Date: 05 Jul 97 09:25:37
 Subject: Fwd:  I'm not lucky enough to get a massage
  
   ...so you're stuck with just a letter from boring ol' Julie McCoy.

   Happy Fourth of July! (it's the 5th for me in tomorrowland, but...)  I am SO tired right now it is unbelieveable and without frik and frak this letter just won't be as interesting, but oh well....

   Air New Zealand lost Josie's and my big backpacks so she's wearing one of my bathing suits that happened to be in my dive bag, and we're both in desperate need of a change of clothes because it's HOT here and last night we spent in the airport, so we're all greasy.  All I want to do is sleep!  We had this big talk last night while we were sitting around in the lobby of the departure terminal, and kept ourselves occupied with our own chatter for about 3 hours, in between writing in our journals (none of us have written in the last 2 weeks). You'd think we'd be sick of each other by now, but it's amazing the amount of shtuff we can come   up with to talk about! 

   We're still having a blast, and one thing we all agree on is that we're ready to slooow down after our big race through Australia.  We've got 15 days in Indonesia, with a lot less ground to cover, so we should have plenty of time to dive, rest, explore and (Julz wants to) windsurf without the drag of 22 hour bus rides.  There's a volcano here, and a village beside a lake where they bury their dead above ground that is supposed to be so interesting and beautiful.  We'll be visiting an island called Lombok and the Gili Isles for some diving - and if all goes well we'll go from there to Sulawesi and then round to Jakarta before heading off to Singapore.  In Singapore, Julz will leave us and head north to Thailand, but Josie and I are going the long route via the Eastern Orient Express up the Malay Penninsula so we can dive.  We've only got barely a day more than 2 weeks with Julz left, so we're a little sad.  But one thing that's really great is that we're finally  getting a bit of a culture shock. Australia is so user-friendly, it was as though we never left home.

   Anyway, even the airport in Bali screams Different Culture! with these amazing sculptures and pools of water with green plants growing all around.  A lot of the buildings look exactly las you've seen them in brochures: with the soft, sloping point at the top of stacks of tiled roofs and intricate statuary everywhere.  Plus, it's the tropics, California beaches will never be the same after seeing water like this.  Right now we're in Kuta, which is sort of the main tourist drag - we had  to stay close by the airport so that we could hopefully have our bags delivered tonight.  Tomorrow we head out to the artist colony of Ubud (assuming we have our bags), which is supposed to have beautiful crafts and a taste of Bali the way it used to be (Daddy, you can look this up on the internet).  We'll go from there someplace to dive, hopefully to the northeast coast of the island.

   I guess I've spoiled the news to come enough, but I've got to kill time somehow ... can't walk home alone in the dark and the girls still have another 1 1/2 hours of massage to go.  Must be nice :)

  Take Care, everyone - and please keep writing!!
  
Love Scotty