Apologies for no updates for a while... I have been too busy enjoying myself to go online!

Ubud... as a birthday present, that I was incredibly lucky to also benefit from, Rachel was treated to a night at the Viceroy, Bali. We were both screaming with delight when we saw our garden villa (after being greeted with lais of flowers and welcome drinks and driven by golf buggy) complete with it's own infinity pool, bathtub, canopied beds, coffee machine etc! The setting of the hotel was stunning in the valley of a river with views across to the volcanoes. Needless to say, one night was not enough and we ended up spending 4 nights there and indulging in incredible spa treatments both at the spa and in our villa! A couple of nights we had "suprises" - getting back to find the tub filled with flowers or the bed and floor scattered in rose petals - so romantic! Everything was completely wonderful. The staff and the owner Otto and his son Anthony were fantastic too and so friendly. Really recommend - especially for a honeymoon...

We did manage to venture out of the hotel on a couple of occassions (although it seemed a shame to leave!) Arriving at reception to wait for our car to the elephant sanctury in Taro there were 4 Americans - Rachel immediately bowls up to one and says "are you Lauren?" (I was completely at a loss and assumed that it was someone that she had met in Mexico or something...) anyway, turned out that it was Lauren Conrad from The Hills. Slightly embarrassing as we then had to share a car and the day at the elephant sanctury with her, her boyfriend Kyle (who was in Friends) and their 2 friends! Anyway, they all seemed lovely. The elephants were wonderful - there were 3 babies - sooooo cute!!!

We also went into Ubud for dinner a couple of nights - very aging hippy vibe so plenty of good veggie options!