We left Ubud this morning after spending 4 days there.

Whilst there we saw part of a cremation ceremony, which was certainly an experience! The part we saw was in the street, and there were big floats which were very colourful, tables with offerings on (including a pig - cooked, of course!), about a hundred men in white t-shirts with the date and presumably the names of the 2 dead peope printed on the front, alot of noise, live music and women with burning things on their head. Everyone was wearing a sarong, as this is the respectable dress of the country, and you need to be wearing one to enter the temple. The men in white lifted the floats and carried them off down the street whilst everyone followed, including the guys playing the music! There seemed to be no organisation, and not one person was upset. So different to our way of doing things...

We did a few bits of shopping, buying quite a few dvds, at the market. We also watched the Legong Dancing at Ubud Water Palace - a very beautiful setting.

We arrived in Kuta a few hours ago, and have already been to the beach and found McDonalds! You dont realise how far away from 'normal' life you are until you realise there are no fast food outlets! The beach is very surfy and we are sure that the next time the sun is out it will be packed. We are quite enjoying Kuta at the moment, it's alot more touristy than the other places we have visited but you dont get as many stares from the locals. There seems to be plenty of places to entertain ourselves (very different to Candi Dasa) so our time in Kuta should go quite quickly.

There are no more photos at the moment because the camera is broken. It got wet whilst in Candi Dasa (the most excitement we had there lol). We are using the underwater camera so they will need to be put onto cd before they can go on the website :(

Love Amy and Mike x