We arrived last night in Bankok after another great location where upon departure we wished we had a few more days. The retrospective summary on Bali was that it was beautiful, though also in the stage of development where motorcycles are everywhere and the exhaust is a little overwhelming. Although the hawkers accosted us about every three steps, we each developed several different techniques for managing these situations, and all in all the trip was great.
After returning from Yogya, we did end up opting for the cultural excursion. First stop was some Balinese dancing, which was more of a theatrical performance set to incessant cultural music. Then we hit the monkey forest. While we had been expecting to need to search for the monkeys, it turns out they were everywhere! I continue to have camera difficulties, so Viv has most of the pictures, but in short there were 1-foot tall monkeys everywhere, and they were not at all phased by our presence. In fact, several were interested in grabbing whatever you were holding (in my case, my map, which I was loath to part with given that 1) I needed it and 2) I thought the little guy would probably eat it, and I didn't think that would be good for him). So the story unfolded as follows: I tugged back a bit, which was fun, and then when he grabbed my arm with his hand, I paused to marvel at how cool and smooth his skin was - reverie interrupted when he then munched down on my knuckles, holding on as I then lifted my hand (and thus him) off the ground slightly. He didn't break the skin though (I didn't pull away too quickly hoping that he would just release, and he did). So that was that adventure - fun in retrospect, but quite unexpected. The rest of the day involved touring some crafts markets, no biting there, and a Thai massage. Very nice.
Monday morning Carl and I rented surf boards and hit the beach. The first break of waves was 2-3 feet, the second 1.5-2 feet, the latter being on the larger side of a good step for us as beginners. We hacked around ourselves for a while while Viv watched from the beach and struck up a conversation with a fellow who eventually gave us a 30-minute lesson, which turned out to be quite helpful in that he corrected my board stance (too far back) and then pushed us into the waves so we had a few opportunites to ride waves without worrying about the challenge of catching them. We were pretty successful in the end, and it was quite a blast!
Today we did "Bangkok in one day": the Grand Palance, and three notable Wats.
One PS on the birthday, by the way, for those of you who were tracking my 3-year long back handspring goal. Although the initial aspirations had been to "train" for the 3 years leading up to my birthday, I actually never got to try anything much more than a bridge. Nonetheless, I decided to give it a go, with Carl's experienced spotting at my side. The results were effective, though not pretty and involved my head to a certain extent. Thus while according to Carl, I technically did it, it wasn't videotape-worthy. (For some reason my left arm was coming down in a weird way that caused it to buckle (without pain) whenever I hit, so I kept bopping my head slightly on that side). In terms of the original goal of proving to myself that just because I am 30 doesn't mean I am decrepit, I succeeded quite well this way - with no training, I almost did it well! Nonetheless, I am extending the goal period indefinitely at this point, until I can do them well and easily on my own. Fun times...
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