Hello everyone, thank you for all the birthday messages, that was really kind of you all. It was nice to hear from you, although a little sad not to be celebrating with you in person LI had a really great birthday; to start off, we got up at 1.30 am to be picked up at 2.00am and driven 2 hours to Mount Batur, a live volcano north of where we were staying.We arrived at the base of the volcano at approx 4.00am.It obviously was pitch black, and for some reason I felt really sick - not sure whether it was the beer or 2 I had the day prior!!!We met our guide and then started our 2 hour trek to the top of the mountain in the dark!!!!! We did have torches but it was still difficult to see much.It was amazing see all the stars; I have never seen so many before!There was myself and Chris, our guide, and then his friend who sells drinks to the tourists.The trek was really quite hard work, especially as I was trying not to be sick all the way up!By about an hour and half in to the walk it got really steep and difficult and I was a little like Linds was when me and the uni girls went to Italy and did the gorge walk.The guide just grabbed my hand and was pulling me along until the top, thank god, as I nearly slipped a dozen times.Anyway, after a couple of stops to catch our breath we got to the top of the volcano, at about ten to 6 in the morning, where I proceeded to be sick, but then started to feel much better!We then sat and waited while the sun rose over the volcano and over Lake Batur.It was absolutely beautiful, the view was stunning, it was incredible to see the sun rise, the other volcanoes and mountains even from the other islands as well as actually see where we had just walked.To be honest I'm quite glad it was dark as it really was quite high - 1717 meters high to be precise, which may have put me off a little!After the sun rose and being a little happy snappy, the guide then showed us the crater and the hot steam coming from the mountain before having to walk back down!The hike down was probably hairier as the rocks were really loose and it was quite difficult staying upright at times, although we both managed it!We then got back in to our little car and slept for the 2 hour journey back whilst our driver took us back to Kuta, but not to Hotel Lusa, to an amazing hotel called Ramayana resort and Spa, where my wonderful boyfriend had booked us in for the night to celebrate my birthday.After a slight hiccup of the receptionist not being able to find our reservation, we eventually were guided to our room on the 9th floor (which happened to be the deluxe floor) room 901!It was absolutely stunning with a beautiful four poster bed, couch, bathroom larger than our living room in the flat and a balcony (again as big as our living room) outside with a sea view and seating area.The room and hotel were fab, and the 2 pools were pretty gorgeous also! The only problem being I was very sick and spent most of the day in bed, although it was a lovely bed and at least I made good use out of the room!At about 5 in the evening I started to feel better and managed to get showered just in time for a birthday cake to be delivered to the room, which was huge (but to be honest not that tasty, but hey the thought was there).We then headed to the 9th floor's private lounge and balcony (very posh) and had afternoon tea of yummy cakes and orange juice (probably not the best thing after being sick all day but I was going to make the most of it).We then headed down to the very posh restaurant by the pool and enjoyed a complimentary drink before ordering a yummy meal (for me steamed rice and veg to be on the safe side L )Had a fairly early night as still not feeling a hundred percent and plus the early start had done us both in, we were both also starting to ache from the trek.Anyway, the next morning felt much better so we enjoyed a yummy breakfast, a complimentary foot and leg massage and relaxed by the pool before heading back to Malaysia.All in all it was a shame that I was sick, but Chris made it fantastic and the hotel was perfect so he did well JThe only other things we forgot to mention in the other blog were that on the first day we got "kidnapped" (we had won a special prize) and taken to some office where some guy called Ronnie tried to sell us a time share!!! We sat for 2 hours, drank lots of free drinks, said no to the time share and walked away with a pair of free tickets to the water park.The water park (Waterbom) being the other thing we forgot to mention, which was really fun, especially as Chris has never been to one, we regressed quite a few years and had lots of fun on the slides (Jamie would have been jealous).Anyway, I think that sums up my birthday and our time in Bali, and thanks again for all the messages.Hope everyone is well and not too jealous of us having a nice hot summer!Take care and see you in October, maybe, hehehe!

Love Elle & Chris