Obama begins nostalgic vacation in Indonesia with his family

BALI, Indonesia – Former U.S. President Barack Obama and his family arrived Friday on the resort island of Bali to begin a vacation in Indonesia, where he lived for several years as a child, officials said.

Obama, his wife and daughters Malia and Sasha arrived on a private jet at the military airport in the provincial capital, Denpasar, base commander Col. Wayan Superman said.

They then drove to a resort in Ubud, an arts and culture center amid hills and rice paddies where they will spend most of their vacation on Bali.

He said they were accompanied by Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and would also visit Yogyakarta, an ancient city on the main island of Java where his mother, Ann Dunham, did anthropological research.

Obama moved to Indonesia in 1967 at age 6 after his divorced mother remarried an Indonesian man. She stayed on after the marriage broke up, working as an anthropologist and development aid worker, but Obama returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his grandparents.

Foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had invited Obama to take a holiday in the country after leaving office.

Jokowi also invited the Obamas to visit the Bogor Palace in West Java during their nine-day trip.

Local media reported that the Obamas would visit Borobudur, a 9th-century Buddhist temple complex located near Yogyakarta.

Obama is also scheduled to speak at an Indonesian Diaspora Congress in Jakarta on July 1.