I fully expected to be woken by my digestive tract complaining of the previous nights marine fauna assault but all was calm when the birds began their morning chorus. They were nearly drowned out by Sam snoring on the sofa so after a homely cup of PG Tips I headed out for a run in the muggy morning air. My improvised route took me under the impressive grandstands of the stadium, ending up trackside and stopping partly to catch my breath but mostly to take in my...

230am is never a good time, irrelevant of country, weather or company but Puri Gangga made it slightly better, providing us with packed lunches before waving our taxi off to the airport. Whilst I (apparently) snored my head off, Bob made polite conversation with the driver and we arrived in excellent time to check in. I investigated the breakfast parcels and, after finishing the pastries, failed to find a socially acceptable way to eat an entirely encapsulated pa...

Another relaxed start, shrouded in the white hangings of the bed, with the sound of rain audible on our terrace. We breakfasted and took the shuttle bus into Ubud, about a 20 minute drive, at a pleasantly relaxed pace. We wandered the bustling streets on our way to the monkey forest, passing lots of shops selling sparkly and shiny things when Bob did very well to resist on the first pass. We entered the monkey forest and were suddenly enveloped in leafy surround...

Waking to the sound of crowing jungle fowl, shrouded in the white drapes of the mosquito hangings was bliss. We had a breakfast of juices, fruits and pancakes overlooking the tropical vista and planned our day in glorious sunshine. After breakfast we headed down the hill, sarongs flowing, and wandered around the deserted temple of holy waters. It was very calming to be surrounded by placid pools of countless colourful carp all cruising around in the crystal cle...

We woke early to finish packing and scuttled up the road to the dive centre like 2 heavily laden hermit crabs, with all our worldly possessions on our backs. The water was due to be a ‘chilly’ 22 degrees at the dive site in Padang Bai, on Bali’s Eastern coast, so we had an entertaining 15 minutes of sweat and stress trying on full length 5mm wetsuits (in which Bob get very entertainingly stuck) before boarding the Bus-of-Doom for our third round of ‘high-...