[drbruce]

My wife and I have started taking Sunday walks for exercise. Sundays are the only day when we don't have to shuttle kids to school so we're free for a little exercise.

I've been fascinated for years with the Indonesian Sunday morning walk. When I was living in Sumbawa and going back and forth between Bali and Sumbawa, I used to come across hundreds of folks out walking on early Sunday mornings. People in our small village in Sumbawa even started doing it.

We've managed to get one of the kids to accompany us along with one of her friends. I think she enjoys what Rebecca called, the "Bule family walk."

Despite doing this every week, we draw a lot of stares from the groups of teens out walking, although I think that they're more interested in watching my daughter and her friend, than some old white guy. We run into a lot of folks that we know from around the city so the walks turn into a social occasion as much as they are a form of exercise. Just one of those little things that make life in the tropics interesting.

[De Tom]

In some areas, like Denpasar where it's too hot and crowded during the day and afternoon, a morning walk is the only time for a 'healthy' and less crowded walk. In the days of village life elderly people went up really early in the morning and the lifestyle, though probably more driven by 'The early bird catches the worm' rather than health issues, may have influenced the younger generations choice of timing for a good healthy walk as well.

I've been looking more at the Sunday Afternoon than the morning. In the afternoon, as compared to the mornings, the beach or shoreline is the main attraction and people head down to the sea for some refreshing time and perhaps warm up those stiff joints in the warm sand.

Me and Wayan did a few morning walks in the Bukit area but stopped after a few times. I could not believe my eyes when i noticed that everyone passing by on motorbikes was staring at us. Eventually instead of getting annoyed by this i began to greet them all and wave my hands. This way i'd feel better about it, get a few smiles instead of suspicious looks where i can see they are mumbling something (likely negative) and at the same time let them know 'Yes i can see you staring at me. You are not invisible'.

Believe it or not but i think we even had a taxi and a bemo slow down and stop a few times thinking we were lost and needed transportation. Very considerate i guess.

[Ubudian]

In our village we used to have a really wonderful old priest who would take long walks every morning until early one morning, when he got run over and killed by a truck.

Within a few days it seemed that every kid in our village aged 8 and up had a motorbike…walking being deemed far too dangerous.

God, I love Bali!

[drbruce]

I'm sitting in a hotel in Jogya waiting for my eldest daughter to finish up her entrance exams for a university here. We had to leave before six a.m. from the hotel to get there on time as the city is filled with high school hopefuls for a set at Gadjah Mada. One of the things that stood out on the way to the university was the number of people riding bicycles in groups. Very few were walking, but lots of folks in bicycle gear braving the traffic. Brave being the key word. I passed a couple of tourists on the way down to Denpasar yesterday riding bicycles up the mountain road from Singaraja to Bedugal and I thought they were brave (or sunstroked), but with the traffic here, I'd never be able to focus on riding; I'd be waiting for someone to slam into me. Another, I love Singaraja moment.