Hello everyone, just coming to the end of our time in Singapore so i'll update you on Bali at the same time.

We flew from Darwin to Bali with anne and me nearly in tears because darwin was the first time we'd checked our bank balance for a while, and to be honest - bali didnt welcome us. we'd already had our illusions shattered in australia as people seemed to keep comparing what we thought was going to be an ideallic paradise island to benidorm or ibiza.

we arrived at around 9 in the evening and were immediately ushered into a queue to pay for our visa (with what money?) we didnt have any balinese curency so we had to leave our passports at the immigration desk while we went trekking around the airport hunting for an atm, by the time we'd made it back through the whole rigmorole our bags were being guarded by 'porters' who carried them 7 metres and then demanded money, which needless to say they didnt get as we were not in the most generous of moods.
we got in a taxi and watched out of the window as rough area by rough area whizzed past and wondered what on earth we were going to do for 10 days. ...but then, wonder of all wonders - the hotel was awesome. 2huge double rooms with clean white towels, giant sparkling bathrooms with baths, flowers on the bed and sky tv. we were practically bouncing off the walls comparing it to some of the scummy hostels we've stayed in!

the plan for bali had always been to relax completely and that was exactly what we did, soaking up the sun with drinks brought to the poolside and evenings spent looking at shops and stalls. we made friends with the barman in our hotel and he proved to be very useful by booking us a driver for a little excursion up to the north of the island. which was another funny story in itself. Bagus (the barman) had tried to teach us the drivers name but then warned us to be extremely careful as if you pronounce it wrongly it means 'make love' in balinese.
so, the long and short of it is that we headed off into the balinese mountains with a man who's name we daren't say and no clue of where we were going. luckily it all turned out good and we had a lovely day doing lots of things including, watching balinese dancing (not recommended for those with a short attention span .....or a life.), visiting a weaving and batik workshop, looking around a few silver jewellery shops, seeing the famous rice terraces, driving through the villages that all specialise in different crafts and having lunch in a resteraunt halfway up a mountain that overlooked a live volcano and a huge lake. not bad for a days work! however it started to go downhill when (insert drivers unpronouncable name here) suggested we might like to try a durien fruit. ugh. such. a. mistake. he pulled over at the side of the road and we all trooped over to a stall selling unusual looking spiky fruits that we had seen growing round about and we were all enthusiastic about trying something new - he cracked it open and revealed what looked like raw chicken breasts, which turned out to have the consistency of fish and the taste of onion. me and jen took it for the team and choked down about half each while anne and steph couldnt even pretend - we could still taste it after we brushed our teeth that evening.
after the fish fruit he dropped us at our new hotel in lovina where we stayed for two nights and even decided to treat ourselves to room service for the first time ever (as it worked out at about a pound each for a full meal!)
after two days our driver picked us up again and we headed south back to kuta a different way we had come, which meant that we got to see some hot springs and a huge waterfall before another lunch stop with an amazing view over the rice fields.

it was in the days following this little trip that we couldnt have been more grateful that we were staying in a good hotel with our own bathroom as we all gradually got struck down with "bali belly", enough said - dont really want to talk about it....

the rest of our time in bali was spent the same way as the first couple of days having our first proper chance to chill out in two months knowing that we didnt have flights to catch, bags to repack and trips to be on etc. we even managed to sqeeze in time for a pedicure in the spa for about 6 quid

ok - sorry i just realised that this is turning into the longest blog in the history of mankind so i'll quickly get you up to speed on our time in singapore!
we were impressed as soon as we arrived at how clean and organised everything is, several taxi drivers have told us its one of the safest places to walk around and very easy as everyone speaks english. we are staying at the ymca (guess what song i cant get out of my head) which isnt quite as nice as our hotel in bali - but sooooo much nicer than most of the hostels we stayed in. we spent our first day (yesterday) having a look around, finding the merlion and booking our bus tickets to malacca before we got on an open top bus to explore the city more, and we learned loads of interesting things which i wont bore you with on here. In the evening we got all dressed up and went over to the famous long bar at raffles hotel (check out the photo) and had our first ever singapore sling at the place where it was invented before going to find somewhere (cheaper) for tea.

today we headed out with our little tourist map and conquered chinatown, we explored all the interesting stalls and saw the different temples and even tried dim sum for lunch. made sure we found time this afternoon to make a wish at the fountain of wealth and walk around it three times. tonight we are heading to little india for a look around and a meal, maybe might even try a 'rice meal' which is served on a banana leaf and you have to eat with your fingers (right hand only if you dont want disgusted stares!)

right i think thats enough, i've probably missed loads out but im sure we can fill you all in when we get home rather than having you reading this for three hours! speak soon, hope all is well at home - love us xx