Nicole calling...

Hello from Bali. Id write it in Balinese but they dont have an easy word. it takes 10 words to say it, so hello it is!!

We've been here about 5 days so far. Got caught out at the airport paying some donuts to carry our bags 10m charging us 25p (ripoff) and have been on the warpath since then barter wise! Jess and I got to Bali a day before Matt, while Ayesha is missing it out and staying in Singapore. We'll meet her there in 2 weeks. first night Jess and I headed to Kuta - market stalls stray dogs and neon galore, and first stayed in a hole for a rather expensive 200,000 rupias a night. yes, that's 5 pounds each. It had aircon but additional extras included the dusty wine gum and neon pink ping pong ball in the shower, probably left over from some sweet tooth thai extortionist who stayed there 6 months ago. Luckily the sheets were clean. Next day we moved to AP inn on Poppies I which for the same price had a pool, concierge, and ping pong ball not included. After a lovely 1 hour massage costing 50,000 (thats 2 pound 50) we met matt and set about doing absolutely buggar all by the pool for the next day and a half.

After itchy fingers we managed to mosey down to a surf shop and had our second surf lesson (the first being in Byron). p.s. you dont walk in Bali, you mosey, its so hot and theres absolutely no rush to get anywhere (hence we were 5 mins late for the lesson lol). The surf was larger than Oz and we got 3 times the practice in. Matt did well despite *twisting?* his ankle in Singapore on his connection to Bali a few days before. I say that with stars because it seems to be OK now.. he manned up. It was pretty bad as he twisted it while going down his hostel stairs with his backpack on... Other bad luck for him includes loosing his wallet on our last night in Oz. doh indeed.

We had a great night after Jess' Dad got us in touch with a colleague of his who had a plush villa in Bali. Food and wine went down very well with good conversation (Jess particularly got along with the 10 year old son who was staying there- seems to be at her level of sense of humour..). The group has invited us out tomorrow night for a messy one in neon kuta. I'm definately up for it however these guys are 30-40s and it's embarrassing to admit they are going to drink us under the table. Their usual nights are til 6am whereas ours the last week have been 10pm.. urm.. i dont know how long i can keep up this 'im young and up for an allnighter' pretence. Fact is.. i like my beauty sleep!

So we went to Ubud after which is meant to be temples and culture. Lonely planet seemed to have omitted 'Dry' in their description. Plenty of mushy or unsmiling couples and zero banter. We did a cooking lesson which was amazing, and another massage yesterday. Today we did tour of the island - waterfalls, bathing in dirty water aka 'spa', and staring at rice paddies. Tomorrow were going up to the volcano to cook eggs on it's smelly vents and then amuse ourself by cycling down the thing. Then we'll go to a nice island with a beach for next 4 days called Gili island. Hopefully there will be some backpackers there.

Were having fun cos were together and taking the piss out of everything including this boring polish couple we had the horror of spending the day with today. But fact is Bali is far less impressive than Thailand, it's not easy to find tours, and telephones are few and far between. If you come here, do it on an intrepid tour, or dont bother, go to thailand!! ;o)

Love you all xx