What more can you wish, than making dreams come true? It just happened to us in August. For three kids and their parents the dream of meeting Dr. Lawrence Blair, a world famous anthropologist, who lives in Bali, came true.

One day I got this e-mail in: "We (Michael my husband and I, Sarah) were completely inspired and riveted by Lawrence Blair and his fantastic account of his travels with his brother in the book and series ‘Ring of Fire’. We have made several trips to Indonesia ourselves and I have completed (almost) a masters degree in South East Asian area studies at SOAS. We are coming back to Bali after 17 years’ absence and have been searching for contact details for Lawrence since as we started planning this trip. His name came up as associated with your web site– the only link to him we have been able to find. We would love to meet Dr Blair and maybe buy him a few drinks/dinner if he is interested. Can you help us get in touch? Our three children Sam Abbie and Will (17, 13 and 8) – the expensive reason we haven’t been back to SE Asia for a long time, have also got the travel bug. Will is particularly fascinated by his tales of the Komodo dragon. Please, please can you help??"

Well, here I am. Quite moved by this mail and... I know Lawrence from several boat trips I was down in Komodo Island. But somehow the addresses I had were our of date and I have not seen him in years, so I could not reach him. In a way I believed that destiny will put all in place. And it did... On the Lestari Restaurant opening, who sits just 2 tables next to me...? Lawrence Blair. I felt kind of funny asking him to meet a family from England, blablabla, you know the groupie style... But Lawrence was cool and gave me his card and said: "If they interesting I met them." Deep inside I knew that they "interesting". But as life runs sometimes, they next days were busy and.. bad me - I forgot about it. The card got lost in the bulks on my table. Until Sarah wrote again, that they are now coming soon. After a search for more than an hour the card showed up - you just need to be organized... So, I mailed the details to Sahra and she wrote a wonderful letter to Lawrence. When the positive answer from Lawrence came in I was quite moved, so now read what happened when the Shorrocks came to Bali in August 2007:

By Sahra Shorrocks with pictures of their holidays:

How does it feel to finally meet a hero? During the 1970s and 80s, daring young explorers Dr Lawrence Blair and his brother Lorne traveled throughout Indonesia, bravely seeking out and documenting the undiscovered and the extraordinary. Their aim: to record for posterity a range of endangered inhabitants of the archipelago, both animal and human; to observe the behavior of each and to relate it to our own human condition.

During our August summer holidays in Bali a dream came true. My family and I got to meet and interview Lawrence Blair.

Our love affair with Bali started a long time ago. Back in 1982, twenty five years this month, my husband Michael and I set out from depressed gray England for the picture postcard island of Bali. Completely enchanted by its peoples and belief systems, we were compelled to re-visit again in 1987 and 89. In the meantime, I took a one year master’s degree in South East Asian Area Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. Michael and I also both also regularly attended gamelan classes and other Indonesian cultural events.

After the birth of our first child Samuel Arjuna – named for the Marbahrata hero, the subsequent birth of a daughter, Abigail Rani – named after an inspirational Balinese girl and a further son William Rufus, travel became less straight forward, both from a practical and financial perspective.

Meantime, the Blair boys kept alive our dreams and via their films and books gave us a way of sharing the allure of Indonesia with our children. Not surprisingly, the kids were transfixed as the brothers brought to the screen an intoxicating cocktail of academic incision, humor and derring do. After the untimely demise of his brother Lorne in an accident in Kuta in 1996, Lawrence has continued with their shared legacy, conducting hair-raising dives off the coral shelf of the islands, forging into forested interiors and relating these findings to the spirits of South East Asia.

Our eldest son is now making his application for University and has to my delight decided he too wants to study anthropology. It seems the Blairs have proved a most successful role model. Daughter Abi had also just won a story writing competition based on the Blair brothers’ time with the Asmat tribes of Irian Jaya, while William was completely in awe of Lawrence’s time held hostage up a tree for five hours by a ravenous Komodo dragon!

Our silver wedding anniversary looming, we decided it was time to share a taste of real Bali with our children. One morning, musing over a cup of coffee, Michael said ‘why don’t you try to contact Lawrence’. Several Goggle searches later it became evident that there was only one personal link to Dr Blair on the internet and that was via “Bali for Kids.com”. So I contacted the web site with my story.

Ni Lah, Bali for Kids’ fantastically pro-active editor read our tale and swung into action. A week later she had produced not only an e-mail address but lots of kindly advice on staying in Bali. Moreover, we found that her web site does a great job in making time in Bali so much more enjoyable for kids and families alike with its very easily accessible list of all the cultural events happening on the island each month and its practical health tips.

Dr Blair clearly is a very patient man, and when I did finally reach him he granted us not just one meeting but two. And I have to tell you, reality did not disappoint. He currently shares his home with his wife and items collected from all over the Indonesian archipelago including the giant sword from a sword fish and various artistically arranged insects in museum cases. We all had so many questions to ask Lawrence that time just flew by. He continues to explore hitherto undiscovered parts of Indonesia and is currently working on a project documenting the fauna of an inland sea - due to form the basis of a series of films later in the year. He also takes regular escorted diving trips with friends in the massively diverse Banda Sea and provides corporate training on the power of the mind to problem solve. His soon-to-be- launched DVDs - Myths, Magic and Monsters - are a must-see for anyone interested in travel, zoology, theology or let’s face it, life in general. For anyone with kids there could not be a more fun introduction to life unseen in Indonesia. I commend them to all parents as a fabulous starting point to the journey of a life time...Sarah Shorrocks

Sadly for us - they did not take any pictures from the meeting. You know the groupie feeling again... I also did not meet the Shorrocks while they were in Bali, you know - the tourists coming to Bali are so busy running around, they just have no time. Someone from my home was here last year, the ones from the Taman Kecak, I am glad we met twice during their stay. But I guess they all keep on reading Bali for Kids.com and one day they will come back. As for the Shorrocks, knowing that the kids could have such a life changing experience is a nice feeling and makes me very, very happy. We meet our biggest goal on Bali for Kids.com with the great help of DR. Lawrence Blair - Changing the life of kids!!! I am thankful and happy that Lawrence agreed to meet them and as I heard they all became quite friends. So one day, perhaps one of the Shorrock kids will travel in Lawrence footprints around Indonesia, making movies about the great legendary anthropologist they meet when they where young. We never now what will be the end of this story....

Thanks to everybody who made this story possible!!!

Ni Lah - Editor Bali for Kids.com

(PS: "Hey Lawrence - Get a web site!)