Date of Departure: February 8th

People: Shannon, Kevin, Sara, Charlotte and I.

People meeting us later in the trip: Jen, Claire and Richard.

A Break to Bali!! Wahey.....the irony is that "bali bali" in Korean means "hurry up /faster" which is the complete opposite to how the Balinese people live. Laid back and relaxed (that could be helped by the amount of magic mushrooms that they consume on a daily basis...hey I am not judging if that's the kind of things they want to do!)

So, finally get a holiday (or should I say a vacation if my American English is to be correct!) February 8th 2008 2am and we gather together at the normal meeting spot; ETland. ETland became the new rendezvous point after the YMCA began to feel rather tiresome. Note: ETland is about 50 yards away from the YMCA. But the overwhelming essence of freedom that one gains from mixing things up from time to time is pretty incredible. (Wow those happy enzymes from the Sun really do work....let's see how long they last hey?!)

This is the first leg of the journey...or I'd prefer to call it an adventure...sounds far more exciting. Grab a taxi, flash a piece of paper that has Korean written on it (fingers crossed it holds the right information or it's not going to be a good start that's for sure...) Taxi pulls up to a extremely dark gas station (still working on my Americanisms) where there appears not to have had any living creatures inhabiting this place for quite some time. Its freezing I would just like to point out. Nobody is wearing sufficient clothing in order to limit the amount of bulky clothing that would have to be push to the bottom of our bags on arrival to an exceptionally hotter country than the one we are about to depart. (I say "about" ...our flight is at 10:35am...so there is a bit of waiting around.....) However, it just didn't seem like such a crazy idea to have worn a few more layers now. What did seem crazy was the fact that we arrived at the desolate gas station at 2:20am ish and we had to wait for another 40 minutes in icy weather. The ninja, that I resembled, was feeling a bit frost bitten on her tootsies. It may have had something to do with the thin pair of socks that I was wearing or the almost touching the floor because there is no sole left on my Adidas trainers that I have had for 5 years OR a combination of the 2....you work it out.

Eventually, drifts of Korean people start pulling up to the empty dark and eerie gas station and wait in their warm cars whilst sporting big puffy jackets that they will leave with their loved ones when the coach finally arrives so not to waste space in their suitcases....clever. Wham bam on 3am the coach and the ticket man arrive, hurrying everyone along, the Korean way/ 'style'. Also the Korean 'style' is to try and queue jump constantly. Even after a "no way I was here first, in fact I have been waiting here for 40 minutes in the ice cold" glare.A big pet peeve. Just don't push me, especially when I am tired and hungry! Bloody Koreans.

Only 2 and a bit hours later we arrive in Seoul, Incheon. Quick arrival due to the lack of traffic on the roads. Usually an advantage but not in this case. Not being able to check in until 7:30am gives us a lot of thinking time. Fluttering around for hours we managed to collect tickets, get Visa so that we can get back to Korea (NB. British citizens don't have to pay....Canadians do! Shame.) Sleep in the airport lounge for a short time. Get on the plane. 2 hour delay..............while ON the plane. Something to do with petrol. Try not to feel too nervous about being on a plane with a problem associated with petrol. Finally flying in the air occurs. A stupid amount of hours later we are in Denpaser(?), Bali. It's dark and raining. Is this what the next 2 weeks is going to be? A worried Jen and Claire greet us at the airport. Hot, sweaty and grimy the 7 of us squeeze into a car with all the baggage. A quick car ride takes us to Kuta. Kuta is south west of the airport and is supposedly the big party place of the island. The location of the best waves for novice surfers too. In the dark raining nightwe find a relatively pleasant hotel-"New Arena." 200,000 rp per night. In pounds.....£10. Not bad hey.

A good night's sleep leads to the cloudy first day in Kuta. The overcast weather is the most common type of weather that sees people getting burnt. FACT. I know this but still deny myself sunscreen. It's dry for the best part of the morning and early afternoon but soon the downpour plummets onto the streets. Unfortunately this downpour is about to be my first downfall of the holiday. Yes, that's right. I slipped and fell on the kerb. It was a pretty hard fall too. Yelling some swear words gave me some comfort in the embarrassment of falling on a relatively busy road. In other words it was the busiest road in Kuta. The difficult decision was do I let the tears tickle down my cheek or do I put a "thumbs up" and "oops" at it? I decide for the second notion as it shows me off in a fun loving way I reckon....? Hmm.

Blood floods my left leg on our quest to get back to the hotel which seems to have disappeared into obscurity. 20 minutes later, back up the same path we find the hotel where I can wash it up. It really hurt! Finally get some good food. No kimchi in sight! Brilliant. You see in Korea you get about 10 crap side dishes before you even order anything. And as soon as you've placed an order the bill is slammed onto the table. Simply refreshing to be able to order the food and get all the dishes at the same time. Something else the Koreans fail to do. They often share their meals so it seems to be an alien concept that if you order a meal individually, it means that meal is for an individual. And that perhaps everyone at the table would like to eat together at the same time. Each to their own. Each to their own.

One more night at Kuta and 5 of us move on. Onwards to a fairly remote place called Uluwatu. This place hosts an outside performance of traditional Balinese dancing. (One of the things I definitely wanted to do in Bali. That and go surfing.) The first point of call as always is to find some accommodation. Slightly worrying at first! There was a serious lack of hotel esque buildings and westerners/foreigners, a large difference from Kuta's lively and boisterous vibe.Manage to find an inn down a little lane just 10 minutes from the sea. "Mama's Inn" was its name and Kevin was lucky enough to meet "Mama" literally in the flesh! The accommodation was more basic than that we had experienced the last 2 days but I guess satisfactory as I believe it was only £3 a night for 1 room. We had 3 people in a room. Beggars can't be choosers and all that.

Accommodation, food and drink were pretty much the criteria for each place. So Uluwatu was no exception. We found a cafe (after walking down many steps whilst being hounded by a bunch of women that were quite clearly desperate for money in the blistering heat-I have delicate skin.) The cafe overlooked the ocean quite literally. Initially I was wary about sitting on the planks of wood that constructed the sitting. You have to be cautious. I mean I was not to be sure how long this seating had been here or how weathered it was. Once again, we treated ourselves to a nice meal and a bottle of Bintang (Balinese Beer and the popular drink of the holiday.) Basically I' m glad I didn't tally how many I had during the duration of my holiday. Throughout the meal and chattering amongst ourselves, was a little old woman that had followed us down the steps and brought along a couple of friends, hoping that we would purchase something. They play the guilt card no matter where they are. The women have the sun beaten skin, saggy cheeks and a sense of wisdom yet neglect in their eyes. In all honestly though, the stuff they're trying to sell is horrid. If it was nice I'd buy a whole bag full, but it's not. I know I like to spend money but ONLY on things I actually like. One hounded me so much in Kuta that the easiest way to get rid is to buy something. But be warned when you're on the beach and you think you are buying one thing, you're not. Why? If the locals see you do that they'll be on you like a leech to skin. They will remember your name (if you tell them it) and whine at you. "Why don't you buy my necklace? You bought hers." I'll tell you why, because you're selling exactly the same thing love.

Anyway, back to Uluwatu. Hollering a taxi in this quiet village is almost impossible. A scooter? Yes no problem, all the same we stumble upon a man with a taxi whom proceeds to take us to the Balinese dance place. It has an old style stoned auditorium which you entered through a monkey occupied Hindu temple. Everyone had to wear a yellow piece of material around their waist for religious reasons and if you were wearing shorts you had to wear a purple sarong. And a warning that if you have things that can be taken off you put them away as the monkeys WILL snatch e.g. bottles, scarves, glasses etc. Just before you reach the auditorium section you can feed the monkeys. Unlucky for Kevin he did not take the warning seriously and one of the monkeys took his glasses. Which he then had to pay 100,000 rp to get them back! Sounds like a scam? I reckon so. The performance is timed so that you can see the sunset too. Regrettably the pattern of weather in Bali followed...sunny in the morning and cloudy, if not raining, later on. Meaning even though the sun was going down, we were very unlikely to be witnessing it.

Barong dance, I do believe it was called, consisted of a large chorus of men. Their costumes were of the traditional cloth- black and white chequers with a red strip of material around the waist and a red flower behind their ear. Chanting throughout gave the piece a really amazing atmosphere amongst both performers and audience. Major characters came out from time to time to tell the story (can't really remember the story much; a Hindu one. It was more about how they did it and the costumes for me.) 10 out of 10.

Due to the quietness of the village it was hard to find anything to do after the performance. We came across one building that had lights on and immediately sprung into moth like state. The owner, called Maddie, was a dedicated surfer and has been living there for about 3 and half years. Uluwatu apparently is a place where surfers come literally just for the surf, no getting pissed up all night. They have to be pretty experienced to go out there. Maddie served up a jug of Margarita. That was consumed relatively quickly. Played some 3 ball pool with the other 5 people in the bar!1 was Maddie, 1 was a hot surfer guy, 1 was a local, 1 was Maddie's girlfriend and the other person was a young local lad. Who might I just add had relatively good English despite the lack of education due to no money etc. With dedication and determination however they succeed. Something the Koreans could learn. Rather than spending a ridiculous amount of money on private academies and private lessons (that are illegal.) Anyway, Uluwatu was awesome and peaceful. Apart from the walk home through dark lanes which were accompanied by a soundtrack of howling dogs and terrifying barks. The only comfort is that they are unlikely to attack. The dogs are simply protecting their properties or they're abandoned and bored. One night was enough in Uluwatu though I think. 3 people in a double bed (a way to cut costs) it was a bit of a crowd!

Next day, "Mama's" son drives us to a town called Sanur. Aka Snore. First find accommodation.....a step down again from the previous place except at least this time there is only 2 people in a bed. A step in the right direction (unfortunately it's Shannon and not a sexy man laying beside me.) Sanur mostly provides a beach, the sea, restaurants and older people. The sands were really clean and the water was pretty clear. 2 days were spent in Sanur. A relaxing place to chill out, let the world pass you by. Plenty of decent foods and plenty of Bintang! Occasionally we'd treat ourselves to wine. Kevin befriended a local Balinese bar man called Wayan (as were most people were named that we met in Bali. In Bali they have limited names in the sense that they have little choice. The first born is often called Wayan, there is about another 3 names for the 2nd to 4th child and then they start back to Wayan again. Strange.) At the end of the 2 days or so Kevin had made an arrangement with Bar Wayan to take us to the airport to pick up the last of the "gang"-Richard.Once the pickup was complete we were to head to Ubud.

Not wanting things to go too simply we pick up Richard and the other 2 turn up as well (the people who didn't come to Uluwatu.) Richard decides to go to Kuta even though we had diverted and waited for him. Kevin decides he's going to Kuta too. So, then there were 4 people left; with Wayan. 4 people who had no idea what was actually happening. 4 people who actually didn't know what the deal was that had been made. Wayan drives us in the rain to a "really nice place where there's a great view." The place was leaking and there was no view due rain clouds. Only thing that happened was a delay in the journey. All of us feeling confused and obliged to be nice to him even though we didn't know what the hell was going on! We just sat and ate.