Bali to History to Beaches

The last half of the two day adventures that started after our four day sick-layover What an eyefull! This an ancient temple in Bali out in the middle of the ocean. The ever-spiraling staircases were fascinating!

We were quite taken by these lovely kites that flew just like the sky was the very sea it looks like it belongs on. We actually were greeted by these floating in the sky as landmarks to the temple we had yet to seen. It served as a great north-star to get us to the temple above.

When we arrived home that evening, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving. It was almos dissappointing how much my stomach was happy, and thus a little corner of my psyche lit up in celebration of the famaliarity of the food. What was sad was that my BBQ pulled pork sandwich was good, but in the states I would have been disatified with the spiciness; but it was spiciness I was famaliar with and so my tastebuds had a major party.  Not to exaggerate but the little corner in my mind that lit up seemed to take a burden off my shoulders for the time we were there. I had no worries about taking a huge bite of salad without picking through its contents I know, I’m pathetic with my unadventurous staomach.

The next  day we  stopped at the traditional  rice terraces that this area is famous for.  We had the priviledge of a firsthand experience with the tools needed for work in that area.

We then headed out to a another temple and an ampitheater set out on the cliffs. The picture below is the beginning of an increible dance the tells an ancient story about the monkeys and the royalty of Bali.

The group of men below provided all of the music for the hour long performance. There were no instruments and they sounded incredible. I filmed plenty of video of it that I’ll show anyone when we get home. Their voice boxes did things that I don’t think mine is capable of, and I’ve grown up singing! It was mesmerizing.

The women facing you in the picture below is the queen that is later kidnapped from her husband, who is the woman in green.

Below is the King of demons that sees the beautiful queen and lures her husband away by charming him with a beautiful gold stag so he can kidnapp her.

The white monkey costume featured below is the monkey King that commands the armies that fight and finally help the king rescue his queen.  At the end of the story they lit on fire large piles of something simialr to straw. The monkey king then kicked the piles up and around so sparks and fire flew into the air, and, unfortanetley into the crowd.  Of course it was fine, but that certainly wouldn’t fly anywhere in the states! Another wonderful adventure up our sleeves. This dance performance was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip as it was a window into a very talented culture I knew nothing about.

Welcom to Vietnam

Can you believe the collection of powerlines here?! About this time on our trip my immune system finally gave in to the constant exposure to Clay and Alana.  Lucky for my stomach, the French are apart of the Vietnamese history, and thust the Italian food was superb!

A beautiful church that was stumbles upon on the way to the post office. Catholocism is more prominent than I was aware of.

I spotted this picture and Clay and I decided we had to send it to some of our neighbors that live in the ward down in Provo that we were in when we were house sitting for Clay’s aunt and uncle.  I bet you can’t guess who are neighbor was? Yep, Greg Olsen. We saw many pictures of Christ and depictions of the last supper as well. This one is a little closer to home, eh?

Here we are at what used to be known as the Independence Palace, and is now known as the Reunification hall. In the picture is a Vietnamese tank that stormed the palace’s lawn and kicked the USA out at the end of the Vietnam war.

After touring through this building’s beautiful interior, we walked to the Vietnam War Museum.  Below is a famous picture taken by a National Geographic photographer and featured in a photo exhibit that was part of the museum.

The following three pictures of quotes are meant for you to read. It should give you an idea of the horror and sadness we felt when we left the museum. This is my first time hearing and seeing the other side of the story. Of course we know that each party that tells their version of what happened in Vietnam is always going to be biased, but we know that there is always much more truth than we are ready to hear. This trip as a whole has changed the way  I look at war.

The following picture was the last picture we took before we left. I didn’t really feel like smiling and neither did Clay. Rather I tried to convey some of the emotion I  had felt.  It was a relief to leave the musuem, but something I don’t regret.

The Cu Chi Tunnels

The Cu Chi Tunnels are a set of tunnels that were constructed in a village in Vietnam as a master plan of guerilla warfare. At the beginning of the tour the guide explained that the Cu Chi people lived in these tunnels for over two generations of their people. He proudly described their constant victory over the Americans. These people lived in these tunnels, and set trap after trap for unsuspecting American soldiers. The US bombed the area over and over again and could not figure out why there were still soldiers dying. It was interesting, and at the end Alana leaned over to me and asked if I felt a little conspicuos After the day before we tried to keep a smile on our face. I just chuckled.

This is a trap.

And this is a trap in action.

They let us climb through the tunnels as much as we wanted.  They were a smaller than the Winder Dairy tunnels for sure.

Here is a better idea of their size.

The following day we took a trip on the Mekong Delta.

My dad Sanderson hates, hates, hates snakes.  This little guy was quite friendly and he was free to hold!! Of course we tipped.

What a float this was!  We were on our way to Cambodia after this!

More LATER!!