Being picked up by our shuttle bus we were slightly relieved to see a half normal looking bus, we were thinking that it could be one of the trucks we have seen people in the back of! Our journey was fine though up to Ubud and driving through Bali we saw so much, lots more bikes, cars, school children walking on the side of the busy roads and lots of stalls lining the streets selling things. We were dropped off and found our room at Nick's homestay, which was nice but didn't have aircon. (We have realised this is top of our list now!). After exploring the streets, which were still busy like Kuta but with less hassle, we found a spot for dinner and had crispy duck, rice and spicy vegetables, it also came with a soup that half way down we found a chicken foot in, yummy! We planned to be spiritual in Ubud, like Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love, our first stop was the sacred moneky forest. The monkeys were not shy; they literally jumped on peoples heads and in their pockets on the hunt for food, me and Meg would rather not have raebies so were carefull not to take anything in with us they might like. They were very cute though and we even got to visit a temple in the grounds and were dressed in traditional skirts and wraps so we were allowed in. After relaxing in our room and having a cold drink we went to visit the restaurant overlooking the rice field that always looked busy and the food was really good. After, we saw the Chinese New Year in watching a local live band and they asked us to join a traditional salad toss, which we then ate, which is meant to bring luck financially!!

Our next morning was different, we were up at 2am and being drove to the bottom of Mount Batung, ready for our hike to watch the sunset. We were not as prepared as we thought and the hike was extreme, especially since our guide thought we were super fit and basically ran up, overtaking numerous groups that were resting. We gave in as I was about to pass out and asked him to stop, it was 4am but we were sweating, it was so steep, climbing rocks in torch light with no energy. Not a good mix but we made it to the top exhausted and amazed they don't warn you about how dangerous and difficult it is. As we waited for the sun to rise we were very cold, but ate our boiled egg and jam with bread. Soon the sun appeared and it looked beautiful, we were above the clouds and could see the lake and villages below. We visited the active volcano after and the steam from the crater warmed us up before a very scary treck downhill and slippy rocks. We were then glad to be back and slept most of the morning. Our next day was just as busy as we had a day tour planned, we visited the royal family temple first and Meg practised her Yoga, then a coffee plantation, learning all about what they grow and seeing the wild cat that poos out the very expensive Luwarta coffee!! Up next was Lake Beratang and its temple but the weather was bad and it started raining heavily so we left for our final location Tanah Lot temple overlooking the sea. We were meant to see the sunset here but it was cloudy so we took lots of nice pictures and were blessed by the monks and holy water, they put a flower behind our ear and what we think was rice on our forehead. Feeling very zen we had a very tasty organic curry and got some rest before we left for our next stop Gili Trawangan the next day.

Lots of love from the newly spiritual and full of culture Amy and Megs xxxxxxxx