Arrived onto the hot tarmac in Bali - our last truly tropical spot of the trip - and were looking forward to soaking up some sun and cooling off in the sea for a whole six weeks.

Bali is famous for it's waves and Chris had his suf board ready to go at the earliest opportunity. We drove away from the city and into the rice fields through the beautiful green countryside and back to the West coast at a small village called Medewi. There we spent a few days where Chris was getting up early to surf everday, and I was just relaxing by the pool from where I could watch the waves beyond. The black volcanic rocky beach was home to a number of local fisherman who battle the waves breaking onto the shore everyday to take their outrigger boats out for the catch of the day. From the beach you can see the rice terraces and the mountains behind creating a stunning view. The downfall is that the mountains change the weather dramatically and we had big thunder storms and rain showers every afternoon, but at least it took the edge off of the humidity. There were just two small hotels and restaurants for us to chose from here, so after a few days we craved some more life and headed South for some life.

We visited some friends of friends in the Southern seaside town of Sanur, home to a large ex-pat community, but still retaining it's traditional Balinese roots with temples in even the most modern house or compound of houses. The beach here was where my activity started at the kite sufing centre. Having got the basics in Boracay I was determined to get proficient, and within two days Chris had negotiated with the instructor and bought a second hand kite to use. I had a couple of lessons and got moving on the board properly for the first time, although there was still a long way to go.

From there on in we made the call each day to see whether the wind was right for sufing or kite surfing, or sightseeing if neither of the above! Luckily for Chris, most days he could do all three as the wind changed direction and power late morning. So, he was up early to surf a break called Airport left (imaginatively named for it's location left of the airport suprisingly), which he had to get a fishing boat out to. It was fairly busy but not as bad as he thought it would be, and the waves were a good challenging size. Two people snapped their boards on his first two sessions and he lost a leash, so the waves were big and powerful, and you wouldn't want to get it wrong and be dumped on the reef underneath.

We got to share Chris' kite for the first few afternoons when the wind picked up and Sanu beach is an ideal place for learning as a boat can take you off shore so you can drift back in with the wind if you mess up, which I invariably did. Chris normally went first as there was a good chance I would crash the kite on the water and the lines would get tangled, meaning our fun was over for the day - you wouldn't think five lines could be so difficult or time consuming to straighten out! By the end of the holiday I wasn't crashing so much and was managing to stay upwind a little, so still a lot of work to do but I'm looking forward to being able to get down to the south coast of England with the kit.

On 'off' days when swell was small or wind was weak, I dragged Chris inland for some more cultural experiences. We enjoyed a couple of days in the arty town of Ubud. From there we headed up to the beautiful volcano at Mount Batur and spent a day cycling down from nearby, through the local villages where the children would all line the streets to try and give us high fives or knock us off our bikes - I often wasn't sure which!

We saw traditional farming of the rice terraces with ploughs pulled by cattle, and women bent double picking individual grains off the plants - back breaking work. Had a brief tour of a families compoud, which consists of a group of buildings for the extended family, and their own temple. The community then has another temple used for larger ceremonies and fastivals, at which time it will be decorated with golden flags, bamboo and flower displays. The family we saw were hard at work making bamboo mats which was their main source of income. We were told about the three main natural resources used in Indonesia - bamboo, bananas and coconuts, all with several uses from roofing to plates to furniture.

Back in Ubud after a reasonably easy, mainly downhill cycle, we were treated to a delicious Indonesian buffet with the traditional fares of babi guling (roast pork) and nasi goreng (fried rice) and sate ayam (chicken satay). Had a walk through the monkey forest afterwards, full of cheeky monkeys waiting to pounce on anyone carrying food!

Stayed in a great hotel with an outdoor bathroom on the roof, so we could watch the world go by from the shower! We bought tickets for a temple show of the traditional Kecak dance, and went along to watch an extraordinary performance. Over 100 men scantily dressed chanted "Kecak" over and over very fast, among other things, and went through various ritual movements which made for an interesting spectacle!

On our last morning there, we had a wander past the expensive galleries and boutiques, then around the traditional markets, ignoring or fending off the constant cries of 'transport? taxi?' from people desperate to get a little business, then we ducked into a lovely organic cafe for a tasty lunch before speeding off back to bustling Kuta on our moped, past whole families fully loaded squeezed onto theirs.

Decided to stay that side of the island for a few days to try some different restaurants and avoid Chris having to make the 20 minute journey to the waves early every morning. We found some great places to stay which were really cheap and enjoyed a few nights out around town, then splashed out on some tickets to a magazine party sold to us by the kitesurfing centre. Had a good but drunken night making the most of the free bar until it ran dry and we made a run for it!