1. Kek Lok Si. I can't believe I forgot to mention this at all in any of my posts. My colleague and I went to see this as we noticed it on the drive to one of our school visits. Turns out it's this huge temple that has been sadly overrun by souvenir shops. I mean, I understand the need to sell things, but a ceramic, life-sized German Shepherd? Really? Is that a good souvenir of a place that exists for spiritual enlightenment? There isn't much to say about the place, but I think my colleague and I were quite annoyed at the souvenir shops at every corner inside the temple grounds, especially when we've been to enough temples that aren't like that. It was just too commercial for our liking--maybe that's why you see a lot of the Disney characters there!
2. People in Bali could tell my Indian roots. When they asked me where I was from, and I told them Canada, they said I looked Indian. Very few people figure it out so quickly! Maybe it's because I had my hair in a French braid?
3. The only men who ever introduced themselves to me by name in Bali were all named Wayan. I'm assuming there are other names there, but I just thought it was a strange coincidence that 3/3 men were called Wayan.
4. The lizard story. For those of you who did not follow on Facebook, I was kept awake one night in Bali by a small lizard. He was making noises like birds make, but like he was angry. I could hear him (at least I hope it was him and not a rat or cockroach) in my garbage bin all night, and it kept me up. He appeared the next night, and I got a photo of him. I like having them around because they'll eat bugs and other creepy crawlies I don't like, but I don't want the lizard to be too near me in case he drops on my bed by accident. That would just freak me out.
5. Incidents. I didn't have any credit card fraud or serious events like that this time, but I did manage to forget the clothes I'd hung in the closet in my hotel in Singapore. The hotel sent them by courier to me in Jakarta, but they didn't get there in time because they were stopped up at customs, of all things. Thankfully a colleague from Canada was spending additional time there in Jakarta, so she will at least be able to get them back to Canada, and then I can pay for local, regular postage rather than courier from Asia. In Bali, on my last night, I slipped and fell on the wet tile coming downstairs from my room. It was just the last two steps, but it gave me a scrape on my right arm and a bad welt and bruise on my left shin. Finally, my flight home was rather miserable. I had been a bit congested from a very minor cold I had developed earlier in the week, and as a result, my ears didn't pop during my trip, so I experienced a lot of pain for many, many hours. I went to my doctor and learned I have an infection. I felt like Asia was sick of me and was trying to spit me out, in a way! ;o)
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