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Well, it was about time…time for a new header graphic! Indonesian nature was amazing, so the choice of a picture was easy. 😉

Furthermore I made some changes on the WordPress back-end; I enabled widgets on the sidebar, you won’t (or shouldn’t) see a difference, but it makes it easier for me to manage the sidebar.

It enabled me to add my Facebook Status in the sidebar via its RSS feed, I am using the status to display where on planet earth I enjoy my life today. 😉

After an uneventful AMS-OSL flight and a drive in snowy conditions I came home after being gone for almost four weeks…it’s good to be back! Quite a difference in climate; coming from a nice 30+ (degrees Celcius) in Indonesia to winterwonderland and -1 in Norway is crazy! 😉

The house got pretty cold, so the heaters are ON…actually, a nice log fire is helping me out…I *love* my fireplace!

Damn, this really was my last vacation day 🙁

I just have the weekend left over from a luxurious period of 3 weeks off…time has been FLYING, a good sign, I really enjoyed it! 😉 And, I’m looking forward to start work on Monday (wow!).

Bali – Jakarta – Kuala Lumpur – Wateringen (NL)…uhmm, my destinations are not really increasing in excitement, eh? 😉 I’ll go back to Norway on Saturday, THAT will be fun (climate crash)!

But it’s good to be back in the home country anyway, see some family and friends, show off the suntan 😉 …the first day has mainly been filled with sleeping and trying to loose the jetlag.

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go…la la la, lalala…I’m leavin on a jet plane, dont know when I’ll be back again…

Aristotle: “Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.”

Even while being in Indonesia I couldn’t miss the announcement that Apple released iPhone software version 2.2 last Friday (ok, ok, I got an email with the news too 😉 ). The heroes of the iPhone Dev Team updated their Pwnage and QuickPwn tools yesterday so it now supports the latest and greatest iPhone software.

New in this software release are support for Google Street View, public transit and walking directions, improvements to the Safari webbrowser and, the best one according to me; Podcasts, allowing over-the-air downloading of podcast episodes! That’s THE thing I need while travelling! Heyhey, I’ll never be behind on a Daily Source Code again!

Well, I know what to do when I come back home coming weekend… 😉

Two weeks Bali was enough…enough to fall in love with its weather, nature, vibe, relaxed atmosphere and way of living…and, it was not enough, as a good vacation never is. 😉 It’s quite easy to get used to this way of life. Although I guess I would eventually get bored, it would take just a little bit longer than two weeks. 😉
Free WiFi in Denpasar airport; a lovely farewell gift from Bali. The flight is boarding now, so it’s time to say goodbye and ‘terima kasih’, Bali was GREAT!
We’re gonna spend the coming days at Axel & Beike’s place in Jakarta, I’m pretty sure that we’ll continue the great times and good vibes.

The second day in Ubud is a mix of spirituality and relaxation (despite the alarm clock at 09:00h this morning!)…it started with hand reading by Ketut Liyer and finished with a full body massage, I’m totally relaxed now! 😉
…no Internet at the hotel prevents me from writing more, so I’ll stop now and hook my iPhone on some free WiFi in the neighborhood to post.

Ubud has a lot to offer and rafting is one of the things…so, guess what…we’ve been rafting today! It was rainy weather, so the water came from two sides 😉 …HEAPS of fun!!

It’s moving day today, we checked out from the paradise hotel in Nusa Dua this morning (I’m gonna miss that place and its vibe!!) and were driven to Ubud, a small city located more towards the center of Bali and known from its art and medicine men. In Kuta (unfortunately known from the Bali bombings some years ago), on the way to Ubud, Kristel bought some beads for KIS (well ‘some’? I estimate around 5kg!!), so that’ll keep her busy this winter. 😉
We just checked in at the Ubud Village hotel (no internet…!?!) and are now enjoying the famous multi-vitamin lunch at Wayan’s place, the medicine woman from Elizabeth Gilbert’s book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’…if you ever come to Bali and visit Ubud, go there, it’s quite an experience! You can find her next to the postoffice.
Tonight our friends, Axel and Beike, will join us in Ubud, it will be great to see them again!
Hey, hey, we’re gonna have a great weekend together, sure thing!

Stella Terrill Mann: “Desire, ask, believe, receive.”

Diving today was G-REAT! It was truly amazing to be down there again, a whole different world, one I fell in love with 7 years ago. A big thank you to Louise Utting (where are you btw.?), my dive instructor who certified me in Oz…it all came back to me when I jumped in the water!

I twittered the dive-data of both dives, incase you missed it; the first dive took place at the ‘DS Point’ dive spot in Nusa Penida, was 40 minutes long with a maximum depth of 17.2m. The second dive was at the ‘Mangrove’ spot in Nusa Lembongan, for 44 minutes and reaching 18.4m…it was SO good, I want more! 😉

Obviously the biggest fish friend of all was down there too…yeah, I’m talking about Nemo, ain’t he cute?

PS. All the pictures taken today reminded me (again) to upgrade my Flickr-account to Pro and share more pix on the net…

Yeah, it’s true…I’ve been studying today!

Surrounded by palm trees, so don’t worry, it wasn’t hard. 😉 The topic also helped; the PADI Open Water Diver Manual…yeah mommy, I’ll go diving tomorrow!!

It was good and important to go through the 250 pages (oof!) of material again, after all, it has been 7 year ago since I made my last dive after receiving my PADI Open Water certification during a fabulous trip on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

I’m thrilled to see the other world below the surface again!

I saw ‘Kickin It Old Skool‘ yesterday, not a movie I’d recommend, but the music kicked ass…80’s rap, the start of an era. MC Hammer was fun at the time, but it all started with the Sugar Hill Gang, don’t you love that tune?

Just because I can’t get enough, below the YouTube clip (with lyrics for the few of you who forgot them 😉 )…’I said 1, 2, 3, 4, come on girls, get on the floor’! 😉

Hmm, the Youtube link I put here first got broken somehow (video removed due to terms of use violation), so here another try:

The lyrics can be found here.

Today was the first day this vacation that I set the alarmclock in the morning (!). The reason; we booked a daytrip with a pickup at 09.00h, ready to discover some of the other great parts of Bali. Hehe, you can say we saw enough of the hotel, swimmingpool, beach, the nearby shoppingmall and its restaurants after a week…;)

Kadek, our guide, took us from Nusa Dua in the far South to Lovina Beach in the North. The highlights:

• Celuk, where we bought some great pieces of silverware for KIS
• the magnificent temple of Ulun Danu on the banks of Beratan Lake
• amazing rice terrace fields views at Munduk
• some unfortunately foggy views of the twin lakes Buyan and Tamblingan
• Banjar Hot Springs, which took a while to reach, because the road was blocked by a procession; all boys and girls from the village were dressed up and showing off their amazing outfits, it happens only once per 10 years…WOW!

Falling asleep on the backseat on the way back says it all; a day filled with 10,000 new views, experiences and memories…we ARE fortunate, and tired!

Someone reminded me it was Friday today…hmm, well, week- or weekenddays, it really doesn’t matter on vacation… 😉

Bali feels like a constant trip through the sky, I wish I could fly…the ‘insane ballooning stunt’ below is coming close, eh?

…and now, some news that really matters while one is enjoying vacation…uhhh 😉

One of the more important things during a sunny beach vacation, is to get hold of a sunbed *with* parasol to avoid sunburn on the beach…well now, this has been no problem until today; I already noticed yesterday that the resort got flooded with Russians; several nice guys, some beautiful girls (Russias finest), fathers (wearing the WRONG kind of swimming trunks ;)), mothers (man, where did that beauty go?), aunts, uncles, you name it! …all very nice, but the net-result was that all the sunbeds were taken by the time we got to the beach today…damn! I guess it means an early wake-up call tomorrow, and RUN for your sunbed!

…or, to shave or not to shave.
Where most men grow a (small) beard during their vacation, I caught myself doing the opposite, for several vacations in a row now! To shave or not to shave, that’s the question…the answer this morning was: ‘to shave’ 😉
So, my face looks bald and feels as soft as a baby skin. Just for a couple of days though…my small, trimmed beard will be back before you know it!

W. Somerset Maugham: “The important thing was to love rather than to be loved.”