Hi everyone, It's been awhile since our last entry so this one may be a bit long- sorry! Indonesia has been a real mix between amazing and the most frustrating place we've visited by a long way. As soon as we got of the plane travelling was a nightmare, with aggressive taxi drivers. Kuta was our first stop. It's the main tourist destination in Bali and a real party town. Unfortunately since the bombs here it's become a lot quieter, which showed in the desperation of the people who were really aggressively trying to sell us things, grabbing my arm and actually trying to physically drag me to have my nails or hair done- bit scary really. Still, it was a good place to spend a few days and have a bit of a party during the night of the 3am sweden game- that's probably the last time Im going to mention England, oh the pain! Krys managed to cut his nose when we were out by walking into a bar..... literally not the alcohol serving type (sure there's a joke in there that goes something like 'a man walks into a bar.... boom boom'). After that we made our first journey from hell in this country to the island of Java to see some active volcanoes. First we got a night bus which set of a few hours later than they said it would (first lie), then it dropped us off in a scary town at 4am where they told us a bus would take us to our final destination. That was the second lie. We were stuck in a bus station with loads of really intimidating men who just stopped and stared at me. It's a really heavily muslim country and I dont think they're as used to tourists as in Bali, but it was really intimidating. We final paid far too much for a taxi to get us out of there. The journey was worth it though when we arrived at our guesthouse (which in itself was disgusting, not even any showers!) but it was located on the edge of the rim of a volcano. It was totally breath-taking, easily one of the highlights of our trip so far. There are a few volcanoes within an existing crator, one of which is constantly smoking (Bromo), and another which in the mornings spurts out ashy smoke every 15 minutes or so. We arrived as the sun came up and the floor of the crator was hidden by a layer of mist. After a sleep walked to the top of one of the volcaoes (which stank of eggy sulphur) then rested in preparation for the next morning when we decided to get up at 3am to walk to the summit of a hill overlooking the volcanoes for sunrise. Now, those of you who know me know that Im am not a morning person and dont think Ive ever got up at 3am voluntarily in my life! So I wa a bit apprehensive about hiking up a hill for 2 hours in the dark. However, again it was totally worth it. The colours with the sunrise were stunning and so peaceful and the view of the volcanoes shooting stuff out was fantastic (when we get round to uploading the photos you'll see we took a lot!). Next- the second journey from hell- returning to Bali and heading to Lovina in the north. Started off badly when the bus turned a bit early (good start), then drove us once round a corner and stopped with the engine running for 45 minutes for absolutely no apparent reason, then we left. Got the the main town where we had bought a ticket for a bus all the way to Lovina. Then the fun really started. I apologise now for the rant I am about to go on. However, once I start dont think I'll be able to stop. Firstly, they told us our bus was going to be a little bit late due to traffic. OK thought we, no probs. After an hour, the explanation was that the air conditioning was broken but it would defo be there within another hour, then it was another because of a divertion- you get the picture. Eventually, 4 hours later they put us on a bus which they told us didnt go to where we wanted but would take us so far where we could ge another bus. So annoying as they'd obviously forgotten to book us seats initially, but instead of being honest just kept lying to us. Anyway, got somewhere else, by which time it was 9.30pm (we set of at 8.30am) and there were no buses to where we want to go and we were told by the company that we hadnt bought a ticket to Lovina anyway and would have to pay to go there ourselves. When we said we had piad they asked for our ticket....which they had earlier snatched off us and refused to give back, so we had nothing to prove we had paid! It's the equivilant of buying a train ticket from Newcastle to London, it being 4 hours late, then them kicking you off at leads in the middle of the night and ssaying there's no way of getting to London now and you didnt pay to get there anyway so you have to pay twice! Can you feel how angry we were!! Ended up staying in this dodgy town for a night until we could get to Lovina the next day. Were woken at 5am by praying (as happens every morning here), and I had a little laugh to myself at the irony of me at one point asking 'please god, stop the religious chanting'. Again though, despite the dreadful journey, Lovina was lovely. The main attracetion meaning another early start is the sunrise boat trip to see dolphins. for the second time in a few days got up before 6am and went out. The dolphins were amazing, loads of them jumping out the water round the boats in the morning sun, sometimes coming up really close. Lovina itself made you feel really sad though as it was totally empty and the locals told us its been like that since the bombings. They hasstle you to sell things all the time, but you cant be angry because they're obviously so desperate and apologetic about hasstling you. Felt like proper rich westerners who dont really deserve what we've got. Went on to Tulamben for a day to snorkel round a shipwreck which was quite cool then made our most recent hellish journey to where we are now on one of Lombok's islands called Gili Trawangan. I'll try to keep the ranting short this time, but once again we were lied to, had money taken from us and boats that either were late of not what we paid for. I dont know why it's like that here. It's the first country we've gone to that I haven't felt safe around the local men and where they are really unhepful and just lie to you quite happily all time. We got here eventually though, and again its great. It's a bit ironic, there's posters around saying things like 'dont let terrorism kill tourism', but me and Krys both agree that it's not terrorism that would keep us away in future, but the lies we've been told and the massive difficulty the locals cause for you in getting around. Having said that the locals on this island are really nice, and we walk down the street to people shouting 'hi Toni, hi Krys, how are you', and we dont even remember meeting them (could have something to do with that we met lots of people of the evening we got knocked out the world cup- damn it, said I wouldnt mention that). Gili Trawangan is fab, but think this entry had been long enough for now so will write about it next time! Hope the country is getting over its national grief. Lots of love, Toni and Krys x