Introducing....

My brother's hosts in Bali and, quite frankly, the reason he's there....

Angelique & Noah!!!

B, Angelique and Noah went to dinner last night. Noah took alot of pictures. Apparently he likes Brandon's digital camera!

The lovely Angelique...

She probably rolls out of bed in the morning looking this good. (jealous sigh)....

Angelique's son, the infamous Noah

What a cutie!! He's got that little "sparkle" in his eye. He's probably got Brandon wrapped around his little finger. He's the same age as my Sydney and they're going to be great friends - I don't know why, but I can just tell by looking at this next picture.

Random Noah Picture...or maybe Brandon took this one?

Noah, like most 5 year old boys, loves Spiderman!

And Brandon loves to read...anything. So I'm quite certain they get along just fine! My girls really miss their Bunkabee - I think Liv e-mails him daily - but I'm glad he's there to hang out with Noah. I'm pretty sure Noah likes to have someone to rough house with too....

Look at how beautiful she is.....they make a gorgeous couple.

These pictures were taken by Noah. I'm thinking he has a future in photography!

And now, a word from Brandon. The following is an excerpt of his first impressions of Bali (edited for language....and other stuff). Very interesting stuff told in a way that only my brother - a man with a gift for words - could say....

This place is crazy... the habits and customs of the people are totally different from anything I have ever seen. There are no traffic laws, few public services, few rules whatsoever. It's a free-for-all, but breathtakingly lovely at the same time. Pardon the Western romanticism, but you definitely feel like life is lived a little closer to the bone here. It's all hand-to-mouth--from the warung selling dirt-cheap food to the dusky old dudes hawking bottles of motorbike petrol on the roadside. Everywhere the taximen shout "Transport" and haggle with you in hopes of scoring a client. Nothing has a set price, and it's all a scam. But everyone is open and friendly and helpful. On the edges of town are these little oases of luxury. Then at night, you walk down a little jungle lane to your place, and it is just absolutely peaceful. Just you and the geckos and weird-ass bugs and sometimes the chatter of the neighbors (in French or German or Indonesian)... The food is fantastic--sweet and spicy and largely very fresh. The water is undrinkable. Everything is totally open--some of the buildings don't even have walls. It's completely different from the image I had in my head... It’s touristy, but in such a completely different way from what one sees in Europe. There are bule (white people, literally "albinos") everywhere, but they, too, don't seem to be doing the same things they would be at home. (And yet, you can still go to Carrefour and get all you need.) I could go on and on... But in short it is shocking and fantastic at the same time...I've also been speaking French about 70% of the time, which is nice. I already have a Thanksgiving dinner set up, as well. (I told some Australians Angelique knows that I wanted to do a dinner, and they said they were planning to do the same and they needed someone who knows how to cook a turkey. So I am in charge of the bird and the gravy and the mashed potatoes.) We're going out of town to the country this weekend, as well, and in a couple weeks we'll trip out to Ubud to see some Bali dancing and ceremonies and temples, etc. In the meantime, I am working from cafes and in my room...

So it's all good.That's about all I've got so far. It's definitely affected my world-view.

Which is perhaps the best thing one can ask of traveling...

And with that, I'll say Good night.