Hey everyone well I'm still here - not been eaten by a spider yet or sucked to death by leeches. Anyway I have just had the most incredible time at my homestay in Bali. Wayan (my host) picked me up from Ubud on the Saturday after my tour finished (19th I think). Oh, one thing you should all know, nearly everyone in Bali is called Wayan as it's the name given to first born. Also no-one can say my name so from here on in I will be called Bibienne - that's Wayan Bibienne.... Anyway after about an hour's drive I arrived at the village and it really was a village. I met Nyoman, Wayan's wife and the rest of the extended family, including children, sisters, parents, grandparents and shown my very simple but spotless room and then show where the bathroom was - this I was to share with the family and again it was very simple and basic with no shower just a tub of water and a bucket and the usual Asian toilet - but again spotless. The rest of the day I took it easy and got to know the family and had a great dinner which Nyoman and Wayan (not the first Wayan but lady Wayan) prepared then as the village all disappeared to bed about 9pm I did the same. The next day (Sunday) was a special day in local history. It was Bali Independence day (20.11.1946) and their was a big ceremony at a local temple to pay respect to those that died on this date. One of these people included Mr Wayan's grandfather so I went along with the family while they made offering at the graveside which included them dressing the stone, laying flowers and money and food and also a fag (grandfather was a smoker) and then praying. After that the family ate the food and it was time to go. On the way back I visted another local temple then the heavens opened and it was time for home. Basically, the family had arranged activies for me everyday - on Monday it was walking in the rice fields and then at lunch time there were visitors from Singapore so we had a big lunch then pm it was a visit to the hot springs. On Tuesday I was taken by motorbike (no crash helmet...) to another temple in the moutains and also another guest arrived in the afternoon - Vanessa from Hong Kong who was to stay at Mrs Wayan's house. That evening we we kidnapped (only joking) and dressed up as Balienese women - Vanessa looked great I just looked stupid. Wednesday was more walking in the morning then I spent the afternoon teaching the kids English whilst Vanessa got her temple tour. Later back to hotsprings and this time 3 of the kids came too and on the way back Mr Wayan bought us all these wonderful but very hot banana pancakes. Thursday was a big day out. Vanessa and I were taken early by car and had more temples to see - to be honest I had a bit of temple fatigue by now but the templesin the afternoon soon changed my mind on that. The first in the afternoon was overrun by monkeys and so I purchased a big bag of nuts and fed them and boy did they want feeding - I even had one jump on my head but we were not quick enough with the camera. Then we headed to Tanah Lot which was a temple in the middle of the sea and a stunning location - there we watched the sun go down and sufers surf. We arrived back at the village quite late that day and after dinner was the highlight of my stay. The kids had all prepared a dance show for us. They were all dressed up in traditional costumes and it was wonderful (please see the videos in my photo section). Friday was a free day for me - I went shopping and purchased some books for the kids as a thankyou and then spent the afternoon with the kids again doing some English. Saturday I left for Gili. I've just given you a brief outline of my time there, but in all honestly it was not the activities or the places I visited that made this so special. It was the simple fact of staying with a wonderful family, getting a real insight into local life, laughing with the kids and trying to teach them English and sitting around and talking with Nyoman and Mrs Wayan to pass the time of day. Overall this was a wonderful experience and if you're ever in Bali I recommend you spend a few days with these great people in their simple but very rich home.