12-2-10

We arrived in Ubud, it's about an hour from Kuta and right in the middle of Bali, surrounded by forests and rice paddies. It's meant to be really spiritual there and lots of old hippies go there to 'find themselves'. There were quite a few travellers but it was mostly older people so we thought it would be a nice chilled 2 days. The main street has loads of craft shops and silver shops selling the most gorgeous things. There's also spas on every corner. We had some breakfast and decided to go for a massage. Kim+Siobhan wanted a traditional Balinese massage, which was deep tissue. Me and Louise felt too tired for that so settled for a foot massage followed my a neck back and shoulder massage. We were in the same room getting ours done so We lay down in the bed and they started, Louise had a man and I had a woman. She started out on my feet which felt so nice then went up my legs, by that point it was obvious we had signed up for a Balinese massage too. Her hands were like a vice. I nearly cried out a couple of times! I could tell Louise felt the same, because when her bloke asked if it was ok she managed to squeak 'a bit softer please'. We were both face down. At one point I looked over at Louise, to see the masseur one hand on Louises leg the other replying to a text message!! It was so funny I had to put my face down again to stop from laughing out loud. I'm sure texting is not part of massage etiquette! She covered my legs and started on my back, before I knew it she was sitting on my bum pushing down on my back it felt like she was trying to squeeze the life out of me. After all that I felt so good afterwards the pain was definately worth it!

That evening we went to a place called Ibu Rai for some food, it was the best meal I've eaten since we got here! There's not really a night scene here so we went back to the room and had an early night.

The next day we decided to go to the monkey forest which I was nervous about after the monkey threw an apple at Louise at the Batu caves in KL. We got ready and went, we didn't have any bags or anything the monkeys could snatch so we went in. You're not meant to buy bananas off street selletrs because the monkeys go mental for them. It must be their equivalent of shrooms. This one silly man did buy a bunch and no sooner had he opened one he was surrounded. They were jumping on him from all angles, he had to bat them off with his bum bag! We wandered around looking at the temples and monkeys generally avoiding anyone with bananas. There were a few unprovoked attacks by monekys but none of them were on us so it was fine! The monkeys seemed to target frail old women!! They were very cute just like tiny humans, especially the babies! We were so hot in the forest we decided to go back and cool off before getting another massage! I decided on reflexology for my hands and feet. It was the best experience. It hurt in places and she clicked things I didn't know could click but I felt so good afterwards I'll definately get it done again! We went out for dinner that night, it was chinese new year so there were some performances on in the restaurant we went to. I liked Ubud and we could have seen alot more, like the rice paddies, but we just didn't have the time.

14-02-10

We got a taxi back to Kuta and said goodbye to the girls, I was really sad because I'd enjoyed our little holiday. Me and Siobhan checked into a hotel in Kuta because we are staying until the 16th, we couldn't get into our original, one so we've had to settle for one down the road. It's ok except for the non exsistant air con, I may as well be sleeping on the sun!! We went out last night for valentines we had a meal and went to some cool bars and consumed too many strawberry daquiris! Anyway the holiday has ended now, I think we have been spoilt with our accommodation and all the nice meals, so we're getting ready to slum it in Thailand. We leave tomorrow and I can't wait!!!

Lots of love Hanah x x x x x