Our Bali recreations.....

Every few days I have a massage with a great woman who comes to our rooms and for $5 does an hour and a half. We all take advantage of the massages here, and they feel great after our class days.

I get around either by walking or by motorbike, which has become the most common way for the Balinese to travel here. Most people are getting a little jitney, called a 'bemo' to take them to class in the villages, and we all do lots of walking--see second photo.

All but one of the students were hesitant to try the motorbike thing here, since first time riders find this place pretty challenging—a chicken could cross the road at anymoment—(why? Fill in the answer) or an oncoming truck could pull into your lane, and they drive on the left here which is disconcerting if you're not used to it. It's great mindfulness practice to drive here. Most Balinese do not drink, so you don't have to worry about drunk drivers, just reckless ones, poor ones, huge trucks on your side of the road, bicycles, dogs, chickens and children.

But little accidents can happen walking, too--two nights ago Jodi fell into an irrigation ditch as we were walking home from dinner along a dark path through the rice fields. She was right in front of me and suddenly she is in the ditch! She is a great traveler, so she laughed it off and was lucky she didn't bruise anything, as the sides of the ditch are concrete. But it was funny...

The most unusual thing since I was last here is that there is now wireless connections and I can sit in my room and do my emailing instead of taking the motorbike down to town and sitting in an air-conditioned internet café drinking coffee as I write. In fact the mosquitos can feed on me as I work…just had a thunderstorm with a downpour—didn't last long, but sounded great on the roof.

It is the rainy season, though there has been little rain this year. We all shower 3 or 4 times a day, what with the heat and humidity. Jeans are way too heavy to wear, and we have all bought the latest model of Thai fishermans' pants, which are tied around the waist with fabric turned down over the tie—this year's models have turned down tops of striped fabric so they can be worn fashionably low on the hips.

Overall, Bali itself grows less primitive each time we come here—more western goods and services are available, the shops continue to proliferate and eat up the rice paddies, but the people are in the main still of great spirit and kindness—I still feel safer here than anywhere in the USA.

Last night we celebrated Kajsa's 27th birthday with a great dinner and then to the Ubud Jazz Café for salsa dancing followed by a late night pool party. Yet everyone still made it to 7 AM class except one person. (see Kajsa having coconut icecream for her birthday --2nd photo).