Indonesia wasn't on our original route either, but we kept hearing such good things about Bali and the neighbouring islands that we decided to yet again fly there with Air Asia. We booked 1 week, but instantly extended it to 2 weeks.

Bali is mainly Hindu. We loved the culture and the people were very friendly. There are temples literally on every street corner through out Bali. Religious festivals every week. And every house has its very own altar and they give offerings every morning. They place small parcels made from palm leaves filled with flowers, biscuits, sweets or rice. Light incense and do a ritual by splashing water and waving their hands over the offering. The same ritual offerings are also placed in the street in front of every house, shop, restaurant etc

Most of the time we book our hostels on a site called HostelWorld. We found a great looking hotel on there for Bali and booked in 4 nights, £15 a night (didn't really know what to expect) We were very pleasantly surprised. This little boutique (8 room) hotel, on the country side, but close to a tourist town was amazing. It is by far the best place we stayed in on our trip. Big spotless rooms, lovely decorated Bali style and a beautiful pool-garden area. Breakfast served on your balcony and dinner also if you wanted to. No surprise it was run by a gay couple! A swede/bali couple, Mikael and Brama, great people! They made you feel so welcome and we had a lot of chats with them. We stayed 5 nights and went off for a while and then stayed another 3 before leaving Bali.

We decided to visit the neighbouring island Lombok and we went there the local way…by a 5 hour ferry. There was nothing pleasant about that long trip at all! A lot of NOT so nice smells, people trying to flog you weird looking food and the inside of the ferry reminded me of a Doctors waiting room that hasn't been redecorated in the last 50 years. I will try and post a video…of Phil in absolute shock when a guitar band starts playing.

Anyway, Lombok is a beautiful island, very untouched by tourism. Except for the town, Sengiggi, and they got that one so wrong. Every local person will try and sell you something. Taxi, transport, massage, dive trip, key ring, and a wooden frog you can play "music" on…it drove us absolutely mad!!!! They chase you down the streets! So we rented a scoter and went off during the day and checked out the island. A great day!

Our time in Bali was all about relaxing and enjoying the beautiful hotel we stayed in. So not much more to say really!