So beautiful! But as Helena said to me! "I can see how you sometimes went a little stir crazy." she was right, but these were sights and sounds that that are so peaceful and not to be experienced at home. The closest thing might be backpacking in the backcountry outside of Steamboat Springs! Now we are on the north shore of Bali where the tourist seldom come to. We have a day to sit by the beach! Swim and snorkel, and watch the final od the European football championships this afternoon! Go Spain! Tomorrow we get picked up by a guide and driver for two days of exploring the volcanic mountains of East Java, and then on to the big cities of Solo and Jogjakarta for more music, dances, and the ancient Hindu and Buddhist temples. Our accommodations have been wonderful, cottage style resorts. Food is great and plentiful. We took a bit of a risk in using an Internet travel service. But so far there has not been a single glitch and all is well. The only "problem" is that my Blackberry won't charge up here. So I can't read my work email. Too bad. I guess this will be a real vacation. The iPad charges up fine though (thank you Apple) so we can get gmail and post these blogs. So we are not completely out of touch. That's it for now. I am off to the beach! Steve