Hello, we are back from a 10 day road trip and are back in Kuta (though this time staying on Kuta Beach, not Seminyak (two beaches away). Thankfully it is low season (due to the rainstorms which start punctually just after midday and last 45 mins before it brightens up again. Actually, last night we were treated to a night thunderstorm as well which was right over us. The roof shook and all. So because of the low season, hotels are cheap, tours are cheap and we've been treated to some lovely accommodation at half the price. There are a lot less people here than we expected and the nights are not loud at all, which is what we really expected cos we are slap bang in the centre.

We started our road trip in Seminyak where we spent those few days learning my favourite massage so far - the Balinese massage. The differences between Balinese and Thai are great. Thai massage moves and manipulates the body to put the meridians and energy flows back into balance and it works more on the ligaments so the client is bent and pulled in a variety of directions and positions for the stretches and after you feel very relaxed. Balinese is more still for the client as the simply lie down and the masseur walks around the table kneading and massaging using different technigues, but most importantly always keeping contact with the clients skin - when one hand leaves the body, the other hand is always still touching and this creates an amazing feeling that sent me asleep 5 times in one session!

Back to the road trip- after Seminyak, we went to Tabalan to see the butterfly park. there was a huge moth-like butterfly in the nursery which was a new born and I had a pic taken standing next to it. It was scary. The carer said the butterflies only live for 3 weeks! The nursery had loads of cocoons and the new borns were learning to fly. After this, we went to the quiet town of Tibubiyu which has miles of deserted beach. Beautiful black sparkly sand (kind of like sparkly graphite, with huge waves crashing against the shore and a lovely clean sea breeze. You couldn't exactly swim/sunbathe there, but it was nice to see all the same. We stayed the night in Tibubiyu in a lovely bungalow with ocean view and since we were the only people there, we got a lovely private dinner and breakfast. The rice paddy fields in front were lovely to look at - the crop was ready so people were cutting the rice plants and the owner showed me what the plant looks like and how you hit the plant on the ground to get the rice off.

We then drove through Bali National Park to the N.East of the island and stopped in a town called Pemuteran. This is a quiet beach with luxury hotels lining it. We stayed in the nicest accommodation I've seen in the whole trip - private bungalows with outdoor bathrooms and sea views, a 4 poster bed with Indonesian style sculptures and carvings and decor throughout. A private pond and upstairs was open, with palace like bed/sofa chairs and pillows. I was in heaven. One night we saw a huge lizard about 25 cm long and dark green. The hotel also had a coral growing project just off shore which I snorkelled out to - it was amazing. They've used electric pulses on these art like metal frames sitting on the sea bed. Somehow, this attracts the sea organisms that form the coral and there are the most beautiful live colourfull corals growing on these huge underwater sculptures! That would make a great art project. It was a bit scary when I was out by myself, but some people came out after and I had a good look - there were loads of fish which again encouraged more coral formations and there were these huge blue starfish.

After discovering banana frites (yum), we headed on along the north coast, passing by Lovina beach and drove along a lovely hilly forest drive down the centre of Bali to Ubud. On the hills I saw a lovely temple (ruins), and the mist made it so beutiful - even more so because I was the only one there. Ubud was a nice place to stay because it is full of culture - there are art galleries and Balinese dance performances everywhere. We bought loads of junk and I saw a theatre. The dances were certainly different to anything I've seen before - the only thing I can almost compare it to is Indian traditional dancing but even that is not close enough.

We visited the Elephant Park which had a cute baby elephant which sadly is blind. It was chained up for some reason and when we threw it a banana it felt around for it with it's trunk and got it so it's hearing is quite good. I can't help but feel scared when I touch elephants - they are just so big. After treating all the elephants with bananas we drove down back to Kuta and that's the end of our Bali road trip. We've been surfing for 4 days - well I was forced to give up after day 2 because all the paddling against the waves left me with a pulled chest muscle (I thought I had heat stroke, but thankfully that's not the case). Ant's taking the rest of my lessons. He's getting pretty good and is learning more manouvering skills every day. I've been resting for the last few days because of the injury, but tonight I'm dressed up and we're going out, after all we are on Kuta beach - we have to, and Anthony's leaving the day after tomorrow so I'm going to go and spend some time with him. I'm leaving the day after him for Melbourne!

Chou Chou xxx