March 2: We have arrived in Bali!

Well, here we are in Bali. We left Canada on Monday, today is Friday but only our 2nd full day in the country - how does that work!!??!! The flight from Canada was fairly uneventful and surprisingly comfortable. I, for one was dreading the 13.5 hours on the plane to Honk Kong but it really wasn't too had. After that length if time in the air the next 4.5 hours seemed like a stroll in the park.
Our Team Leader is Tom Fair, accompanied by his wife Pat from Kamloops, B.C.. The person who had "dragged" the rest of us (all Manitobans) into this adventure is Susan Fair, Tom's sister. The rest of us are: Gino, Susan's husband, Lynn & Dale, Cheryl & Gerry and Rina and I.
After taking a stroll around the streets of town yesterday, we were quickly abused of the notion that all of Bali is quiet peace and tranquility. I have never seen so many motor scooters in my life - all driving on the left, "hell bent for leather" and passing anything and everything in sight. Seminyak (where we are staying a few days before we start on the project) is far from a sleepy backwater town. Quite the hoppin' place!
Today we has a driver drive us around the area. We visited 2 temples which were quite interesting but just as interesting was the drive through rice fields, orchid farms, statue carving "factories" - all sorts of fascinating sights.
The exchange rate here is $1Can = about 9000 Rupiah. That sounds great but you have to carry hundreds of thousand, even millions of Rupiah around with you - the numbers are staggering and we're having a tough time figuring out what things are really worth. Despite the huge numbers the prices here are very reasonable. We went out to a great restaurant, last night, had great food, beers etc. and after we calculated the huge bill figured out that it has cost us approximately $10 per person!
Tomorrow morning we head out to Nagara, our home base while we work at the orphanage. We're looking forward to seeing the rural (and hopefully more peaceful) part of the country. We begin our real work here on Monday. Wish us luck!

Paul Hope
DWC Participant
March 2012 Team