I would stand with you on a mountain...I would swim with you in the sea...

Hello everyone! Here's some photos and faces of my time in Bali. This is the last two weeks; I'm working backwards through my photos and will try to get some of my trip to Vietnam and before that up soon.

Highlights of the last two weeks: we climbed Gunung Agung...we rafted the Ayung river...Kacy and I got certified to dive...I saw my first trance dance in a village in the north...lots of good food and people.

Kacy's here! It's wonderful to have her to share all of this with. I returned from Vietnam on the 1st and she arrived the next day.

Sunrise on Gunung Agung, Bali's highest peak and spiritual epicenter. Most things on Bali are oriented towards this peak, where the Gods like to hang out.

See the pyramid-shape? That's the shadow of Agung, taken from the top, stretching into the clouds in the west.

We slept in the temple at the base and performed a ceremony to ask permission to climb and well-being for all of the climbers.

At the top, finally...Agung is reported at 3400 meters and we started the climb at 900. Nobody told us how hard it actually would be and that we'd be scaling rocks on the top third. We started at 1:30am and got back down around noon, though we expected a 6-7 hour round-trip.

A set of offerings at the top of Agung.

Hayley, one of the four of us that made it to the top of Agung.

Tsiping; he was staying with our friends, Made and Jepun and wanted to join us on our climb of Agung. His family is from Taiwan, but he grew up in Paris. An all around good guy and a good photographer too. I hope to keep in touch with him.

Nyoman, a guide on Gunung Agung. He scaled the rock faces in flip-flops, carrying his water in a plastic grocery bag.

John and Alice, two Australians who I met halfway up Gunung Agung. Our party of seven split in half when some decided to go back down the mountain part-way. I stayed with them for a bit, then ran to catch up with everyone else. I met these two and a guide and continued up to the top with them.

Nina, from Australia. She's part of our weekly trivia team at the Fly Cafe in Ubud; her and her husband, Phil were introduced to me by Felice and Bruce.

This is Putu, our friend Legut's son, at the villa to play in the pool.

Felice likes to have wax sucked out of her head.

Felice, post-ear-candling, at the villa.

Kacy Spooner, also with clean ears, listening to the sounds of the birds singing and the rice growing.

Romance: Mango juice and papaya juice, a near-daily interaction with Kacy and I.

This is Wishnu, the son of the owner of the place we stayed in Pemuteran. He saw Kacy and I playing Dutch Blitz and asked to jump in. I know a few colors and numbers in Indonesian, so was able to explain it to him, and we went several rounds. But the end, not only was he able to play, but I caught him trying to cheat!

Kacy getting certified to dive in Pemuteran!

Luc and Keri, from Switzerland, in Pemuteran on a project top document frowth rates of coral within the BioRock project. They went snorkeling with us and gave us a fun little tour of the coral.

Nick and Suzy, from England, in Pemuteran doing a research project on sustainable tourism. Kacy and I were the first to complete their survey on the BioRock project.

Jessica and Greg, whom we met while getting dive certified in Pemuteran; from Vancouver, Canada.

Hayley, from England, here in Bali doing acro-yoga and enjoying life.

The beginning of a good day: a morning game of chess with a pineapple juice and a fresh coconut, which led into more chess over lunch and over martinis in the evening.

A young monkey in the Monkey Forest. I wish I had feet like them; a bigger one took Kacy's bottle of water from her, easily unscrewed the cap and held it up to drink out of it. He left it crumpled and ripped the label off, then cast it away and wandered off. Monkeys aren't eco-concious.

Monkey wrestling in Ubud's Sacred Monkey Forest. There are a lot of young ones tight now and they're super playful.










That's it for now! I'll try to get other updates and photos from Vietnam up soon. Love you all--

--Trav--