Hello,

Sorry again for yet another delayed blog entry!! We're just too busy and the internet facilities in Indonesia were pretty much non existent!

Anyway, so we booked our hotel for Bali whilst in Auckland and to say we were pleasantly surprised is an understatement! It was simply perfect, exactly what we wanted (needed), quiet and really chilled. Michael and Bhrama were the perfect hosts. We originally only booked in for 3 nights but ended up staying for the whole week.

Our first week in Bali was spent completely relaxing, Hayley became a yoga addict, she insisted it was the perfect way to start the day! We did venture out of our hotel on the odd occasion when we went on a trip to Jimbaran beach and Uluwatu with Sian and Rebecca, 2 girls staying in our hotel. We also hired a driver for one day who took us around the island, we visited Git Git waterfalls, Twin Lakes, Ulun Danu Temple and ended our day in Lovina, where we watched a spot of local vollyball and had a refreshing swim in the sea to escape the clutches of the local market sellers!

Of course a trip to Bali wouldn't be complete without a visit to the infamous Kuta to witness the beautiful sunset. The sunset didn't disappoint, however Kuta itself resembled a tacky European holiday hotspot! Although we can't really complain as the cocktails were fab!

So after a week of R & R we felt energized enough to head to Lombok and we even braved the public ferry, which was definitely an experience! 8 hours were spent on a ferry where we were the only 2 white faces amongst a few hundred locals! We had few moments whereby we began to think that taking the public ferry wasn't such a good idea, particularly when we found ourseleves in the middle of a religous lecture! Basically a local Muslim preacher decided to take it upon himself to give us a quick run down of Islam. This whole episode was bought on by Mike's Russel Brand Autobiography being mistaken for the Bible... rather ironic really when you consider the content!

When we eventually arrived in Lombok it was late so we headed straight to Sengigi where we stayed for 4 nights. Sengigi was a small town with not much going on, however we did manage to find a few good restaurants and bars to keep us entertained, especially the Happy cafe where we were treated to local open mike night everynight!

Our next stop was the Gili Islands a short boat trip from Lombok. We started in Gili Air the closest of the islands, where we stayed for 3 nights. It was quite a shock when we arrived and it became apparent that there were no motor vehicles on the whole island, this was a welcome break from the monotonous car horns echoing across Bali! The 2 modes of transport therefore were either bicycle or horse drawn carriage but believe us when we say this certainly wasn't as luxurious or romantic as it sounds!

Upon arrival at our Hotel we were happy to discover we had our own traditional bungalow, however this happiness was short lived when the storms began and the once pretty grass roof began to leak! Unfortunately the rain was relentless and didn't really stop. Although on our last day we did manage to walk around the entire island, where we met up with the only dog allowed on the Gilis, which was a hybrid of the andrex puppy and a sausage dog. It was really cute but ever so slightly odd!

Next we took the boat over to the "party" island, Gili Tarawangen, which turned out to be not so much of a party place but when you compare it to the other Gili's it was very Ibizaesque! Luckily for us the sun came out so we had a much better time, we went snorkelling (where Hayley got stung by jellyfish AGAIN!!!) and we even hired bikes and cycled our way around the island which was hilarious! Hayley was very excited to discover the saying is true, you never do foregt how to ride a bike! We also participated in a game of beach vollyball with the locals, where we showcased our new found skills aquired whilst in Fiji!

After our time spent sunning ourselves we thought it was time to head back to our home from home, Tropical Bali Hotel! Michael and Bhrama were so pleased to have us back, but not as happy as we were when we woke up to our delicious breakfast which we missed so much whilst we were away island hopping!

This time round, we ventured out again to Kuta with Jordan the house maid!! We also visited Ubud which was lovely, although the market was a tad intense! The rest of our time was spent chilling with the hosts sipping tea and beer and preparing for our China adventure!

It was tearful goodbye, as Bhrama presented us with a bag of Hayley's favourite tea and waved us off at the airport! With the promise of returning we departed for Hong Kong...

Lots of love and we will see you all soon xxxxx