In Bali

We're in Bali - at the Westin in Nusa Dusa. It's one of several hotel resorts along the eastern coast of a peninsula south of Denpasar, the site of Bali's int'l airport.

The 7-hour Japan Airlines flight was thankfully very easy; JAL has great service even in economy class, with decent food, a toy for each child, and a long list of movies to keep everyone occupied. Arno bonded and traded toys with a boy sitting in front of him, making our flight that much easier.

At the Bali airport, we had our first adventure: Blaine had to pay a $200 bribe to the immigration service to enter the country! Though many friends in Tokyo told us how much they love Bali, no one mentioned an immigration shakedown.

Arriving at 10pm, we paid $25 per person for a visa and waited in a long line to present our passports. An immigration agent noticed that Blaine's passport would expire in less than 6 months (5 months and 1 week, to be exact). "So?," Blaine said, with the blase tone of man who's seen to his fair share of third-world airports. We were told that he needed a special visa to enter Indonesia, and he was led to a small office to discuss the situation; the children and I waited for a few minutes and went into the office, where a half-dozen immigration agents were chatting and smoking clove cigarettes.

I took the kids behind a partition to see Blaine, who listened as another official repeatedly explained the situation: Blaine's passport could not be accepted and he would have to return to Tokyo. (Conveniently, the JAL plane was leaving for the return trip in about an hour.) With the kids on my lap, I explained that we were there for a family vacation and would gone in 10 days - couldn't the agent help us? Blaine said he was a journalist on vacation. The man repeated himself, and again, and again. Then, finally, he said that Blaine might come in... if the agent manually entered his passport expiration date as 1 month later.

The kids and I left the office, which I hoped would speed a resolution - fewer witnesses, etc. We waited. Blaine emerged 20 mins later. The man, who was slow to come to the point, had finally written "$200" on a piece of paper and directed Blaine to an ATM. By now it was 11:30pm. The ATM promised dollars but didn't have any. Blaine went back to consult, and was told that 2,000,000 rupees would be acceptable. (The currency is approx 10,000 rupees for $1) He paid, we grabbed our suitcases and arrived at the Westin at 12:30 a.m. The kids were very heroic and didn't whine the whole time.

Since that unpleasantness, we've had a great time. The room is comfortable, hotel staff friendly, the kids love swimming in the warm pools, and there's a fantastic breakfast buffet for $15 for the whole family. We met our Tokyo friends, John Murphy and Rena Singer and their children, at Padang Beach yesterday afternoon for a swim before we found a restaurant w/sunset views. Today, the children are in the hotel's Kids' Club - a big reason why we stayed here - while Blaine and I are hanging out and reading.

I have my camera but can't download to Blaine's computer, so pix will wait until our return to Tokyo.