Next day I Headed north to Ubud, and it took longer to get out of Kuta than the rest of the journey.

But what a transformation. Gorgeous rice fields, palm trees and peace and quiet. No pushy shop staff.

Luckily I met a couple on the bus from Slovenia that had actually booked the same hotel and knew where it was, so for probably the first time ever, managed to avoid the usual taxi shafting upon arrival.

Hotel was mint, really nice with a room overlooking the pool....finally!

is this the turning point in my travels..

Only problem was it started to rain.

Oh well it was nice and relaxing, so I just sat overlooking the pool and tried to catch up on my emails.

Later on the rain stopped so I went out for some food and was really impressed at the quality and the prices, bearing in mind I was paying over the odds touristy prices.

Next day I decided to get a moped and head up to the mountain as had been suggested. I had a few laps around town and went down to the monkey forest (its a forest with monkeys in it believe it or not) but decided as I had seen a monkey and a tree before I would save it for the way back.
I had been told that it gets cold as you get high up, so packed trousers, a fleece, wore my big waterproof boots, and packed waterproofs etc etc.

So I blasted out of town and the sun was adding to my t shirt tan a treat. I was desperate to not use my helmet to get a bit of a tan, but had been warned about the police using any little excuse to stop you for a bribe, let alone a big one, so decided to put up with the shame of the sad tan lines.
The road out of town and up past the paddy fields was really beautiful, and as I got further up I felt the temperature drop slightly, and was waiting for it to start to get really cold.

Then some kids on a bike waved me down and shouted Police at me.

I asked them what the problem was and they said the police were stopping everyone further up and I should not go as it was a big fine if I did not have international driving license.

By the way in case you are wondering if I had mastered indonesian in a week, this is not the case.... most people I met spoke really good english.

They suggested that I visit their Lurwak coffee shop in the mean time...........
Typical I thought, so much for the friendly warning, it was just made up to try to get me to stop. So I told them maybe later and blasted off again.

Then I thought it was actually probably true, so pulled over and stuffed all my big money down my pants just in case, and just left a few quid in my pockets.
I was thinking I was no where near the top yet as I had not needed my fleece or trousers, then I saw the road block in the distance.

I am English, I can get out of this I thought so just slowed down as I neared. Luckily they had pulled a car over so I thought they would be busy dealing with him, so I just smiled and looked ahead and carried on.

But no such luck as one of them jumped out in front of me.

Busted!

He asked me for documents which I had and then he asked for international driving license!

All I had was a receipt for my laundry so tried to argue I would take it to the local station later.
Nope he was having none of it, he showed me a book saying I would get fined half a million and how many people he had already caught.
So I emptied my pockets and showed him all my money (about three quid), and said I dont want to pay a fine and offered him the money.

The funniest thing was he pretended as if this had never happened before. And looked over to his colleague looking all shocked.

Actually for a second I s*** myself and wondered if I had actually got it wrong, but then the act continued with him asking his boss if he could help me.
So he slipped the money in his pocket and he waved me off telling me I was almost at the top and to have a good day.
I said what happens on the way back, are you going to try get me again? you got all my money. He just laughed and waved me off, so I just had to hope for the best.

I cant be near the top I thought, I am not cold yet.

Then I went around the next bend and there it was, the top.

I had missed a checkpoint over taking a van, so next thing I had policemen running in front of me again and waving me down.
Now I thought I had really had it, but they just pointed to a little hut and said I needed a ticket to enter the area.

Phew!
I stopped at the first restaurant as it looked like a good location and indeed it was.

Got some great photos, ordered a beer and then literally within five minutes it went dark and started to rain.
I had been really lucky.

The beers were a fortune, but it was either that and wait for the rain to stop or get drenched.
Well after a few beers I realised the rain was not stopping, so decided to just get wet.

Funnily enough on the way down the cops had disappeared.

I had some seen some Luwak coffe places on the way up, but seeing as the lads had actually saved me some money, I pulled over to their place.
It was touristy to hell with a tour and and all the bulls*** that goes with it, but I stayed with it.

I had always wanted to try it to see if it really did taste that much better, or if it was just created by the wealthy to add to the smell of their farts.
It was ok, but I cant see me getting it especially imported to stick in my coffee maker.

So another box ticked, I headed back down the mountain and it rained like the end of the world.

It all started running in my boots, so I had to pull over and take them off, which was a bit tricky given the state of my still dodgy ankle.

Anyhow, lived to tell the tale.

Sadly the monkey forest was missed out due to the weather.

Next stop Lombok!!