Hi to all

So as you know we have been very lazy with our blogs but as I have some spare time I am going to fill you in on what we have been up to over the last few months! As you can see by the title of this blog after we left KL we headed to Indonesia for 2 weeks of bliss in Bali and the Gili Islands. Strangely on the bus to the airport in KL we bumped into a few of our Irish mates we had met in Lao whilst tubing which was exciting. We had an idea we may be in the same area as them due to the joys of facebooks status's but had no idea we would end up on the same bus/flight! So anyway we arrived safe and sound in Kuta and headed for the guesthouse our friend Jo had booked us into. I was so happy to see her again that I (Claire) left my document holder in the taxi!!!! What an idiot... It had my passport, tickets and money so I was, well worried was an understatement! (Sorry jo and Suz btw) So I headed back to the airport to retrieve my belongings. I had to pay the taxi driver some reward money before he would give it to me. Cheeky! But in the end it all worked out ok and we were able to get on with one finally boozy night in Kuta with Jo. She showed us round some of the delightful clubs and bars (it's kind of like an Indonesian Magaluf here after being in Cambodia) we said our goodbyes the next morning as she headed to China :( Sad to see her go! The next few days were spent by the beach/pool with the Irish boys and eating quality English food at Allycats. The boys headed to the Gili islands two days before us as we looked forward to the arrival of Suz's Ed! I'm not sure if Ed remembers Kuta as he saw it 9 years ago but we had lots of fun at some classy places such as Bounty and MBarGo plus a few crazy tequila shots in Espresso's. Then came the bad news… well it was for me anyway. The speed boat that would be taking us to the Gili Islands was out of action and the only other mode of transport was a small 20 seater propeller plane. Now for someone who is afraid of flying this did not fill me with joy. But after receiving an email from the boys that the Gilis was pure paradise and Suz and Ed had no problem with it I plucked up the courage and agreed to embark upon a 25min journey of palm sweating hyperventilating hell. But boy was it worth it. We were picked up at the airport by a local guy who drove us through Monkey Mountains in Lombok, whilst playing a cassette tape of power ballad covers, I think me and Suzanne enjoyed this more than Ed JNext we hopped onto a small speedboat taking us over to Gili Trawangan. Onboard was a lady who owned one of the dive shops (The Blue Marlin) on the island and her cat who has just been neutered. Bless! We got chatting and she kindly let us dump our rucksacks in her dive shop and pointed us in the direction of some guesthouses she knew of. We ended up staying in two bungalows right next to the Blue Marlin. The first few days were spent on the gorgeous beach and drinking at the irish bar. (A place we were very familiar with by the end!) We booked a snorkeling boat trip which took us round Gili Meno and Gili Air. We saw plenty of colorful fish and a few turtles which were pretty amazing to watch plus some giant clams (although we thought they were rather average sized ;) The day was lots of fun and inspired us to book our dive courses. Unfortunately I became ill and after a visit to the local doctor I was told I was not allowed to dive. Very disappointing but I decided I would defiantly do my open water course in Ko Tao when we reached the Thai islands. Suz and Ed went ahead with their course in 3 days. And they loved it and are now qualified open water diversJ. Whilst they were busy with their course I spent my time topping up my tan with Carmel. An Irish girl who some of the lads had met in Vietnam/The Philippines. She was a good laugh and we made plans to meet up in Sydney at Christmas. The Gili Islands were gorgeous and so relaxing. There are no cars allowed on the island so bikes and horse & carts were the only was of getting around. Not that we ever needed to go far as the beach / bars were right on our doorstep. There are no police on the island so you can imagine the sorts of things you can get your hands on. Not that we would ever partake in such activities lol but it was everywhere! Ed and Suz left the Gilis a day before me as he needed to get his flight back to Papua. When I reached them in Kuta at our guesthouse I learned that Ed had missed his flight by a day! Bad news was he had to pay for a new flight, good news he had an extra night with us girlies. J We headed to Allycats for a farewell dinner where suz and Ed partook in the Monster Mix Grill Eating challenge! Oh my god I have never seen so much food on one plate. There was so much meat it was unbelievable! There was no point in me even entertaining the idea of giving it a go as only something like 14 or 15 people had completed the challenge. Ed tried his hardest to eat his as quick as possible to beat the record (I seriously thought he was going to be sick at one point), were as suz went for the slowly but surely option. Unfortunately Ed didn't break any records but he did lick his plate clean. And I was proud of suz as she almost made it but was defeated by the onion rings! After a quick nap (Boy they needed it after all that food) we headed out for some final farewell drinks together. The next morning we regretfully packed up our things and headed for the airport. We said goodbye to Ed and hopped onto our Air Asia flight back to KL and for the first time in years I actually wasn't scared. That tiny propeller plane actually may have helped me. I was looking forward to finally getting my bank cards as mum had sent them in advance to our hostel but after spending two weeks on the beach we were not overly enthused to be back in a bustling city again, but thought we might try and make it up those Petronas Towers. Would you believe it after our first failed trip before Bali we failed a further two times to make it in time to get tickets (first come first served) with a hot and sweaty 30 min walk each way we were not amused, not to mention having to set the dreaded alarm for no reason both mornings. It was time to get out of there and head back to Thailand! So we booked ourselves onto a bus and embarked upon what would turn out to be an 18 hour journey to Phi Phi (See next blog) I'm not joking by telling you we were like kids in a candy shop as we discovered our coach was luxurious compared to the dodgy metal heaps they call buses in Vietnam. Our comfy huge seats with foot rests reclined like beds and they even provided us with a fetching tartan blanket! Wow no mozzys in sight and not even a hint of ear piercing foreign music/ royal variety show style TV which we had previously been given the honor of listening to on repeat for hours on end on numerous bus trips….. Next stop Thailand!!! Keep reading Miss you all.Love C & S xxxxxxx