Having to leave Tutde' house (property of Tutde family) was a sad day...

his family really made us feel part of the gang and it was a safe little bubble. A safe, smelly, slightly dirty bubble.

It was an early start to catch the shuttle bus east towards the coast of Bali. pedangbai used to just be the boast port for the cheap ferry crossings to Lombok and the Gili Islands, but over the last few years it has developed into a nice little quiet stop over point for all the travellers wishing to leave Bali and visit any other of the indonesian islands.... being on a tight budget, and with me spending most of it each day on Fanta and Oreos, the slow ferry crossing was the option for us. About 12hours, 2 buses and 2 boats, compared to the 1hr direct speed boat option is a big price to pay for sugar addiction. still - i had my Ipod and Katie has Shantaram - the biggest and most inconviniently heavy book any traveller could possibly chose to read. We will be fine.

She is going to be hentch after carrying that around for a few weeks.....

Pedangbai ended up being a nice little stop over, visiting the beach, some awesome snorkelling and Katie constantly checking the Iphone to get updates of any transfer actitivy for Arsenal. I just wanted a nice romantic meal on the beach front, she spent all the time looking at the BBC Sport website - typical Katie!! she LOVES football.

We had some awesome Seafood platters, (almost as good as cyprus dad) and a few too many mojitos while enjoying the relaxed atmosphere.

we tried a local spirit called Arak (made from palmtrees)... If i were to describe the taste i would use just two words - muddy piss.

so we drank more mojitos and Katie checked the football a few more times before bed on an empty wallet and tummys full of rum.

Now - i thought Roosters were meant to "cockadoodle do" at sunrise??! For the whole 7hours we were trying to sleep before our early visit to the boat port, it sounded like 25 very confused Roosters who couldnt tell the time were hiding under our bed. man - that was a great nights sleep. Fell asleep just in time for the amplified morning prayers being sung from the local mosque.

Anyways, we met an old friend who we were staying with in Ubud while waiting at the boat port. He told us that the French girl next door to us had a horrific motorbike crash the day we left, sliding under a coach and totally writting off the bike she was renting! Lucky for her she has NO insurance, No International Driving Licence, NO driving Licence at all in fact.... so she literaly ran away and got on a flight to Australia! I think we were both grateful it wasnt us and were looking forward to chilaxing on the Gili's....

Our home for the next few days will be Gili Trawangan....

Peace and Flip Flops

Nic and Katie xxx