11/10/2011:

I had a lay in and free breakfast again before transferring to Sanur, the taxi driver was a muppet and couldnt find it but I got there at about 2pm. The hostel, the Big Pineapple, was much better and I instantly got talking to people! I spent the affternoon updating my blog and sorting my photos. I got chatting to an elder guy from Belgium named Bert. He was a computer genius and had started a company involving networking and linked in training. He showed me some awesome stuff with linked in and then we went out for dinner with another girl from Belgium, Lida. We had an indonesian platter of food which was awesome and a beer. Bert insisted on paying for dinner as he was out here for a conference. We went out for a few beers after with a South African couple from the hostel. We had a few beers and a lot of laughs. Before I knew it it was 3am and time for bed.

12/10/2011:

I awoke at 10am and after a chill headed down to the beach and town for a walkabout to familarise myself with Sanur. I walked down the beach for about 5km and walked back through the town. Once back at the hostel I got chatting with an English guy called Glenn. We chilled around the pool with others and enjoyed a beer before me Glenn, Juliana a brazilian and a finish guy went for dinner. After we went for a few games of pool and a drink at a local bar. We came back at midnight as we were all shattered.

13/10/2011:

A group of us started the day with breakfast on the beach which consisted of fruit, juice, coffee and eggs on toast all for less than 3 quid. After the day was spent on the beach sunbathing and going for the occasional dip. We returned to the hostel before dinner and drinks.

14/10/2011:

Four of us being me, Sara (a Canadian staying at the hostel I had met the previous day), Juliana and the Finish guy went on an organised tour laid on by the hostel. We started the day by visiting a monkey forest. The monkeys were extremely mischevious and intimated you into throwing all the banana's you had purchased at them. Monkey's were getting busy all over the place and stealing anything they could of tourists in order to trade them for food. The younger monkey's were sweeter and let you touch them but turned agressive when bored! I sat down to play with two of them and they tried to rob me and then bite me near "my area" when I kicked up a fuss. I snuck a banana ino the side pocket of the Finnish guys' bag and the monkeys attacked him for 15 minutes before it fell out. I told him and he was not impressed! Next we moved on to Ubud where we took a look around the city and market. The most popular selling souvenir was the wooden shaped penis which had a variety of different uses being "ornaments" or bottle openers. The Brazillian bought one for her "friend". We went for a buffet lunch in Kintamani where we had a spectacular view of Mt. Batur, an active volcano. After lunch we headed to Goa Gagah temple were I was FORCED to wear a sarong before heading to see the rice paddies. We ended the day by watching the sunset on Jimbaran Beach. We returned to the hostel after a long day and a lot of time sat in the car. We enjoyed an evening dinner at "Seafood and Good food" and a few beers.

15/10/2011:

The early part of the day was agin spent on the beach, I finished reading The Kite Runner which I had started reading a few days earlier. I really enjoyed the book but was disapointed to learn that it was a novel, I should have known though really. Nonethessless I enjoyed it and have been semi converted to fiction, well semi fiction anyway. We watched Wales lose to France in the rugby in the afternoon and were bitterly disapointed. We returned to the hostel and decided to lift our spirits with a big night out. We played kings, similar to ring of fire, to get us warmed up. I ended up being the troll for about half an hour which meant that I was sat under the table for that part of the game. The downside was the lack of social contact but the upside was that I could tap anyone on the knee and claim some of their drink. There was also other upsides of being at under the table... After we went to the pool bar for the night where we all continued to get smashed. We sacked of the pool as we were far to drunk and decided to play a funner game instead. Basically me and Simon thought it would be clever to find the funniest way of stopping a fan in the bar. He chose to use his tounge, I chose to use my penis. Luckilly it didn't hurt as the fan was soft! After this and several other antics, including making Sara cry by play fighting and falling on her knee, I thought it would be wise to go back to the hostel to bed.

16/10/2011:

There was a few soar heads this morning! I layed on the sofa most of the day watching films (Rise of the planet of the apes, Friends with benefits, Zombieland and The bank job) on the internet tv in the hostel. I prised myself of the sofa for the New Zealand vs Australia game and tried to consume a few beers to improve on the situation. It kind of worked! In the evening we went for a steak dinner at Arena, a local resturant, and the whole delicous meal cost about 12 quid.

17/10/2011:

Me, Simon and Ciaran (an Irish guy from the hostel) left Sanur for the Gili Islands. It was an early start and we nearly missed the boat as we were busy trying to rehydrate as we were still a bit hungover from the big night 2 days ago. The boat ride was short enough to be tolerable and we arrived at Gili Trawangan just before noon. We checked into a bungalow before hitting the beach. The Gili Islands are so close to paradise, we chilled out and took it all in until dinner time. An early night was required as we were all still pretty tired.

18/10/2011:

After a good nights rest we awoke early and decided to move to accomodation which was more similar to a hostel, this turned out to be a bit of a mistake. We rushed to join the snorkeling trip we had booked the day before. The trip consisted of three stints of snorkeing followed by lunch on Gili Air. The snorkeling was the best I had encountered yet! The water was mostly crystal clear and the abundance of fish and coral made for great photos. The current was strong and without realising I was a fair distance away from our boat. I had left my flippers on the boat so struggled to swim back to what I belived was my boat. After a hard swim I peeked my head over the side and realised I was at the wrong boat! I turned around and saw my boat miles away. I reluctantly got back in and swam for what felt like an enternity. I wasn't the last back as a few other were caught out by this, some more than once! From then on the flippers did not leave my feet. Boys being boys we ofcourse messed about by mooning and making innapropriate signals to other snorkelers. We returned to Gili Trawangan and chilled on the beach before dinner at the market which consisted of a huge plate of meat and local food for a couple of quid. We ended the evening with with other travellers we had all met during our travels through Sanur.

19/10/2011:

We awoke early, sweating, as the new accomodation was rubbish and the fans didn't work properly. As the service was awful, they didn't give us toilet paper or bring us a menu after 45 minutes, we decided to hunt for better accomodation. We found an air conditioned bungalow with a TV and DVD player at a good price so booked it, it turned out to be a great place to try and hide from the many hangovers that came later in the week. We had another beach day, why not as we were in paradise, and after another dinner at the market headed out on a big night. We ended up partying in the street outside of the Irish bars sweating with hundreds of other partiers. It was a crazy night and we drank loads but all felt pretty soba. Well I thought I was soba and was saying that to Simon on the way home when 5 seconds later I fell down the curb - FAIL! He giggled and pulled me to my feet, almost going over himself. We met a lot of people during the night all of which had connections to the Big Pineapple hostel in Sanur - a place you can never leave!

20/10/2011:

The new room was definatly a great investment! Me and Simon felt awful. We awoke at lunch time and went for breakfast, the rest of the day was spent in bed watching films. We dragged ourselves out of bed for a good curry before returning for more films and an early night.

21/10/2011:

Still feeling a little rough (god we are getting old) me and Simon opted for yet another beach day and decided to stop being lazy and have a bit of a workout. It was pretty painful but we survived. We geared ourselves up for another crazy night out (and after a quick power nap) headed out for some food and then party. What can I say - it was a messy one! I returned at 6am and Simon 10am. Apprantly I got a little lost on the way home but I live to tell the tale so am happy.

22/10/2011:

The hangover was worse than the previous one! We got up for breakfast and then I did not move from my bed all day - not even to eat! I felt sick and had a dodgy stomach, Simon was the same, we may have outdone ourselves on this one. Ciaran returned from a mountain trek in the evening and we all had an early night. We spent the night tossing and turning and fighting over the toilet!

23/10/2011:

Me and Simon left paradise in the morning still feeling awful and still both having a bad tummy and jaded numbness in our heads. We were on our way back to the Big Pineapple in Sanur, we had mates there and were looking forward to the Rugby world cup final. We arrrived about an hour before kick off and got ourselves down to The Trophy Pub to secure a bar seat so that we had something to hang on to. I forced a beer or two down me, which helped for a while, and enjoyed the game even though the French nearly snatched it. I had ate one meal in 24 hours but was not hungry so went back to the hostel to watch a few DVD's and crawl into my pit as early as possible.

24/10/2011:

Finally I had shook this awful two day hangover! Simon left in the morning and I headed down to the beach with Georgia, an Australian, who had just checked into the hostel. I read Shantaram which had bought a few days earlier and had a blast in the sea. I managed to force some food down me at breakfast and fresh fruit was smashed for lunch, the fruit is particulary good in South East Asia. We went out for dinner as a big group and went for a beer at the pool bar before bed.

25/10/2011:

I was loving the fruit so had some more for breakfast and went for anither beach with some newcomers to the hostel, Gemma, Jeremy and Micheal. I read and sunbathed and then me and Gemma went for a paddle. We were interupted by a woman in her 60's who was presumably German approaching us. The wind was blowing and her dress was flapping, then me and Gemma got a treat!!! She was bloody on show. She asked if we could watch her stuff while she went for a swim, she was promptly told to 'do one' so we could drag ourselves out of this awful situation. We walked back to our sunbeds. The woman preceeded to fully undress and stroll into the sea without a care in the world. To say the lest this is frowned upon in South East Asia and the locals were pissing themselves when they finally cottoned on. We returned to the hostel and I blasted out another film. In the evening we went to a cafe for dinner. The place was cheap so I decided to have the prawn salad special, it ended up being twice the price of anything on the menu but it was awesome so I didn't care. We swung by Linga Lang bar on the way home where there was a live band. Ciaran had returned and treated us to a few songs, he was surprisingly good! After we headed back to the hostel with a few bottles of Bali's finest and had a bit of a party. I had a good chat with a Canadian guy called Kloburn who had been staying at the hostel. I hadn't liked him over the previous few days but after a while he grew on me and has turned out to be a really interesting guy.

26/10/2011:

I awoke riducously early and had breakfast in the hostel. I headed for Huta to meet Louise and Nicole who I had met in the Gili's. They had been surfing and said it was awesome so I thought I would give it a blast. I had tried in Malibu before but we were too cheap to spring for lessons so were awful. This time though a two hour lesson and all rentals was only 150,000 Rupiah, just over a tenner! I took to it well and was standing within 15 minutes. At the end of the session I was riding the waves well. I was knackered after as it was hard work but it was so worth it. My intructor was a small local called 'Andy' and was my age, he couldn't believe how young I was for my size. After I bought him a Slurpee as a thanks and he loved it. He was a good teacher but his surfer skills wern't amazing to say the least. However, I had a great day. I returned to Sanur and went for dinner with the group before a relaxed evening and early night.

27/10/2011:

I was knackered and behind on a few tasks so spent the day chilling out at the hostel passing time with other travellers who came for a chat. I played with Soran again, the hostel owners kid who is only 3 but a right bloody handful. He looks and acts like Tarzan (a little like his Dad) but is a good kid. I snook off for a quiet snack in the evening before a film and an eary night.

28/10/2011:

I had made friends with one of the guy's who worked at the hostel, Made, during the Ubud tour, he had said he would take me fishing and kept his word. The whole thing kind of spiralled and before I knew it me and Made had organised a sea fishing trip for 5 guests. We headed down to the bay and boarded a traditional fishing boat. The others had no confidence it would make it out to see, I didnt want to lose face so reassured them it would be fine! It was! We didn't catch many or any sizeable fish but it was a great day. We were with Made and his friends, the sun was shining and we had beers! Two girls caught a sprat each early on and we thought that there would be an abundance of fish, there wasn't but at the end of the day the reels went crazy. It was just a shame all of them were missed. For me it was even worse! I had some idea of what I was doing so grabbed the biggest rod and a lure rather than a prawn. I was banging into absolute monsters all day! One of them took me out for about half an hour, i tired it and started to bring it in but was snapped! I put it down to bad luck and strived on. Two line breaks, one huge bent hook and a loss later and still nothing. Yet I had three great fights and we all had a fantastic day. I have never fought a fih as strong as that and am still sore now. We returned to the hostel and I chilled out in the evening, I skipped dinner as the bug had returned and started to watch a film before falling asleep in the chair so took myself to bed.

Hey all!

Hope everyone is well, I am leaving for Australia on Tuesday and cannot wait. Will keep blogging away.

Speak soon,

Aaron X