His mum and dad were very welcoming, and given my early start and another late night was looking forward to a nice lie in. The weather was roasting hot so we needed to keep a noisy fan on during the night but I managed to get off eventually. Nice lie in I was thinking under my mosquito net sweating like a teenager on a first date. Now here is an interesting fact for you. Virtually all working class Philippinos keep hens for the eggs. This also means they need...

When I worked in Saudi Arabia I became good friends with one of my team called Angelito, or Lito for short, who was from the Philippines. He was a bit of a local Huggy Bear who could get you most things you needed that were not available in the shops, shall we say. I think you get the picture. Anyhow he left not longer after me and went back home, so I said I would visit on my travels. When I landed at Manila I looked for him but all I could see was some s...

I had a sneaking suspicion that booking with the travel office next door would not end well, but it was the same price as a taxi and my thought process was that I did not need to worry about finding the ticket office at Bangsal and that I would be shepherded through the process. The fact that the price changed three times between us agreeing and me filling in the form and paying a deposit made my little voice want to tell him to sod off, but a glutton for punish...

Early start as always, I had to be ready for 6.30am pickup.For once the journey was pretty painless and the boat company were pretty professional, apart from the Ozzie ski instructor who not only had to wear his baseball cap backwards and constantly wear his Oakley shades he also had to tell everyone, especially the girls, he was a ski instructor in New Zealand, and only worked winter and spent the summer travelling and partying. Thats because as a ski instructor...

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......