We finally had to drag ourselves away from paradise... and the place that we ended up in, Nusa Lembongan, was still pretty heavenly (and the romance level was still high!) The Viceroy had booked us into the Bali Hai Tide Huts - more aimed at your honeymoon/package tourist than us, but we made the most of it! The huts had the use of a banana boat, snorkling gear and a pool so we spent the first day mucking about in the water with the day trippers. Once they had al...

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 sett...

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...

After scaling the heights of Mount Kinabalu I thought that a relaxing river safari would be a great idea. Tried to recover in KK with a massage and an early night, but unfortunately as always seems to be the way when travelling I still had to get up at 5.30am the next morning to get the bus to Kota Kinabatang. Travelling along on the bus it was overwhelming to see the extent of the palm oil plantations. Where there had once been primary rainforest it was now all...

At great expense I decided to spend the night before the start of the climb in the Kinabalu National Park. I got a lift up with a family from KL who were staying at the hotel and who were friends with Jamal the owner. After 2 hours stuck in the back with a 4 year old and a 10 year old I was really grateful for the peace and quiet of the park! Took to a few of the local walking trails and checked out the botanical gardens - unfortunately it was hammering it down w...