Dear Roy and Ali

Thank you for coming to join us for the Bali leg of our honeymoon and for sorting out our amazing villa.

We have to say it was quite hard leaving Thailand for a new country because you are never sure if it will be as good so it has been wonderful being with you and having such a different but great time. We really love the accommodation you have booked us into for the next 2 weeks. It is lovely having our own little villa just outside Ubud and it is by far the swankiest place we have stayed in so far on our trip. This really is pushing the boundaries of what can be considered 'backpacking'.

How else could you explain the panoramic view over the paddy fields we wake up to every morning, the sunken bath that was decorated with rose petals when we arrived, the gorgeously comfortable bed with the swans and heart decorations, the his and hers sinks, the rooftop garden and the waterfall shower with so many k*** and buttons it will take us two weeks to work out how to use it?

We can even see a little duck farm next to the paddy field which is very cute. It is good to know the crispy duck Roy had on the first night was so fresh.

And that is just our room. How about the rest of our apartment? The private swimming pool, the living room with its own balcony overlooking the paddy fields, the restaurant attached which actually does (almost) proper eggs benedict and afternoon tea.

It certainly means Bali will stand out on its own merits in our hearts.

It is lovely to be able to unpack our bags properly for the first time and discover all the t-shirts crammed at the bottom of my bag that I'd forgotten I had brought.

Also, I suppose I should thank you for organising the photography tour that we went on this morning although we weren't very grateful when we had to get up this morning at 4am, but then how else are you going to see the sunrise.

They took us to a beach with a coral reef which meant there was no waves. The reflections of the water were absolutely perfect. I am not sure that having a little compact waterproof camera is the right equipment to take on a photography tour, compared to the ginormous professional doo das that everyone else seemed to have but in all modesty I definitely took the best pictures.

The highlight of the tour was definitely popping into McDonalds for breakfast. Sausage and egg mcMuffins are amazing whatever part of the world you visit and the photo opportunities with Mr Ronald meant that it fitted in perfectly with the tour.

My attention to taking photos might have waned a bit after that. there is only so many pictures you can take of paddy fields, temples, old women and waterfalls but the air conditioned car was great. I managed to catch up on a lot of sleep.

Other things to note. Indian food in Bali is probably best to be avoided in future. I was much upset and saddened by the state of the chicken tikka masala I got last night. But on the plus side the supermarket is definitely in my top five of foreign supermarkets.

Lots of love

Jim and Donna

JIM'S TOP FIVE OF FOREIGN SUPERMARKETS LIST

1. Cancun, Mexico

2. Orlando, USA

3. Ubud, Bali

4. Cascais, Portugal

5. Cairns, Australia