Well it has been a couple of months since our last postcard and many of you have written wondering if we have fallen off the edge of the earth. We’re afraid that it is nothing so dramatic as that. It’s just that we’ve been caught up in discovering our new paradise and living life.

Piper's a budding teenager and can't understand why she can't stay out late at night. We console ourselves with the knowledge that these growing pains, as bad as they may sometimes be, would probably be worse were we to be at home. Skyler seems to have found his element. He has several friends and is constantly active. He’s taking up skateboarding. He and Ken are also considering surfing. Sky loves it here because he never has to wear any shoes (although we try to get him to), or much else for that matter. Piper likes it because she can get around pretty easily in the small town that we live in. Sherry likes it because with three servants and a driver she can pursue her art. And, Ken likes it because life is easy. Ken’s back to day trading in the stock market and since the market doesn’t open here until 9:30pm and closes at 4am, it can make for many sleepless nights. However, he’s setup the laptop computer next to the bed and keeps an eye on the screen while sleeping.

In August, while our good friend Janet was here visiting, we went to a cremation ceremony. This was one of the most amazing events we have seen on this trip. We all dressed in traditional Balinese funeral ceremonial outfits with black sari’s and delicate lace blouses for the girls and black sari’s, jackets and headbands for the boys.

The deceased was a high priest and therefore was afforded a lavish and expensive funeral. Because funerals are expensive, many poorer families will temporarily bury their loved ones and wait until a major cremation as this was. They will then dig up the remains and cremate them along side of the more honored departed. There were about twenty persons cremated at this ceremony.

At about 9am we joined the long procession at the local temple and followed them about a mile to the cremation site. Hundreds of people in ceremonial dress lined the streets. First in line were several hand carried chairs carrying the widows and other relatives of the deceased. Next walked dozens of beautifully dressed women in sari’s of various colors and black or gold lace blouses. On their heads they carried offerings of fruits and food in beautiful arrangements up to three feet high. The offering women were followed by hand carried "floats". The first was a large wood and paper mache ox standing about seven feet at the head and carried by about thirty men. At one point Skyler was inivited to join the carriers. Next was a large staircase that looked like the rollup type used at small airports. The wrapped body of the priest was carried at the top of the staircase. The last float was a white and gold wooden pavilion in which three priests sat fingering beads and chanting prayers. No sad affair was this. The men carrying the ox careened all over the street and laughed as they did so. People sprayed the men carrying the floats with water as they passed. They believe the a little chaos on the way to the cremation site discourages the evil spirits from following them.

At the cremation site, the ox was placed inside of the pavilion and the body was placed inside of the ox. Then, after the offerings were placed around the pyre, the entire structure was set on fire. Several hours later, the still smoldering cinders were scattered on the ground while participants picked through the charred embers for any recognizable remains of the deceased. These cinder remains were then ground up and the entire procession moved a mile down to the beach where another ceremony took place and the ashes were cast into the sea. The ceremony did not end until the early hours of the following morning.

In September we went to a follow up ceremony of the same funeral which involved another procession of women carrying offerings. They wound their way three times around the temple and stepped on the severed head of an ox on each circuit. This symbolically represented the last procession of the deceased and was meant to bring him wealth in the afterlife. This ceremony also went far into the early morning hours of the following day.

We just had a visit from our Hong Kong friends Giles and Heather and their children Alexander and Sophie. It happened that there was a large political rally going on at the time they were here so in order to avoid the crowds, we all went up to Ubud and then over to Nusa Dua to spend a few nights at the Grand Hyatt. Nusa Dua is Bali’s high-end resort area and has little local atmosphere, so it was like a vacation for us as well.

A few days ago, one of our "pembantus" (Indonesian for servant or helper) got married in Singaraja on the north side of the island. All of us along with the other three members of the staff drove up to the groom’s village to watch the ceremony where the bride is welcomed into the groom’s family’s home. It was a great insight into small village life. There were offerings of course and a roasted pig on a spit, a very precious delicacy for these people. When attending such affairs we always try to be as inconspicuous as possible, but invariably we stand out. They insisted that we eat first despite our protestations. But we shunned the forks they had gotten just for us, and instead ate with our fingers using the banana leaves for plates.

We are planning to be home for the holidays and are looking forward to seeing our friends and relatives. Next year we will finally get around to touring Australia and New Zealand like we had planned to do last May. Then we hope to visit China and Japan on our way back home in August, 1999.

Well that’s all for now. We’ll try to be better about writing more often. Our best wishes to everybody.

- Ken, Sherry, Piper and Skyler