My wonderful son Elijah was born in Bali.

Wow! It truly is a life-changing experience.

No more sleep, no more Gym, lots more diaper changing, bottle boiling and clothes washing than before!

But when he looks at me with those big eyes and his small grabbing hands reaches for me, it’s all worth it.

I love you my son!

1 month has passed since my family went back home.

We had a wonderful time together. Mom, dad, sister, joel, wife and me.

We really tried to show them Bali from the best side and I think we succeded.

But it all ended so fast!

Time really flies sometimes. But I guess that shows that you enjoyed the moments.

Haven’t really felt like writing after they left, have been busy with other stuff.

I’ve been to Jakarta  back and forth and working on different projects and so on.

Also it’s always sad when people leave and I tend to be a little down for a while after.

Anyway thats over now, one thing I really looking forward to is the fact

that my wife is coming home soon!

Only 4 more days then it’s countdown towards delivery day!

I’m so damn excited that I can hardly think of anything else!

Wife and soon a little baby! I really am a lucky guy!

Anyway I keep my fingers crossed for so many things these days

that I’m afraid they stay crossed forever!

Hope I get the motivation back for writing and posting photos soon.

I do think that when the baby comes the blog will be drowning in baby pics!

Life is good but also  very busy and serious sometimes. ^^

This is due to a visit from far away and because my lovely wife is home with me.

For all you who are in Bali, Salamat Hari Raya Nyepi.

Love to you all from us.

I made the daily preparations for our pets. Gave them new water and food and so on.

Then I answered a few emails while I waited for our maid.

Every Sunday she will come by and clean the house, and when she does I try to find something else to do besides staying in the house.

So today I decided to go on a little fieldtrip to Bedugul and its botanical gardens.

I brought one of my long sleeve shirts with me since the air can be a little chilly when you go up the mountain, especially when you ride a motorbike.

Took a few pictures of the decorations they are selling for use in the celebration of Galungan.

I look forward to Galungan, everywhere you go the streets look beautiful with the decorate bamboo poles and the offerings.

If you want to know more about Galungan please click the links here and here.

Going up the mountain presents you with such beautiful scenery. The rice terraces and the mountain itself remind you that Bali is so much more than just beaches and surfing.

After about one and a half hour of driving I arrived in Bedugul. I drove down to the lake first to rest a little bit and take a few photos. Then I took my bike and drove to the botanical gardens.

I parked my bike (if you have a car you can drive around inside, but bikes are not allowed) and went to the ticket booth and paid the entry fee. Parking cost Rp 3000 and the entry fee was Rp 7000. Not too expensive.

It took me about one and a half hour to walk around the park. You can either follow the road or walk in the woods or on the grass if you feel like it.

It was very relaxing, but quite tough; the sun is very hot despite the cool air.

I had to stop after about an hour of walking for some hot jasmine tea and some cold water to regain some strength

I can’t wait to come here with my baby and my wife and have a picnic on the big green fields!

It really is a wonderful place for families to come and do just that! And the kids can roam free on the grass!

The ride home went nice and smooth. I was very hungry and stopped for a late lunch at a warung near our house. When I finally came home our maid was done with the cleaning and I could enjoy a relaxing afternoon in a nice clean house!

First I went to TIKI Delivery Service and handed in a letter I wanted them to send to Jakarta.

Then I decided to go to the beach.

I haven’t been in the water since November, so I thought it was about time I go for a swim.

Main reason why it’s been so long is that during rainy season lots of garbage and dead fish gather up on the beaches. And the smell is really bad.

But now it’s getting a lot better.

The dead fish are gone and the water is almost clean from garbage.

The tide was really high and the water a little too warm for my taste.

So after 10 minutes in the water I got up and dried in today’s VERY hot sunlight.

After I got dry, I got super bored and decided to drive home.

Don’t get me wrong, the beach is super nice and I am very privileged to have the possibility to go there every single day if I want.

But it sucks major butt to hang there in the long run.

There are just too many drunk fat tourists and wannabe surfers hanging around.

You’re lucky if you get one meaningful conversation out of a day spent at the beach!

So like I said, I took my bike and drove home.

I had some Es Kelapa in the shade on our porch, and watched one of our cats sleep in the garden.

That was more how I like to spend my Saturday afternoon

Life is good, but sometimes even paradise gets boring.

Aint no use in preachers preaching
When they dont know what theyre teaching
The weakest man be strong as samson
When youre being held to ransom”

Outtake from the Procol Harum song “As Strong As Samson” released 1974.

Now 35 years later I still think this is a very relevant piece of text.

The collapse of the economy in the west,

the never ending fighting that goes on all around us, all prove this.

I think it’s sad that we as a human race seem totally unwilling to learn or better ourselves.

Oh the evil things that we do, sigh.

I wonder what it will take in the end.

I wonder.

Do you?

When it’s 30 degrees Celsius almost every day you like to cool yourself off.

What better way to do it than to make a healthy and delicious drink? ^^

Buy a coconut in the store. Here it cost around Rp 5000 or 50 cents if you will.

Take it home and open it.

Pour half of the coconut juice/water into a bowl.

Add ice cubes.

If you bought a coconut without a shell,

you can easily slice down thin pieces into the bowl.

If you bought a coconut still with the outer shell,

you might want to prepare this before you take out the ice from the freezer

When it’s all ready, find yourself a nice shaded place, sit down and enjoy.

Visit these links if you don’t know the difference

between coconut water/juice/milk/cream

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_milk

http://www.living-foods.com/articles/coconutwater.html

The moon was really glowing and the stars were shining ever so bright.

A wonderful Bali night.

I sat and watched the night sky while the big bats swooshed around my head and one of our cats gently walked around on the roof beside me.

The warm evening breeze was touching my face and it reminded me of how lucky I am.

I’m married to a wonderful woman and I’m soon going to be a father for the first time.

We have a beautiful home in Bali and we have a beautiful home in Jakarta.

We are blessed with a good life for ourselves and for our children to come.

I finally found my place in life and in the world.

I found my purpose.

Where there were palm trees all around and you could swim in the ocean all year long.

Preferably in this fantasy, it was the year of the pirate and I owned a big pirate ship.

You could buy oranges and peanuts in the market place and I’ll be damned if that wasn’t Elvis Presley singing “Don’t Be Cruel” in the background.

Even though I grew up in the 70′s I loved Elvis Presley.

I loved the thin version of Elvis. He really rocked and he looked cool, too.

I didn’t care much for the bloated fat piggy “I’ll eat anything that moves as long you throw in some peanut butter” version.  No, I liked the young Elvis.

Anyway, back to the fantasy part of the story.

I loved the movie “The Sea Hawk” with Errol Flynn and I read “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson. Think to be a pirate among coconut trees and gold doubloons.

I saw every Tarzan matinee they showed at the movies. Dreaming I swung myself from tree to tree and all the animals were my friends. Not the spiders, never liked them, nasty creatures. You know they crawl into your mouth and lay eggs in your brain while you sleep? They do, I promise. Tell your kids.

Oh, how I longed for warmth and sun and for a spider-free jungle! Haha!

I also wanted to be a ninja. Even made myself a mask, and after watching 3 ninja movies in a row, I put on the mask and believed I was one. The dream died 10 minutes later when in all my ecstasy of being a masked killer from Asia; I tried to do a front vault. I landed on my back and cried like a stuck pig and didn’t want to play anymore.

Some dreams are meant to be just dreams, I suppose.

But some dreams do come true, you just have to believe strong enough.

I think the little boy would be surprised if someone told him that 30 years later he WOULD live on a tropical island with palm trees all over the place.

By making this fantasy of mine come true, not only will it be my reality, it will also be my soon to be born son’s reality.

I hope he will enjoy it. I hope he will be happy living among palm trees and have the opportunity to surf every day, all year long.

The truth is that he will probably have his own dreams. I want him to have his own dreams. I would not be surprised if these dreams had lots of snow and high mountains in them and not a freaking coconut in sight!

I woke up 7.30 today.

Way too late for my taste.

After a cup of INDOCAFE´ and a bowl of oatmeal I went to the gym.

A light shoulder session was on the program for today.

Back home I made some food and then I went into Denpasar.

I wanted to buy nice and cheap sandals for my wife,

and some wooden cats for our baby.

The market place is located right across the “Traditional Market”

if you know your way around Denpasar.

Here you can find very cheap items. Everything from t-shirts, sarongs and

statues to paintings, woodcarvings and teapots.

For example I bought the sandals for Rp 11000 a pair,

which is almost exactly USD 1.

I believe that many of the things you can buy for example in Kuta,

are purchased here first.

Wooden piggybank cat cost Rp 18000 (the big one in the back ) ,

while the cats on dope were Rp 8000 for 1.

The small cats cost Rp 5000 each or USD 0.50.

The small boxes with incense sticks and bathing salt and oils,

went for Rp 7000 and Rp 8000 per box.

Come on people, how cheap is this??

In the house on the other side of the river you will find the spice and food market.

I didn’t shop anything here but took some nice pictures

Afterwards I went looking for a certain chicken restaurant.

Took me forever to find the place,

and when I got there they didn’t have what I wanted.

So that was kind of a big waste of time ^^.

Anyway I got my chicken at another place and then I drove home.

(nooo I didn’t eat these two )

Weather wasn’t that good today, started raining a couple of times.

But temperature was still around 30 degrees Celsius.

So who am I to complain?

Life is good.