In Legian in a lovely hotel in Legian (between Kuta and Seminyak) Bali! Bit of luxe for Rachel's big 3-0 which was yesterday...

Arrived in late Sunday night so had a lazy morning and then kit the famous Kuta beach. There we got chatting to a couple of lifeguards who offered to give us some surf lessons that afternoon. Despite it being low tide (and so not good for surfing) we were soon standing up on the boards. Enthused after our first day we signed up to a 2 1/2 hour class at RipCurl suf school the following morning. That was good fun and we caught a few more waves and learnt some more of the basics. Now it's probably lots more time on the water and some more tuition before I would say that I could surf even a beach break!!! Great to watch the people knowing what they are doing out on the water though!

We needed to do something the following day which was Rachel's birthday to better our time on the water the previous days and Rachel was keen to do things that she had never done before so we headed over to Sanur on the other side of the penninsula to the other RipCurl school to first try our hand at wakeboarding. After a quick lesson on the beach we were in the water behind the boat. Both of us mastered standing, one handed and moving in and out of the wake - next time jumping and tricks I think! The guys in the boat showed us how the pros do it!!! To fulfill an ambition of being on, under and above the water on her birthday the next activity was a scuba dive. Unfortunately, due to lots of rain the previous night the visability was pretty terrible, but we did clock a shark (first of this trip), a number of stingray and some pretty cool coral and fish. Then it was back on dry land to have a play on the windsurfers and paddleboards before the tide got too low. I was pleased that I remembered my windsurfing tutition from Lake Garda back in 2003!

After a quick bite to eat we headed back over to Legian to face our fear... the 45m bungee tower on the edge of the shore at sunset. Being pretty scared of heights bungee jumping is not something that I have ever seriously considered, but the RipCurl guys are good salesmen! To make it even more of a challenge the lift taking jumpers to the top of the tower was out of service - so we had to climb ladders all the way to the top!!! Once you had made the effort to climb though there really was no going back! After a bit of pursuasion Rachel, in a full boady harness, ran and launched herself over the edge. I was up next in a traditional (round the ankles version). Pengiun waddling to the edge I thought I was going to faint. Then it was smile for the camera, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - AHHHHHH!!!! It was incredible - such an adrenaline rush!!! Obviously, we were both buzzing so prepared to re-climb, this time dressed as superheros! I was Superman and Rachel was Spidernan and we both went in the full body harness - crazy. I have bought the photos and DVD so will try and upload them soon - pretty funny.

The hotel staff were amazing and when we got back to the room to get ready to go out had arranged a cake and flowers and came in singing happy birthday. The first time was a false start as Rachel was in the shower so I answereed the door to a singing chorus, only to have to usher about 10 staff onto the balcony until she was out of the shower and in a presentable state! We went for tapas and drinks to a very "Ibiza" style bar called Cocoon with a couple of the lifeguards. Only 1/2 way through dinner did we realise that Komang (aka 50 Cent) had never eaten with a knife and fork before... in Bali, as in most of Asia they use their hand or a spoon and fork! We had a good giggle watching him use his knife as the spoon! After a bit of dancing with a group of people who looked like they had been at a wedding (but were actually on a work conference) we went with a couple of other guys to a bar (which looked amazing, but was closed!) called the Living Room. Seriously flagging after our action-packed day we decided to head to Kuta and find somewhere lively. Ve Ai Pi was the order of the day with some live music (who even played Bon Jovi) and some more dancing. Finally staggerred back to the hotel around 3am. But we did make breakfast this morning, a little sore after all our activities!!!

Off to Ubud this afternoon for some spa time and then maybe the Gili Islands... end of Ramadan is tomorrow (not that it bothers Bali being Hindu) but it's a busy time for the rest of Indonesia and places are getting pretty busy with local tourists.

Hope that everything is good with everyone back home? My new (Indonesian) number if you want to drop me a text/call is: +62 81236006284