First Post Experience!!!!!

I was getting ready to head to Paris for 10 days and I received some mail....it was my first packages!!!! You see, here when you receive a package, they keep them at the Post Office for you to pick them up...they don't deliver them...I thought well, I will just leave early and go to the Post Office before I go to the airport. We get to the post office and I ask for my packages, of course not in words, but by just handing them the slips I had.....they proceed to walk motioning for me to follow....so I go...all the way through the entire Post Office....we finally reach where they store the packages and they tell me "Tutup" which means closed....With the biggest smile I could give I said "PLEASE"....so they made some calls, we walked even more through the huge building and arrive where they sort the mail....there were many people there working and suddenly they were all saying "Bule" which means foreigner and all of the men were getting up and rushing over to me to give me a chair to sit....it was soooo nice and funny.....After a lot of acting out, body language, I convinced them to call the one peson who had the key...he came opened the cabinet and I had my first packages.....

It was quite an experience considering that you would never go into the Post Office like that in the US or many western countries for that matter.....it was just funny because they soooo want to please you and help you....it just shows you what they are willing to do for each other.....

Beautiful Bali

So it has been a while since I posted, for sure I have had many amazing experiences including 5 days in Bali....Bali is soooooo beautiful!!!!!!! I stayed in the north part of Bali away from any tourist area in a village called Munduk. I had an amazing villa in the middle of rice terraces. I arrived very late and went directly to my villa....it was a place they use to store rice in and has been converted....it was covered, but still had natural air inside. I went to bed under the mosquito net and layed there.....why was I not sleeping yet? You know those noise makers where you have crickets and frogs and water, etc. to help you sleep, well I had the live version!!!!!!!! The frogs were soooo loud, the water constantly runs from one terrace to the next, and many more natural sounds!!!!! Finally I went to sleep and woke up the next morning to massive rain....ok...well maybe not how you typically want to spend your vacation, but it was soooo nice because I just relaxed, read, and took a little walk to the village when the rain stopped for a bit...it was sooo relaxing!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah...and I had an amazing massage to finish the day...

The next day I woke up and it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!! I had a view all the way to the sea on the northern part of Bali.....It was gorgeous.....I forgot to mention that the smell in Bali is AMAZING also...it is a combination of incense, cloves, rain, etc.....it was so specific yet sooo pleasant!!!!!!! So over the course of the next couple of days I visited the amazing and famous rice terraces, many beautiful temples (Hindu & Buddhist), and also to Ubud.....Ubud is quite amazing also as there are soooo many artists there......I bought many things there to bring home. One interesting thing though was when I was walking close to the Monkey forest that 2 monkeys thinking I had food for them, jumped and latched themselves to my right leg...one over the other!!!!!!!! It was sooo funny and I had no clue what to do.....luckily they did not climb up me and finally some locals came to my "rescue" and swatted them off of me....it was funny!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I can officially say that I fell in love with Bali....I think it is very important to avoid the tourist beach areas in the south as it is not TRUE Bali!!!!!!! I would definitely go back to have some more amazing experiences!!!!!!11