Paradise sits in a Banyan Tree

Dear Readers,

Our 30th wedding anniversary was June 20th. We decided on the spur of the moment to do something without a plan. This is really out there for us because we like details and plan everything way ahead. We hate complications, missing connections, no uncertainity for us. But this time we threw caution to the wind and made reservations on line. The trouble was the children were out of school and everything was booked. We managed to get a ferry reservation for 8 am (you have to be there two hours early to check in your luggage, get through customs, etc. So we got a cab and did this. This ferry is far from the city as possible, on the shore, in the middle of nowhere.

There were multitudes of people there. We had bought emerald tickets which gave us cushions to sit on. We had assigned seats but we soon learned that didn't mean anything. You sat where you found a good seat. No one complained. On the 45 minutes over, they collected the $50 needed to get into Indonesia. It seems they only take American bills dated 2006 and up. We didn't know that but luckily we had it. I guess I spend the "defected bills" in the States.

Now, once we weaved through all the cargo container ships, oil riggs, pirates?, and everyone else on the straits, we wound through some islands until there we were-in paradise. A lady waving our names on a sign took us by the hand and walked us through customs. We picked up our bag and just like that we were on our way to the Banyan Resort-some ten minutes down the road.

This place looked like a dream. Here were flowing golf courses, thatch villas, siwmming pools, and white beach. All contained in one compound within a real jungle-snakes, lizards, cobras, monkeys. Tammy's husband told us he once teed off the green and hit a cobra with his club because it was after him. He told me tree vipers hung in all the trees. I never saw anything but lizards (some very big and lots very small and friendly).

To sign in, they sit you down on a couch and go over your coming and going. make dinner reservations at one of the three restuarants, and tell you how you call a "buggy" golf cart to go to and fro. We were too early to check in so we went to the beach first and changed into our bathing suits. There was a jellyfish warning on the beach but we never saw any except a couple dead on the beach. The water was crystal clear and I picked up interesting shells. Our room was ready early so they took us to our villa on top of the hill overlooking the ocean. The view was fantastic with rocks, fishing boats, and a huge bed facing all the scenery. The bed also had a mosquito net (for good reason!) We walked down to lunch at the Treetops Restaurant near our villa and had lunch. We took a nap before heading to the beach again and that was when I noticed the lizard silhouettes on the blinds. They were on the inside! Ew!

That night we went to dinner outside on the patio of an Italian restaurant called "The Cove". We had fun watching the houseboat parked off shore. The gas would ran out of their generator and the lights would die down. Then boom! All lights would come back on.

I have to say I have never enjoyed such service-all the people there including pool attendants, maids, man cutting the weeds, waitress, waiter, I mean everyone addressed us by name, knew we were having an anniversary, knew what villa we were in, and knew we were on the last ferry out on Sunday. They brought us bottled water on the beach, cokes, lunch, new towels, filled up our hot tub, and were so kind, it put the Shangri La to shame.

Saturday we went to an hour and a half long massage at the spa. Heaven. And we got to drink lemongrass tea afterwards!

I wondered what our villa would be like if it rained. Well, Saturday morning about 4 am I got my wish as thunder and lightning and monsoon rain came to visit. It finally stopped after breakfast but it was cloudy all day. Never mind-Steve still got sunburned. Breakfast was a chinese buffett for the most part. I was told the villas were at 100 per cent occupancy as a UK business was there for a meeting. They served champagne for breakfast too. The waiter said to tell him what we wanted in our eggs-I listed off ham (beef jerky is the replacement because they they don't really serve pork. Indonesia is Muslim) and tomatoes. I got a cheese omlet. Oh well. I just ate it and grabbed a donut. On Saturday night we ate Indonesian at the Saffron Restaurant. I'm not sure what I was eating but the Australian wine was excellent. The last day, Sunday, we had to check out at noon. We spent the day on the beach and about 2 o'clock, the sky went black and it monsooned on my head. I was under an umbrella under a towel. Everyone who was waiting on the last ferry was in the same boat-we had no where to go. So we endured. We were wet anyway. Then the sun came out.

I should mention I saw a large black lizard hanging out around the swimming pool. The pool guy seemed Ok with it. It ran off to sun itself on a rock. Later I saw a large one swimming in the ocean near the rocks. Ew!

Now, they picked us up, loaded our bag and took us to the ferry. They went through customs for us, xrayed our bag for drugs, bombs (really cigarettes and alcohol are the worse!) and put us first on the ferry. The ride back was bumpy and we were both green when we finally stumbled off at ten oclock at night. And there were no cabs! We wasted an hour trying to call a cab and standing in line before we gave in and paid the $40 limo fee. They had us because I had to be on a nine oclock tour the next day and Steve had to go to work.

So there you have it. A great anniversary. Thanks for all the cards, we were greatly surprised! It's good to know we are gone but not forgotten!