Greetings from Bali, We have spent the last 3 days on Gili Meno, a tiny island off Lombok. It was very relaxing as there isn't much there, and hardly any tourists (aprox 20), as it is the rainy season. Most time was spent lazing on the beach or on thatched platforms where we could shelter from the tropical downpours, or swimming and snorkelling. In the evenings we ate at a small Warung (restaurant) and sat round enjoying the guitar playing from the local guys, ...

Welcome to a new chapter in our travels! We've left the Indian subcontinent behind and have arrived in Bali for a couple of weeks of relaxing mixed in with some of the cultural highlights of the island, before we head for Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. We arrived this lunchtime having flown overnight, and so are feeling a little tired, and so decided to find somewhere near the airport to stay tonight. We will add more later, when we've had some sleep, and ...

We have almost come to the end of our time in Sri Lanka. We have been in Dambulla for the past three days, and have visited the cave temples here as well as doing trips out to Sigiriya and Polonaruwa. Both of these sites were very impressive, but it was very hot walking around. The climb to the top of the rock at Sigiriya was a little hairy at times, and a little tiring as we'd timed it so that we were doing it at midday in the full sun. Luckily in Polonoruwa it ...

We are in Kandy where we arrived yesterday from Ella. We spent a day in Ella, which is a small village up in the hills in the centre of the island. It's a bit of a backpacker hangout. We enjoyed relaxing there for a day, and did a little walk up one of the local hills from where there were good views of the area. We also had some excellent food: in particular a fantastic assortment of curries including a garlic curry and an excellent pineapple chutney. From El...

This morning we left Bentota on the train to Galle. Galle is a fortified town built by the Portuguese, and is pretty and small enough to wander around in an afternoon. It is very hot. We hope to be doing a whistle-stop tour of the island, heading inland to the hill country tomorrow, then on to the ancient cities. Sri Lanka is much more pleasant than India, but unfortunately much more expensive.