So I'm writing my whole blog for Bali all at once so I may miss something out but I'll try and remember...

4-02-10

We arrived in Bali after flying through several scary thunder storms. The airport was so strange the smallest little shack. When we got inside it seemed deserted and they were playing this really creepy chime music I felt like we were in the twilight zone. I had a vision of us not getting our visa granted and having to stay there for ever like Tom Hanks. Anyway we got through no probs after the man had stared at my passport picture for about 10 mins. Everyone seems to have a problem with it and doesn't belive it's me! It took about 10 mins to get to the hotel in Kuta (Tanaya B+B) which was so nice, it was just like it looked in the pictures. We were wrecked so just passed out.

The next morning Kim arrived, it was really nice to see her so we all got ready and decided to explore the beach. Kuta is like a 18-30 resort for aussies so the place was full of them in their Bintang muscle vests and mullets. There was lots of surfing too. The beach was a bit manky and there were a few crisp packets floating in the sea, but I wasn't really bothered I just wanted to chill and work on my tan. After about 2 hours we went back to the room, I felt like I had burned my shoulders but when we got back to the room me+Siobhan were both glowing!! Kim had gone for a nap and when she came back she couldn't belive how red we were after 2 hours in factor 30!! We went out for a meal that night and went back to meet Louise who had just arrived from Borneo - she couldn't dive any more because of her ears. Everyone was feeling rough so we had an early night.

The next day I looked in the mirror and the burn had obviously come out over night I was burnt to a crisp and it was so sore I think we may have been sunbathing under the hole in the ozone layer. Siobhan had burnt her face but had white sunglasses marks. I hadn't burnt mine so I looked white with a red body. Luckily our room had a tv and cable, because we lay in the room for the next 2 days watching E! We managed a night out where in this one bar Kim was served her drink in a vase, they must have run out of glasses because I saw another girl get hers in a Tommy Tippee cup!! We had a few nice meals as well but we were all feeling pretty rough from the sunburn and Louise had a bug so we couldn't wait to get to the Gili's to chill.

8-02-10

we had an early start because the bus was picking us up to take us to the harbour for our boat to the Gili's. The boat took about 2 hours and it went really fast, every one had there sea legs because there was no vomiting on the boat which I could not have coped with that early in the morning! We were going to Gili Trawangan, the biggest of the three Gili's just off Lombok. We stopped at Lombok to drop some people off, we had only stopped for about 5 mins but still couldn't shake off the hawkers because out of no where a man popped up beside the boat with a brief case full of gems and proceeded to put his hand through the window and show us them. He was the Balinese equivalent of Del boy. When you say you are from England they all say 'f***ing bloody brilliant' in a faux English accent haha! Anyway Louise shut the window on him so we managed to get rid of him. Lombok was beautiful so we were excited to get to Gili T. It only took about 5 mins and we were there. It's wet season so we were expecting a bit of rain, just as we pulled up it started to drizzle. The island still looked like paradise though. The beaches were so clean with white sand, and the sea was clear and Turquoise, the opposite of Kuta! There was no harbour so we had to climb off the boat into the sea, I had my trainers on so had to take them off, and landed on the sharpest shells I have ever seen! Just as we got off the boat it started pissing it down. The raindrops were huge, the tropical kind that soak you in one drop. I had my backpack on when I realised I'd left some flipflops on the boat, the man threw them out to me but they landed in the sea and started to float off. I tried to pick them up but I had a beach bag in one hand and my back pack on and the rain was lashing I though I might topple over! So he had to climb off the boat and rescue them for me. We got to the top of the beach absolutely saturated and decided we couldn't walk to the hotel in the rain because none of our bags were waterproof and Kim only had 2 suitcases! So we flagged down a horse and cart with a plastic roof! They have no cars on the island just horses. Kim and Louise flagged one down and got in, the driver was trying to get me and Siobhan in as well but the poor horse looked like it was going to faint so we got in another one. I'm not even convinced they are proper horses, they were tiny they looked like Shetland ponies. I felt so sorry for them lugging around us lot. Me and Siobhan climbed in the back but as you get in the back goes right down so we nearly fell out. The driver and his friend hopped in up front and we were off. It must have been a racing start because we started off behind Louise and Kim and suddenly they were in the distance. The roads aren't the widest and there's no pavements for pedestrians so the driver was weaving in and out of people, pot holes, and other horse+carts. We were approaching another cart coming in the opposite direction, our driver didn't slow down at all, if anything went faster, we passed them and I had to breathe in, the horses were literally 1cm away from eachother, the carts brushed past eachother and as we went past the people in the back were laughing as much as we were I think think were just as scared, it was like Wacky Races!

We made it to the hotel (The Beach House) alive and checked in, only mine and Siobhan's room was ready so we all went up to watch one of the knock off dvds we got in Kuta. We got in and were all desperate for the loo. Our room was en suite so we opened the door to have a look, and the bathroom was outside! It was some kind of open air stone bathroom, which would have been lovely if it hadn't been torrential rain!! I dug out my rain mac and braved it! In the afternoon it brightened up loads and we just chilled by the pool it was so nice, across from our pool was the hotel restaurant which was all open so we could see the sea from the pool. That night we had a fresh seafood bbq at the hotel and headed out for the night. I didn't really know what to expect when we arrived there I knew it wouldn't be as touristy as Kuta though. It was so chilled there was a mix of older people with families and young people on holiday and some travellers. It's not as well known as some places so it's not as commercial. It had a really chilled vibe. We had breakfast to the stones and tea to Dire Straits in the hotel bar. Every night the party is on at a different venue, it was the Blue Marlin that night, so we partied and went for a dip in the pool getting into bed just before sunrise.

The next day we felt rough as rats, I blame the local spirits we were knocking back Kim had to stay in bed all day to recover! We had a really quiet day and chilled in the pool then went for a pizza at the irish bar next door to make us feel better. We couldn't face another drink that night so we decided to get in the pool again. We jumped in and started messing about. I was sitting innocently on the side of the pool and some how managed to knock one off the pool lights off the side off the pool with my foot. It floted up to the surface, It was so bright like a beacon I quickly jumped down and held it back onto the wall and called the girls over. It was in the deep end as well so it was hard to keep afloat while holding this huge light the size of a dinner plate up against the wall. We must have spent about 30 mins trying to fix it. but we couldn't Kim gave up and went in search of food. Me and Louise gave it one last try. I managed to tuck the wires in and Louise held it while I pushed it into the wall with all my strength. We let go and looked at eachother it stayed put so we swam away from it as fast as we could. The amount of laughter I'm surprised someone didn't come and see what we were up to! We really should have learned our lesson and gone to bed but we discovered an inflatable jet ski and side car (?!?!) which me and Louise decided it would be fun to play on. It was so difficult to get on at one point I slid over the top I was so close the the edge of the pool the girls thought I may have cracked my head but it was fine, it was just my ankle!

10-02-10

We chilled again by the pool all day not really getting up to much so we decided to head out again that night. The party was on at the Irish bar next door, so we went up the road for some drinks first. We went to this bar called Rudy's which is renowned for it's magic mushrooms! There was a sign saying 'f***ing bloody brilliant shroom shakes here' or something like that. Me and Kim wanted to try them but we all still felt rough so decided against it! We then found out in the 'shroom shake' was actually shrooms, redbull and milk ergh! We wandered up to the irish bar and the party was out on to the street at this point, we nearly walked through the middle of a dance off! We saw some people from our boat and a canadian guy I sat next to on the way to Bali, it's weird how you see so many people around! After the party we decided on another dip in the pool no jet ski this time! We got talking to an aussie who was staying at our hotel, I think he might have been off his head on shrooms though because he kept telling me and Louise to look at the beautiful stars - about 10 times!! We got to bed just before 6. The next day I felt awful properly awful so it was a real struggle to get up but I didn't want to miss our last day. We were lying by the pool when I noticed something in the deep end. The light had floated up to the surface again, obviously our handy work hadn't done the trick! We all burst out laughing, we weren't in the pool so really it wasn't our fault! We went out for tea but I felt rubbish so had toast before havinng an early night. We were all cream crackered.

12-2-10

We were really sad to be leaving and could have spent so much longer there but I was not going to miss the aussie family we had at our pool who liked to discuss their morning sh*ts by the pool, including the mum!! We packed up and got a horse+cart back to the boat, luckily it was slower this time or I may have ended up vomiting out the back! We got the boat back and headed off to Ubud...