hello.

it has been a while, and by a while, i mean a week.

A ton has happened since we left yogyakarta. we took a bus to Bromo, which was the scariest ride of our lives. the driver nearly crashed numerous times. for some reason the indonesian people love to overtake one car at a time while driving at a ridiculous speed and then quickly change back into their lane just to wait to overtake again. it is very frightening. and when it became nighttime, everyone just sank down in their seats so we didnt have to watch the road anymore.

so we drove up to Bromo which was pretty high up in the hills. it was very cold there as well. it didnt even feel like we were in indonesia anymore. it felt like Nepal or something, with everyone wearing winter coats and beanies. It was really nice though. so we then woke up at 3:30 am and took a short jeep ride up to a lookout point over Gunung Bromo, a volcano set inside a huge crater. there was another active volcano behind it that erupts every 20 minutes. its pretty much just smoke, but its amazing.

so when you are looking at this landscape, a friend we met described it as "what Mars would look like", and thats exactly right, well thats what we imagine it to be like!! we then went down into the crater and walked up to the rim. it was the strongest smell of sulfur we've ever smelt, almost enogh to make you sick, but we were still stunned at the lunar landscape.

we left Bromo later that day and made our very long journey to Bali. we came to Legian to meet our friend Tom.

Legian is in a very busy part and if you go further south to Kuta, it is a crazy party town. we met Tom the next night and we all went for dinner and then out to some bars. the nightlife was pretty mental but it felt weird being out when we would walk by the bombing memorials.

we only stayed in legian for 2 days and then all three of us left for Ubud. probably one of the nicest places we have been in indonesia. we stayed north of the town in these quiet bungalows which were so beautiful and very cheap. we walked around town a lot, there are tons of art galleries and paintings there, so nice! then we went to the monkey forest, which was crazy! we have tons of pictures, that i'll try to put up soon. We had to hide the bananas under our shirts because the monkeys are very clued in to whats going on. it was hillarious! the next day we went rafting down the Ayung River. it was just the three of us and it was a blast. there were parts where we could just slide down the rocks, a huge waterfall, and just some nice swimming. overall, Ubud, was pretty fantastic.

after 3 days there, we travelled down to Dreamland, which is just a small beach hideaway spot for surfers. since we were'nt there to surf, i relaxed on the beautiful beach, while Tom and John walked down to another spot and found a bar. then we all watched an amazing sunset, while the local dog popped their soccer ball. so that kind of put an end to the activity for the day, then just had some beers and went to bed.

Tom flew home last night so we came back to Kuta and saw him off, so now we are back at our place in Legian and hopefully leaving for the Gili Islands tomorrow!!

take care!!