7 June 2009, 7:00 pm local time. All showered after a day on the beach in Bali, and ready to head out for dinner!

Salam! Helloooo from Bali!

While in Bangkok, Daniel and I decided it was time for a little R&R from our trek! Indonesia wasn't part of the original route, but that's the beauty of planning day-to-day. Everyone we met along the way said Bali was an absolute must for sun and sea worshippers... so we checked ourselves into a lovely hotel in the Nusa Dua area, and served ourselves a heaping slice of heaven... yum! There isn't much to report from here other than we've been having fantastic weather (which is rare for us... we're pretty much cursed with rain on any beach holiday). The daily agenda is something to the effect of: eat, beach, swim, tan, eat, beach, nap, swim, pool, swim, eat, sleep... REPEAT! We'll be here for a total of 15 days, which I expect is enough time to re-charge the sightseeing batteries!

Just before we arrived in Bali, we spent four days in Bangkok, and here's the low-down...

I suppose everything in life is a matter of expectations... we were told by almost everyone that Bangkok wasn't worth a visit, and that our time would be better spent elsewhere (i.e. Northern Thailand). I guess because our expectations were so low, we quite enjoyed Bangkok and found that there plenty of worthwhile bits. Rumors that were true were those of the Thai hustlers and swindlers. As we were wandering around the first day we were approached by a very kind gentleman on the street that casually started speaking to us about anything and everything. He was quick to tell us that he was a "dentist", and was on his way home to rest for the afternoon. We believed him until he smiled... he had all but a handful of teeth, and the ones that he did have were rapidly rotting away!!! The second clue was that after he said goodbye, he turned back around and gave us directions?! He said that if we were interested in taking a boat ride down the Khlong Saen Saeb (river that runs through downtown Bangkok) that we should do so with company X. He claimed that all the other boat operators were corrupt and that he could give us the special price of 2500 Baht (which is approx. $85 USD) per person. Having read our guide book verrrry closely, and having been pre-warned by other travelers, we quickly thanked him for his time, and darted off in the opposite direction. It turns out that the Chao Phraya Express Boat only charges a measly 13 Baht (which is approx. 40 cents US) per person for a one-way trip! 13 BAHT! A healthy dose of skepticism is always the best medicine against swindling "dentist" hustlers no matter where you are!!!

After successfully dodging the dodgy dentist, we visited the Wat Phra Chetuphone (or The Temple of the Reclining Buddha) where a gold plated Buddha lay at 46 meters long, and 15 meters high. Our tour guide, Mr. Lek, explained that the reclining position is apparently the last position assumed by Buddha before he passed onto Nirvana. He is said to have lived around 550 lives before he was able to attain enough wisdom to reach this perfect state of being. We also learnd` that Mr. Lek is a palm reader, and offered to read mine for FREE (the word FREE is non existent in Bangkok, especially when it comes to foreigners, so I immediately said yes!). Although I respect psychics/clairvoyants, I've never been a believer... until I met Mr. Lek! EVERYTHING he told me about myself was shockingly true. He said many things, but the bits that I can remember off the top of my head were that I live far from my family; that I don't like to do manual labour (guess that was easy to tell from my french manicured hands!); that I have a delicate stomach... and so forth... all very true, and very spooky.

The next day we also visited the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (or Temple of the Emerald Buddha), which are both housed within the same grounds. It's difficult to describe the beauty of these two buildings, and of the various pagodas, and temples that are found dotted along in between, so I'll simply state some (inadequate) adjectives: spectacular, grandiose, intricate and detailed, colourful, glistening, exotic... a brilliant, eclectic mix of Asian architecture that is simply UNMISSABLE! I nearly got a finger cramp from taking so many pictures. It is THAT breathtaking.

On June 4th we celebrated Daniel's 32nd birthday! THANK YOU on his behalf for all the thoughtful birthday messages. They made him feel very, very happy on his special day! We spent the morning drifting through one of Thailand's infamous floating markets, Damnoen Saduak, and the afternoon at a wonderful spa trying not to scream out in pain during our Thai massage! We had a fabulous dinner at Breeze, a very chic open air restaurant located on the 52nd floor of State Tower (State Tower is 247 meters tall making it the second tallest building is all of Thailand!). Afterwards we headed up to the 64th floor to enjoy panoramic views of Bangkok from the bar of the world's highest open-air restaurant, Sirocco. It was pure magic...

Wishing you lots of love & sunshine from Bali! Selamat tinggal!

Jennifer & Daniel