Bali is busy but beautiful!

We have been in Bali for 3 nights and we are starting our 4th day now. First impressions were culture shock because of the traffic congestion and the standard of living being much lower than ours. We saw many open air shops and jars of petrol (gas) for sale on the sides of the roads. Feral dogs wandering by the roads and chickens and chicks dodging traffic. Babies being held in their mothers arms on the front of motorbikes with no helmets and children who look as young as 10 driving mopeds, again no helmets. Living on Vancouver Island we are used to a slower pace of life. Kuta is very populated. It is a small area but the population density is high. The traffic here reminds me of Cairo, noisy, fast and the appearance of no rules! Most of the vehicles are motorbikes and mopeds and most of the riders are not wearing helmets. Even though there are four lanes of traffic (two in each direction) it often seems like there are 6 to 8 lanes because cars, trucks and motorbikes often dodge in and out of lanes and one lane can have two or 3 motorbikes beside a car or truck. Our driver, Wayan is excellent so I feel very safe. You would think with all this traffic that there would be many accidents but we haven't seen any yet.
We are staying at a beautiful villa that is 30 minutes away from the busy Kuta beach. It is on a two lane road past the university in the Jimbaran hills. Wayan is the father who looks after the villa. He drives us where we want to go, for a fee, of course. His wife Made sells goods from the open shop beside the villa so she is the security person during the day. Their son Ali (32 years old) and Dogol, Wayan's son-in-law clean the villa and help us with internet access. The family is very friendly and helpful. Ali has a wife and a daughter and a baby on the way. Ali's daughter's name is Winnie. She is almost 3 and very cute. He is studying at university in hotel management and economics. There is a cat named Moggie who lives here at the villa too. Wayan lives across the road. The average peron in Bali only makes about the equivalent of 4 Canadian dollars a day. Wayan and his family would be considered to be quite well off I would think because we pay Wayan $36 to drive us to Kuta and back each day. A lot of people work in tourism here and I think it is a good way for them to make money.
Flat Mrs. Abbott has enjoyed her time here, swimming in the pool at the villa and lounging in the sun. She also really liked the mango juice she had at Made's Warung, a restaurant in Kuta.
Braeden and Blaise love the shopping. When we first arrived in Kuta, Braeden paid a lot of money for a knock-off pair of Rayban sunglasses. The glasses broke about 5 minutes after he bought them so he took them back and got a new pair. After a couple of days the boys learned to barter better and were able to buy shorts and t-shirts for about $4 each. We are also learning to find places to eat that are cheaper and good. I like the Indonesian food. I ate Nasi Goreng at Made's Warung, which is rice with vegetables, fish, chicken, beef, shrimp and some other food that I didn't recognize in a sauce. I like to try new food. Blaise had an Indonesian curry dish yesterday which he said was very good.
We spent 3 hours in the morning on the beach yesterday. Terry and the boys went surfing and I tried to read my book. The reason I say tried is because every couple of minutes someone came along and tried to sell me something like jewellery, bow and arrows, fruit, ice cream, sarongs, or they wanted to give me a massage or paint my fingernails. After awhile I decided to have my fingernails and toenails painted with flowers and Terry and Blaise both had a massage. We went for lunch and then while the boys went back to the beach I went and had a one hour massage for 50,000 rupiah which is about $6.50. I am feeling quite spoiled here. We went back to our villa after supper. Terry and the boys are quite sunburned now. It is a good thing it is raining today because they would not be able to go to the beach. We must leave this villa today and we will go and stay at a hotel near the beach in Kuta. I will miss Wayan and his family but we will come back here again on Oct. 7th.
Another interesting thing about Bali is that many first born children here are named Wayan so there are many Wayans here. The woman who gave Blaise and Terry massages was named Wayan so it can be a boys name or a girls name. On her hat it said Wayan #7. On the beach the people selling things often have their names on their hats so you can remember them if you want to buy something later.
The Balinese are religious people. Outside their shops you will see offerings of food and flowers to the gods. At the beach I saw women placing their offerings on the sand and then they knelt down and prayed. They lit an incense stick and when they finished praying they left their offerings on the beach. They put the flowers and food on a banana leaf and when the tide comes in the offering floats away. We saw a group of people praying in the middle of a roundabout the other day. It is beautiful how they can find peace in the chaos of Kuta traffic.