Animal Magnetism

Well it's been a busy few days. We attempted to update this blog sooner, but were unable to find an internet connection that didn't take longer than 4 minutes to load a page!! So here we are, at 3 minutes :)

After our first night in Gili Air, we changed our sleeping accommadations to another bungalow further along the beach. This place had a pool and a better fan (VERY important). We immediately became friends with the cats that were having *relations* under our bungalow. We found ourselves located beside a tradition home, and quickly became used to the baby crying, the 330 am rooster calls, and the 430 am muslin prayer chanting. We explored the beach every morning and found lots of interesting shells, starfish, fish, and coral. We also got sufficiently sun burned.

We had a wonderful time at the pizzeria. We decided against the 'special' drink and 'special pizza' after finding out that magic mushrooms were the special ingredient. No need to lose our heads here. Literally.

We went snorkeling on all three Gili Islands, and were fortunate enough to see and touch sea turtles! We took a boat back to the main island of Bali and, despite Liza being sick, and cruising through a storm, we survived. Seeing several pods of dolphins made the ride worthwhile.

At each meal, all the local pregnant cats would saunter their way to our table/hut. One evening we had freshly caught black snapper - ALL the local cats showed up for the feast! Mark advised that cats tend to give their owners gifts. Well, the next morning on our porch step, we found a fish carcass!! Thanks guys.

Interesting to note, is that everyone talks to Mark, even when Liza asks the question. We were politely informed that in Indonesia the man 'owns his wife.' Mark so graciously replied, 'not here man,' and everyone laughed! Liza has decided to use this custom to her advantage, and let Mark deal with all the hustlers and touts --- as Mark prefers Liza to deal with them, this is proving to be quite amusing.

One afternoon Mark returned to the bungalow and stated that he was almost eaten by a Komodo dragon. After speaking with the locals, what actually happened was that a hundred pound lizard was eating out of a garbage can and jumped out when Mark approached it. It was vegetarian.
And harmless.

After Gili Air we went to Tulamben, Bali. We stayed for one night (last night). Not much to do in that down except SCUBA DIVE!!!! We dove this morning to a sunken ship -- the US Ship 'Liberty' which sank in 1942 during WW2. It was amazing - the best dive yet. We saw a sting ray, thousands of jackfish circling around us, and over all just thousands of fish! The wreck was huge and we did our deepest dive yet - 75 feet. We are feeling more confident with each dive and now really have the itch to do more.

We arrived this afternoon at a place called Lovina. There is a dive site on a little island about 1 hour away from here that we will likely check out in a few days. We are staying in a beautiful hotel ($13/night) complete with a pool and a quick stroll to the beach. We are hoping to take a Balinese cooking class here, as well as drink a Bintang (beer) while getting a facial!

One of the most interesting and fun things about traveling has been our ability to plan an adventure one day, and quickly change it around the next. With that being said, we have decided to not spend two months in Thailand, but rather one in Thailand and one in India (before you get too worried mom, India is HUGE, we are not going to Mumbai, and we will stay abreast to the local news). We are planning to go there in February, before it gets too hot.

And that leads us to today.....

Liza and Mark

PS. On the right you can 'follow us.' We would love for you all to join and follow us on this journey!!!