First things first. We are not in Bali for the party scene as we can do that anywhere in the world. We are here for the culture and the landscape which is amazing.

We left Singapore last Sunday and headed for Jakarta, Indonesia for the final leg of our South East Asian adventure. After being informed about the problems and pollution of Jakarta we arrived feeling quite uneasy, however, after obtaining our visa in 5 minutes and collecting our baggage almost immediately, we started to think that Jakarta and Java in general was not going to be so bad. We were wrong. We turned up at our hostel in good time (arriving in a mercedes benz) and checked into our room before heading out to get a bite to eat. Our room had a small fan and a few windows covered with mosquito nets, but these had many large holes in. We spent the evening in our room relaxing and planning our assault on the rest of Indonesia. We woke up early the following day and headed towards the National Monument to see the 'sights' of Jakarta. Apparently there are not really any sights in the city apart from the huge spire protruding out of the ground in the middle of the park, and we were also disappointed to find that the National Museum was closed on a Monday. We were however treated to a music display in the park where hundreds of locals seemed to be practicing drumming and dancing for a music festival. They were probably more interested in us than the drumming though. After walking through the horribly sweaty and muggy streets we turned back towards our hotel to get a taxi to the airport as we decided to fly to Bali. The half an hour drive to the airport suddenly became an hour as the streets were crammed with every type of vehicle. I suppose this was the main sight of Jakarta.

The airport was ridiculously busy and very small considering this was the country's major terminal. It was also really dirty and uncomfortable with the majority of the seating found in the high class business lounges. We did manage to find a seat in a small cafe where we passed 2 hours - our flight was again delayed. This did not bother us that much as we knew we were heading to the relaxing island of Bali.

The taxi from the airport dropped us off outside numerous resorts in the central town of Ubud, although it was late at night so it was very difficult for us to assess the quality of the complex. Our choice was however, made very simple as we were shown an amazing room in a great little complex (more like a temple than a hotel) at the very generous price of 8 pounds. The complex included a swimming pool, numerous verandas and endless numbers of sculptures all decorated with local flowers given as morning offerings.

We are still staying in Ubud as we have found the town to be really interesting and above all comfortable. In the last few days we have explored the streets looking for arts and crafts, wandered through the Sacred Monkey Forest Sancturary where long-tailed macaques roam free, strolled through endless lush rice fields and marvelled at the birds in the Bali Bird Park. The highlight so far has probably been the rice fields that seem to spring up from nowhere. After walking through the humid streets we arrived on the edge of a farm where all that was beyond was palm trees and rice. Our walk was unfortunately cut short as a huge thunderstorm hit, s we had to take refuge in a restaurant that was situated in the middle of the fields. Here we enjoyed an amazing lunch that consisted entirely of their locally grown produce and played Yahtzee to pass the time. After the rain had died down we set off in a hurry to complete the walk but were caught again in another downpour. Aided by the help of a local painter we managed to scale down the slippery terraces and cross a bamboo bridge that took us to another path which eventually led us back into the town.

Today, we visited the bird park and had a fantastic time. We arrived during feeding time for many of the birds and we were fortunate enough to be allowed the chance to feed them ourselves. By holding out a bowl full of food we were swarmed by lorrikeets and birds of paradise that seemed to be content to just sit on our arms.

Tomorrow we plan to visit the volcano and see some coffee plantations before heading off to the East coast where snorkelling and scuba diving are on the agenda.

Alex and Heather