Bali - Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary

 

Monkeys deserve their own post here like the puffins in Iceland. They have their own sacred sanctuary with temples in it, so obviously they're some important monkeys.

Bali - Tegallalang Rice Terrace, Ubud Palace, & Museum Puri Lukisan

Here's various places we explored in the Ubud area of Bali. The overall beauty of the area is a feast for the eyes. I wonder how it is for people who are always surrounded by it? Sometimes you have to leave where you are and compare it to other places to properly appreciate the beauty of your own home (if there is any).

Bali - Hike to Ubud, Blanco Museum, & Water Palace

 

Bali is a beautiful place. It's also very well known, so it can be overly touristy and crowded. The narrow roads around Ubud can't handle the traffic, so expect to sit in a traffic a lot. Fortunately, there's a lot to see and and do, so it's still worthwhile to join the tourist herd and experience some of this natural beauty and facinating architecture.

Bali - Lokha Ubud Resort & Spa

 

I don't usually focus a blog post on a hotel, but this resort was an amazing find for the week and I just have too many wonderful pictures of The Lohka Ubud Resort, Villas, & Spas. We stayed in a suite room on the top floor with the valley view, but the pool villas look amazing.

Bali Indonesia - Kuta

We visited Bali for a week in order to start exploring Asia from Sri Lanka. It wasn't too far with a 3 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur, a 3 hour layover, and then another 3 hour flight to Bali at a resonable price. This would have been a much bigger trip from the U.S., so that's why we travel around the area we're currently living.

Pettah in Colombo Sri Lanka

 

We took a guided tour of the more hidden parts of Colombo with a focus on Pettah. We went there on our own once because that's where you find a lot of the affordable little shops. There's a big produce market which is pictured above. It's a busy area where we saw some interesting sights including an old government building, a popular mosque with the tourists, and an old hidden neighborhood Hindu temple which doesn't show up on Google Maps with a name.

Galle Sri Lanka

The town of Galle and the old town inside Galle Fort are just two hours from Colombo, so it's an easy trip on a regular weekend. It's going to be good to live in Sri Lanka and see many things. Here's some things from the weekend.

Train to Galle & Sri Lankan Sunset

 

Galle is a 2 hour train or car ride south of Colombo, so we tried both! We took a train down and arrived in time for a lovely sunset from the ramparts around the old town in Galle Fort. We returned in an Uber car. It was a lovely weekend, so I'll break up the pics into two posts.

Uswetakeiyawa Beach

 

We took an Uber about 30 minutes north to Uswetakeiyawa Beach. It has a few swimmable areas, but we're more interested in walking barefoot on the beach instead of swimming. This beach was perfect for us. There were lots of big crashing waves on rocks, which caused us to take thousands of pictures. Well ok, I only took about 150 pictures and here's about 50 of those. We do have to show some constraint, don't we?

Lotus Tower and Galle Face Green Colombo

 

We prefer exploring on foot when we can because you never know what you might miss between destinations. There are many interesting Buddhist temples around the city that would be missed if you didn't walk a bit. Our area of Colombo actually has lots of usable sidewalks, so we're taking advantage of it.

Lanka Comic Con

 

Sri Lanka has a Comic Con. The crowd skewed younger but not as young as the one in Riga where we felt out of place. The interesting thing about this was that it was all outside in the heat and humidity of Colombo.

Biera Lake SW & Seema Malaka Buddhist Temple Colombo

 

Beira Lake is a series of connected man-made lakes. It was originally a big moat built by the Portuguese in the 1500s to protect a seaside fort. It was scaled back to these little lake basins as the city developed. It's a nice feature to have around us in Colombo. These are pictures of the southwest basin with the Seema Malaka Buddhist temple built on the water. The area around the lake could use some maintenance, but it's still a nice place to visit.

Independence Square Colombo

We take tuk tuks everywhere as the most convenient mode of transportation. Uber is fast and easy so we had them drop us off at an art gallery for a quick peek and then a stroll through the Independence Square area.

Viharamahadevi Park (Victoria Park) Colombo

 

We live in walking distance to the only large-scale public park in Colombo. This a very green city with lots of trees and vegetation, so that's a nice bonus for living in a constantly humid tropical climate. We just need to get used to the humidty and continue to get out and enjoy it all.

Misc Colombo Sri Lanka

 

I'm busy transitioning to my new job so life feels extra hectic with the move and changes. We do get around in my off time and take some pictures along the way. Here's some random pics to start.

No Roots - Iceland Version - Alice Merton, Daði Freyr

 

No Roots - Iceland Version - Alice Merton, Daði Freyr

Sometimes a song comes out of nowhere and resonates with me. This is a remake of a pop song that I didn't know. The original version is fine, but this more dramatic and somewhat haunting version showcases the lyrics better to me. It speaks to our moment of moving again to another country and it was released while we were in the middle of doing it.

Colombo Apartment

Here's a little look at our furnished apartment in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It's a little smaller than our last place, but it compares well to our previous apartments with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The unique thing about our new home is that it's in a hotel. The hotel has similarly sized apartments setup as daily rate hotel suites alongside their long-term residences like us.

Home Leave Road Trip - Cadillac Ranch Amarillo TX

 

I prefer Carhenge in Nebraska, but this was another interesting car display that we hit on the road trip as we passed through Amarillo TX. If you ever find yourself in that town, then it's worth checking out and adding some spray paint if you want.

They sell spray paint and some other stuff or just pick up a nearly empty can from the ground and add a little something to this ever changing display. Why not? Everybody else is doing it.

Home Leave Road Trip - Colorado Springs CO

 

Our home leave road trip to South Dakota was a straight trip north from Texas along new roads to me. I decided we should go back through Colorado Springs and see some previous favorites for a day. Pike's Peak and Garden of the Gods are good for repeat visits. As my wife and I like to say, we can get more pics at a "different angle and different light."

Home Leave Road Trip - Mt Rushmore & Crazy Horse South Dakota

 

The initial idea and destination of our road trip was Mount Rushmore. However, the journey and everything else we saw and did along the way there and back is the real reason some goals are better achieved as a driving trip.

Home Leave Road Trip - Kansas & Nebraska

 

Our road trip to Mt Rushmore from Texas required driving for a day through some seemingly uninteresting areas of Kansas and Nebraska. We still managed to find a few things to see along the way with a little rest stop.

Home Leave Road Trip - Wichita & Lindsborg Kansas

 

We're back in the U.S. for home leave between overseas assignments, so we had a bit more time for a longer road trip. "The purpose of home leave is to ensure that employees who live abroad for an extended period undergo reorientation and re-exposure in the United States on a regular basis." (3 FAM 3430) We often follow the intent of that policy by exploring new parts of the U.S. each time.

Bousaada Algeria

We took a long weekend road trip with our coworkers and friends to Bousaada Algeria. It doesn't rank as one of our best trips in Algeria, which is probably Djanet, but it was a good weekend seeing something new. It was mostly a relaxing time with good food and the occasional interesting thing to see.

Djanet Algeria Day 5

 

Our final day in Djanet was another great one of beauty as we headed back to paved roads and civilization. We went to the town and some shopping for the group. Our final meal was a dinner campsite near the airport to be ready for our late night flight back to Algiers.

Djanet Algeria Day 4

It was another day on our trek through the desert to see amazing views, carvings, and drawings. There probably isn't much more to write about compared to other days, so this will be mostly more pictures.

Djanet Algeria Day 3

We continued our journey east to the edge of the open desert. We ended the day with the most stunning views from the highest sand dune that I've ever seen and have definitely ever climbed.

Djanet Algeria Day 2

Morning has broken. It's quiet in the desert. We had no connectivity with the rest of the world, so all we had was ourselves. It was a great trip for unplugging from the nonsense of the online world.

Djanet Algeria Day 1

We went deep in the Sahara to Djanet Algeria for five days of camping, prehistoric rock art, sand, driving, food, more sand, and even some live music. It was an amazing adventure as our time in Algeria comes to an end this summer.