We arrived to Bali on The "red devil" offical Mancester United aircraft, which had pictures of Ronney etc, on the outside and all their signatures around the interior...woo hoo lucky us, given the big man U fans that we are!!?

We headed for Kuta beach, the main resort and found ourselves in a Indonesian mini version of Sydney!? The place was surrounded by aussies, all wanting to catch the surf. So at least we have some idea what to expect when we hit Oz. Found a lovely little bungalow place right in the main stretch with a swimming pool...oh the luxury of it!! Spent 2 nights sleeping in a fan-room which Alaine couldnt take anymore after having to take regular showers throughout the middle of the night (yes it was really that HOT!) then upgraded to air con which cost about 2 quid more. We decided to head over to Bali because we'd heard it was supposed to be cheaper and the weather nicer - and both things were true! Although it was too hot when we arrived, we had acclimatised by the end of the week...and well we did have the pool! As for cheapness...this place was unbelievable! Half the price of Thailand...and we were supposed to be staying in the most expensive part of Bali!!?

Didnt do alot, as we just wanted to rest...again! So we spent most days be the pool, chilling and eating! Did manage to go our first club here though!! Which was interesting...Lady boys going mental with aussie surfers, all drinking out of gold fish bowls. We also spent a day visting different villages, and their arts and crafts....very creative island! Finished off the day by visiting the monkey forest, where monkeys roam around in the wild, freely amongst people. Alaine was terrified of them, after hearing they can bite. Mark feed them with bananas until a couple of them tried to climb up him and pick pocket the bananas out of his pocket...then he got scared too....ha!

Definatley recommend bali, but make sure you travel further afield than Kuta, we should have but we too comfortable and lazy by this point. Bartering is huge over here, so shopping is good if you have a strongwill. Would like to come back here and explore the island one day! Despite the bombs in 2004, you feel very secure here, we even visited the notourius Paddy's bar where the bomb went off...it was packed - which was good! Can't really a bad word about this place and we were so glad we found our way here!

We then had to embark on a 26 hr journey down to Singapore! Which involved flying back to KL, sleeping in the airport then training it to Singapore in the morning! Meet a nice couple from (as it happens) Bristol who were doing the same, so we stayed up a few hours chatting about the west country and playing "s***head"....jumped on the train at 8 am, due to arrive at 4.

We'll be in touch from here soon....love to all...and keep the messages coming- they are great to read!

xxx