My first introduction to Bali was at the airport when a man took my bag off the carousel and carried it 20m and then demanded a tip even though I didn't ask or want him too. Tough luck buddy. I was collected from the airport by the place I was going to be staying in Ubud and after over an hour seeing many changes in the landscape as we went. The driver informed me that Bill Bailey stayed at the cottages, and if I was ever to see him in the UK I should say hello, which I obviously agreed too.

When we arrived I couldn't believe where I was staying for such little money. I had booked a single room, but in fact had my own cottage with a giant double bed, balcony and my own bathroom. This was very new to me! I spent some time relaxing in my new surroundings before venturing out into Ubud to find something to eat. I found a little local Indonesian place and had an amazing meal and a drink for less than it cost for a can of coke in Australia. Hello Asia!!

The next morning I was woken by the phone ringing (yes I even had a phone) 'MISS HELEN! YOU COME FOR BREAKFAST!' so Miss Helen threw some clothes on and enjoyed a lovely breakfast of omelette and fresh fruit. I decided I wanted to visit the monkey forest, so went for a walk, only I was directed the wrong way which I only realised after walking about 1k in the opposite direction. By the time I walked back on myself it was just so hot I knew I would never make the walk to the monkey place without dying from the heat so went back to the cottages. I made use of the lovely pool that was there and headed back out into Ubud when it had cooled down a bit to check out some of the local culture. Ubud is very big on art, with local painting being sold everywhere. It's probably a good thing I don't have room in my backpack! After another lovely local meal I had an early night as I had to get up at 5 the next morning to head to the Gili Islands.

By 6am the next day I was in a car and on my way to the port to catch the boat to the Gili's, via a quick stop in Sanur to pick up more passengers. The boat was a large speed boat and I decided to sit on the roof and take in the view which was pretty spectacular, apart from getting a bit burnt in the process. (FYI when your Malaria tablets tell you they will make your skin more susceptible to the sun, they're not kidding). My destination was Gili Trawangan, the largest of the three Gili Islands. They have no cars or motorbikes here; all transport is by foot, bicycle or horse.

When I got off the boat I ventured to my homestay which on the surface looked to be in a dodgy area, but turned out to be full of friendly people. The homestay was individual rooms surrounding a courtyard with chickens and stray cats running around. It was very basic with just a bed and a fan, with a bathroom that was partially outside with a cold seawater shower, but it did everything you needed. It even had wifi! I met a welsh girl Kiri who was also staying there and then I went for a walk to explore the island.

The island is very small, and everyone remembers your name which is really bizarre and takes a while to get used to! After walking around the heat got a bit much so I took refuge back at the homestay until the evening when Kiri and I along with an Italian guy named Fabien who was also at the homestay went to the local night market to get some food. There were lots of stalls with fresh fish and noodles and rice etc all for very little money. We washed these down with the Bali beer Bingtang and chatted to a Swedish girl Erica who was sat on our table and also travelling alone.

Erica informed us it was party night at the reggae bar on the island, so the four of us joined together and went to check it out. After many bingtangs and enough Bob Marley covers to last a life time we called it a night, but not after a cockroach decided to run across me. Wasn't great!!

We arranged to meet Erica the following morning to go snorkelling, and after getting our gear walked to the north of the island to a good spot on the beach. While snorkelling I saw turtles which was so amazing!! I couldn't believe I was swimming with sea turtles, definitely a highlight. The rest of the day was spent snorkelling, swimming or enjoying the sun on the beach. We had another dinner at the night market and took some beers back to our homestay for a few drinks before heading on to a bar called Rudy's for their party night. It seemed that most the island was there, locals and tourists, and it was generally a bit crazy! After chatting to lots of people and drinking beers Kiri and I decided to call it a day in the early hours of the morning.

The following the day Kiri and I did very little, other than sit on the beach and swim in the sea. We found a really nice restaurant for lunch that had great food and was very cheap. We ended up eating here for every meal we had left on the island! After dinner we decided to treat ourselves to a massage, and went for a full body traditional Balinese one. This was pretty amazing, although I was a bit shocked as they do massage everywhere! After this we were ready to call it a night. It was a very lazy day!

We managed to find Erica again the next day (god bless being a small island!) and we decided we should go to the other side of the island to see the sunset. We were recommended to go up the big hill and see it from there, and after trekking up in our flip flops and the heat, we decided that it would actually be nicer to watch from the beach. Still, I guess it was some good exercise for the day! We had a bingtang and watched the sunset together which was pretty spectacular. It's funny how you never think about going to watch the sunset when you're in the UK, yet I've seen so many beautiful ones since I've been away.

Kiri and my last night on the island was spent at our trusty restaurant and heading to the Irish bar (yes you heard right) for a few drinks. None of us were really feeling it so we headed back to the homestay. Kiri and I were both heading back to Bali the next morning, all be it on different boats. We arranged to meet outside a hotel near the beach in Seminyak and go and find somewhere to stay together. Stupidly we didn't even think about swapping numbers.

I arrived and Kiri was nowhere to be seen, so I sat on the beach for a while. I managed to pick up wifi from the hotel to find she was at a café up the road. God bless wifi! So luckily we were reunited again. We soon realised we were in a very classy area and there was no way of getting as much of a bargain as we got on Gili T, but we found a budget hotel that was cheap enough between the two of us and went for it. We even had air con and a tv! Crazy business! We went exploring and then went to the beach to watch another sunset. (it never gets boring!) This one was just as beautiful as the day before. The rest of the night consisted of me going to a laundry and us trying to find somewhere cheap for dinner, which was a bit harder in this part of Bali but we managed.

Another day and we wasted no time in heading on down to the beach. The sun was so strong we didn't last very long. At lunchtime we found an Italian that was really nice, and made a change from chicken and rice! In the afternoon we decided to walk down the beach path all the way to Kuta. I had been warned that Kuta was the Australian's Falaraki, so hadn't too much desire to go there, but we were up for a bit of a walk.

Once we arrived I knew I hadn't been lied too. The place was rife with bad tattoos and Bingtang shirts. We had a look at the Bali bomb memorial, which had just had its 10 year anniversary. I can't imagine anyone wanting to bomb this lovely country at all.

We went to a bar and met up with Kiri's Balinese friend Felix. Many beers ensued and he then took us to another bar that was a bit of a local secret and very cheap. After another beer on the beach Kiri and I got our one taxi of the trip, slightly the worse for wear, back to our hotel. The next morning we were feeling a bit special, but had to get up and check out the hotel. Crazily Kiri and I were booked on the same flight to Kuala Lumpar, with me going on to Bangkok and Kiri to Auckland.

After a hangover breakfast we made our way to the airport which was an experience in itself.. Kiri seemed to get interrogated and searched at every point. Looks like NZ is a hard country to get into from Bali! After a short flight that landed in a thunderstorm, Kiri and I had a couple of hours in KL before we had to say our goodbyes and board different flights. This is where my Bali adventure came to an end!

Now on to the next….