Indonesia, our fourth country in one week! It's been exhausting but thoroughly rewarding.

Bali is supposed to be a place where one comes to find them self. Ironically, we have felt a little lost. Not sure where to start, what to do, or where to end. But so far we have gone with it and had a wonderful time.

We spent our first two nights in Sanur. The locals are incredibly friendly, very smiley and happy, which reminds us a lot of the Cambodian culture. Sanur is a little seaside town. We enjoyed exploring the area and watched some surfing on the beach. We experienced our first Balinese cuisine for dinner, including Nasi Goreng, Gado-Gado and Satay Chicken. All washed down with an Amak Attack cocktail (Balinese white rice wine with orange juice and soda) and a Bintang beer.

Moving on quickly, we had a very pleasant taxi journey for only an hour to Ubud, the heart of Balinese culture. We booked a guesthouse to stay at before we arrived and we couldn't be more impressed. To reach the house, we have to walk along a thin, raised trail amid rice paddies for 5 minutes. The house is set in beautiful grounds and overlooks the rice paddies. It is such a beautiful and relaxing place.

Yesterday we decided to head to Monkey Forrest, a mere 15 minutes walk away. Let's walk it, we said, it was in the direction the taxi came from. An hour and a half later, having seen a man been bitten by a dog and not coming across the Forrest, we ask for directions. It turns out we had been walking in completely the wrong direction. We were dripping with sweat in the humidity. Never mind, a guy over the road asked if we wanted a taxi. Stuff walking back all the way we had come! We agree to a taxi and each jumped on the back of a motorbike for 30,000 rp (£1.50). A 15 minute drive later, passing by the end of the road leading to our guesthouse, we are dropped at Monkey Forrest.

This was our best experience with monkeys yet. The Forrest is a nature reserve and there are friendly staff around keeping the balance between tourists and the monkeys. So there was no taunting them, no being chased, no bad food being given to them. There are over 600 Balinese long-tail monkeys in the Forrest. It was wonderful to see them in their natural habitat and many mothers with babies. We bought some bananas for them, which you hold up and they climb up you to get them. They sit on your shoulder munching the banana before jumping back into the trees and swinging on their way.

It took 10 minutes to walk back to the centre of town. Ubud Market was our next stop. The sellers are among some of the most desperate and pestering we have experienced, rivalling Cambodia. On every stall they are begging you to look in their shop and buy this sarong for $1 and please buy something. It is quite overwhelming. We made a few purchases: a dress, top and bag.

Along our travels we have been keen to try durian, a fruit that has fascinated us. In most public places throughout South-East Asia, there are signs saying No Durian. We have considered buying it in the past but it's very expensive, and we haven't wanted to spend about £7 on it (a bit over our budget on a bit of fruit). As we were wondering around the market there was a lady selling fruit at the side of the road from her bicycle, a common sight. But we noticed her cutting up some durian, a large spikey green ball, so we headed over for a closer inspection. When the fruit is cut open you can smell it's stench, and there are yellow balls inside that almost look like mozzarella - those are the bit you eat. A local lady buying some durian herself could see that we were intrigued so offered us some, for nothing. As durian is so expensive, this highlights the friendliness of Balinese culture.

Forgetting our backpacker budget for a night, we splashed out for dinner (to an extent - the food is cheap here with the most expensive meal costing £5). We had Balinese spare ribs and crispy duck.

Today we had a private driver (very swish we know, but it's a common way to get around from Ubud). We had simply asked to go to Beratan Lake and Temple, the iconic picture of Bali, but our driver was very friendly and took us to many other places. Throughout the whole journey we spoke about Balinese lifestyle, Hinduism and the history of Bali. There's no better way than to learn from a local.

It took an hour to arrive at our first stop, the Royal Family Temple. These are beautifully kept grounds with the classic tiered temples in the centre of a moat.

Another hour drive and we arrived at Beratan Lake and the temple, Ulun Danu. As seems to always be the way with travelling, we have learnt to wing it and be fortunate enough to witness some spectacular events. We got there in perfect timing to see a Hindu procession coming out of the temple. Ulun Danu itself sits on the side of the lake. It's a truly breathtaking sight and is vastly different from the temples we have seen in our journey so far.

Back in the car, another 20 minutes later and lush sloped greenery in the mountains were passing by our windows. Rice paddies like we have never seen before. There are rows and rows of staggered fields, as far as you can see. It's amazing watching the Balinese people hard at work, hacking away in the heat. We trekked for an hour through the fields. It was cloudy and deep thunder threatened, but we were lucky and no down pour came.

On route back to Ubud, we stopped to try Indonesian Luwak Coffee, or as we were taught by the guide, 'Poopuccino'. We were taken around the gardens to see the organic products they use and taught how Luwak Coffee is made. It begins with coffee beans being eaten by a cat like animal, Luwaks. After a few hours of fermentation in their stomach, the Luwaks poo out the coffee beans that are in protective layers. These beans are removed from the poop, cleaned in hot water 3 times, roasted in a clay dish for 1 hour and then ground into a powder. The powder is simply added to hot water. It has a very rich, smoothe texture and apparently can be drunk late at night as it lacks caffeine due to the fermentation process. We were thrilled to also be given a selection of different coffees to try, such as vanilla and coconut, and many flavoured teas. Our favourite teas were tamarind and saffron, and mangosteen. We will be on a mission when we get home to try and find them!

At the moment we are hiding from a fleeting thunderstorm in our guesthouse, soon to head out to dinner. Bali, what shall we do next?

Steph and Max x