What a long weekend!! 6 of us - Quique (Mexico) and Aaron, Wei, Becky and Mary (China) went to Bali together and it was wicked to say the least!

We left on Thursday arvo and arrived late to our hostel. We had dinner at a definite gastro-hotspot but all came up fine haha! On Friday we got driven to a boat which took us across to Nusa Lembongan for a day of snorkelling - absolutely incredible! I can't believe I've never snorkelled before - the water was so clear and it was so easy with the life jacket on, very relaxing! Friday night we drove up to Lovina in the north and stayed in another hostel.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to go out and see the dolphins at sunrise! We took 2 boats and we had 2 randoms with us so Aaron and I went with them while the other 4 went seperate. But we were close most the time! Seeing dolphins was awesome and the sunrise was beautiful but I would say there was a good 20+ boats out following them for a glimpse which I didn't enjoy because of all the water/air/noise pollution for the sea life. On Saturday we also went to a couple of temples, a waterfall and the Ubud markets - a very touristy day! It was awesome just hanging out with the guys and having a break! Saturday night we checked into our airbnb which is amazing!! I love Balinese designs how there is the cross between inside and outside living! Our evening was pretty chilled, we just ate locally and then I had some mad chats with Aaron and Quique about girls and marriage in Mexico/China compared with home - poor Aaron says it's custom that he should have bought a house before he proposes to a girl! We settled into bed about 10pm which meant very little sleep before our 1:30am wake up!!

Sunday - what a day! Very long but very fantastic! It started about 2am when we were picked up from our villa and driven to the meeting point to climb Mt Batur. We stopped along the way for breakfast - which was yum but hard to handle at 3am! We started the climb about 4am and had a guide who trekked with us. Mt Batur is a volcano mountain that's 1717m high and we climbed it in darkness, just using torches! Watching the sunrise at the top was an awesome feeling and also to be honest I was bloody impressed with myself that I made it! The walk down was cool because we could see everything we had missed going up haha it was about 930am when we got to the bottom and met our driver again. We were all very exhausted but so we kept Sunday simple. We went to a temple, then had lunch near the rice terraces and stopped for a tour and tasting session at a Luwak coffee place - yes they feed coffee beans to luwaks then process them into coffee because the flavour is apparently better!! After that we just went back to our villa. Aaron and I swam for a bit and the others headed off to nap for the arvo. Aaron told me all about uni in China and about dorm living there which is very open - like no doors on the showers open! We chatted for well over an hour in the pool and then also went and napped. About 6pm I woke up and stirred the others. We just ordered in pizza and pasta for dinner which was really yum! A bit after 10pm I headed off to get a good nights rest!

Monday we were up and out of the villa at about 10. We were moving back down south near the airport for our flight out on Tuesday. It was our biggest driving day but we had a few stops so broke it up a bit. I think this was my favourite day because I spent most the day chatting with the driver - in Indonesian!! I was so impressed how quickly it all came back and he was really good at using basic language. We got stuck a few times when I didn't know the Indo word and he didn't know the English word but it was all good fun haha! We stopped at a couple of temples which were both by the water and also a big park with Hindu aspects but also just boasting of Balinese natural resources. We also had awesome pork ribs for lunch!! Monday night we stayed in a villa about 30 minutes from the airport. When we arrived at about 730pm our host had a Balinese dinner prepared for us which was amazing!! After dinner we did a grocery shop for breakfast food and then just chilled in the pool, Aaron Wei and I had some Bintang Beer!

Tuesday was our last day. I got up about 9am and prepared breakfast for everyone - bacon and eggs with some tomatoes, lettuce and also a few pastries too! Really yum! We let the villa about 12:30pm and went and got a massage nearby. We had lunch at a local cafe and then caught Uber's to the airport. I slept most of the plane ride back to KL! I may be biased since this is my first place I've visited since coming to Malaysia but I absolutely fell in love with Bali! I'm super keen to bring Dad over and maybe Az and Josh if they can. I reckon they'll love it!!

Highlights: snorkelling, my Indonesian chats with the driver, just being overseas with the other exchangers
Lowlights: leaving haha also the dolphin watching because I felt sad for them
Would I go again? 110% yes!