Well, this is certainly one of the most beautiful places that I’ve ever seen in my life.

I arrived here yesterday afternoon from Bangkok, although shortly after my last blog I escaped Bangkok for Ayutthaya which is the old capitol of Thailand (before it was burned down by Burmese). I had never seen ancient ruins like that before; these were the kind of landscapes that I had only seen in exotic photographs. Nothing in that city looks to be less than 500 years old. The wats (temples) there are constructed with super decayed stone blocks and bricks and are adorned with often headless Buddah figures (vandals have stolen the heads, evidently). I got fantastic headless Buddah photographs.

The flight from Bangkok to Bali was four hours long, and I had no idea that Bali was so close to Australia. I believe I’m a three hour flight from the closest Australian international airport. I’m not sure if there was even a single Thai person on the flight, which was pretty much filled to capacity by white tourists which was pretty disappointing. But then I find that they’re all going to Kuta, which is the southern most beach in Bali where all the resorts are. Thank you family for not being sucker tourists; we’re staying 80 minutes from the airport in central “jungle” Bali, about an hour from any beach. The largest road within a half an hour of where we’re staying is a tiny two lane road filled with people on scooters; cars are very rare, and I think that I have yet to see car which is less than 10 years old.

This place is lush beyond my wildest imagination. It’s bright green and fertile, but somehow not overgrown. The temperature is perfect, but ocassionally it’s slightly humid during the day. The entire island smells of the sweet fragrant flowers, and everyone is as nice as everyone in any one place could possibly be; very similar to Thailand. No one hassles you to buy anything (I’m looking at you, China). On the way to where we’re staying we drove over a bridge which is several hundred feet over a pretty large river; I was instantly and vividly filled with the thought that I’m in an Indiana Jones movie.

I have more to write, but no time. I will write about the Monkey Forest, the Cave of the Elephant, the incredible place where I’m staying, and the other places and things I’ve seen when I get some more time.