My seat. Talk to you in Bali. On my way to Taipei, Taiwan.

Approach into Taipei.

They even have tray cloths before meals. Got a pair of soft pajamas on flight.

Pork buns and cabbage.

I am in Bali. There is a 14 hr time difference from States.

Hotel restaurant.

Entrance to Conrad Bali.

There are 4 million people in Bali. 3 million motor scooters because there is no public transportation. The island is 150 kilometers by 85 kilometers.

Toll booths in Bali.

Bali is referred to as The island of the Gods. Most residents are Hindu. There are a lot of temples of which we will see a few today. In Bali each family has a temple, each village has a temple and there is an island temple.

Stone carving is still done by hand in Bali. \240Monkeys are a symbol of wisdom.

There are 6 universities in Bali. One public and 5 private. Each village has primary and secondary schools. Bali has largest Hindu population in world. Bali became part of Indonesia to keep the Japanese out. Until 1942 to 1945, Bali was under Japanese control and after America dropped bomb on Nagasaki, Bali declared their independence.

In Bali there are 420 days in a year. Every month has 5 weeks. There is a village temple celebration every 210 days. The minimum wage in Bali is $120 per month.

The rice is still all planted and tended by hand. When the top of the rice plant becomes brown, it is ready to be harvested and it is all cut by hand.

In Bali, the unemployment rate is very low. If you don’t work, you don’t eat. \240The families take care of each other so there is no homeless problem.

Village temple decorated for celebration.

Sangeh monkey Temple

Roasting coffee beans

Sally drinking Luwak coffee which originates as coffee beans then the animals eat the coffee beans and poop them and the coffee is a delicacy.

UlunDanu temple Lake Beratan

Our guide, Mully feeding the Balinese deer

In front of largest rice terrace in Asia

Carrying grass to feed the cows. \240Every farmer has 2 cows to plow the fields.

View of rice terraces

Tanah Lot Temple

We saw a Hindu funeral in the park complete with cremation. Hindus believe in reincarnation. It was very interesting.

Hotel pool and ocean.

Sally creating a batik piece

Batik stamps

Once waxed and dyed once. 2 more dyes will be to finish.

Jewelry being made by hand.

Tegenungan Waterfall

I had my shirt “batiked” at batik factory

Wood carving

Full Balinese dress at Palace

Julie, Sally and Mully at Palace

Palace

Houses in royal family compound.

When someone passes away, they place the body here in family compound in til funeral.

Home in regular family compound.

Traditional Balinese dancers

Balinese musicians

View from our balcony this morning

Komodo dragons only mate in June and July. The incubation period is 8-9 months. They can swim to other islands as long as less than 500 meters. There are 1377 dragons on Komodo Island. Females live 30-35 years and males live 50-60 years. The dragons have 3 eyes and 2 penises.

The snakes on the island are rattlesnakes and cobras.

A yellow snail

Komodo dragons are cold blooded animals and carnivores. \240They can smell blood from hundreds of yards away.

Komodo dragons

The Atrium

The Explorer Lounge

View from our balcony

Our room

The bathroom

Jumping Crocodiles

Darwin is small town with not much to see other than military installations.

Main pool

Infinity pool

Outdoor deck bbq

Explorer Lounge. Front of ship.

Oil Tanker

Oil platform

View from our room today

View from Explorers Dome

Beautiful beach

Green Hill Fort on Thursday Island

Tender to Thursday Island

Sugar Cane fields

On the train we will go through 15 tunnels and cross 55 bridges. \240All the tunnels were dynamited and dug by hand. \2401500 men worked on the railway construction.

Stoney Creek Falls

Barron Falls. \240There has been very little rain.

Roberts Monument stands as a monument to those that worked on railroad to show how big the rocks were that they had to get through.

Townsville view from Castle Hill.

Townsville was named for Robert Towns who was a prominent businessman who made his money kidnapping South Islanders and bringing them to Australia to work in the sugar cane fields. \240Population of Townsville is approx 200,000.

Billabong Sanctuary

Gosling

Tortoise

Wombat

Crocodile

Kangaroo

Koala

Baby crocodile

View from our balcony this morning

View from balcony this morning

Hamilton Island

Plum Island

Cats Eye beach

Passage Peak. The highest point on the Hamilton Island

Our ship in background on Hamilton Island

Heart Reef

Flight over Great Barrier Reef

Our ship from above

White Haven Beach which is private where we went swimming while helicopter waited for us.

Center of town

All but 1 quilt store in Brisbane has closed and the 1 left is closing.

Epitome of Brisbane. Old architecture being surrounded by new steel and concrete.

There were over 500 Aboriginal tribes in Australia. Currently there are a little over 200 tribes after colonization. There are 350 Aboriginal dialects. We are visiting The Spirit of the Red Sands Cultural Performance Center for an Aboriginal show. We will try crocodile, kangaroo and emu.

We packed last night to make sure everything still fit in luggage. Stayed up late watching a couple of movies.

Tomorrow Newcastle then Sydney on Sunday.

We are hoping to hit the Christmas markets today.

Christmas Market Newcastle

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Harbor Bridge

Sydney Opera House

For Denison Sydney Harbor has its own water supply and mortar walls.

The Rocks - View from our room. Several years ago the mayor of Sydney wanted all of the original buildings torn down. The heads of the trade unions announced that they would not tear down the buildings and so they stand. The Rocks district were the first buildings constructed in Sydney.

The first building erected in Sydney

Christmas in Sydney- the Customs House

Kangaroo with Joey in pouch

Elephant Taronga Zoo

Sydney Harbor

View of Opera House from our room

Mrs Macquirie’s Chair.

Luna Park

Australian aircraft carrier. Security in Australia comes from alliances with US and Britain. There are 25 million people in Australia and they cannot afford a large military. \240There are approx 5 million in Sydney. After Pearl Harbor, the intent of the Japanese was to take Australia from Britain but US stepped in.

Russell Crowe’s penthouse apartment and boat occupy the entire top floor of building on left.

There are about 100,000 homeless but there are no slums. 65% is middle class and 15% upper class.

The Govenors gave away most of New South Wales. The largest privately owned ranch is bigger than state of Texas.

65% of GDP is from mining but from only 3% of workforce. Unemployment rate is 4%.

Rose Bay

The Gap

There was 1 survivor of The Dunbar shipwreck in 1857. In 1907, the townspeople raised the anchor. This is the anchor.

1st lighthouse built in Australia.

Before 1967, aboriginals were not allowed to vote, not allowed to own land, not allowed to hold jobs and paid with rum and cigarettes and not counted in census. They were considered part of flora and fauna.

Up unti 1974, children could be taken from parents if biracial or considered underprivileged.

Bondi Beach - a temperature inversion has created a cloud of cool mist over Bondi Beach

Surfers at Bondi Beach

Darling Harbor was the hub of the wool export industry. When they stopped exporting wool, it became tourist center.

Village Gate to indicate name of village.

It was 19 degrees today on the Great Wall.

Chairman Mao’s saying the the people of China need to visit the Great Wall in their lifetime.

We are home. Several bucket list places checked off.

Stay tuned for next trip Athens to Venice with 1 week visitingTorino/Florence area including my ancestral village.

2020 also in the planning stages.