Balinese Beauty

But it's not all doom and gloom by any means...

It's goodbye Australia and hello Asia as I enter my seventh and final chapter of this adventure. Destination Bali is the first stop and I swear its been the promise of this holiday that's kept us going through the darker times of Melbourne. Those days and nights when I thought I was going to throw a plate of steak in George's face and then smash it over his head feel long gone and my time out here in paradise feels all the sweeter knowing that it's my hard work and his money that are going to pay for the months ahead.

It was a pretty emotional taxi journey out through the CBD to the airport, we passed Tina's old office and even the door of the Eureka Tower which is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere and where we had our first night out. Fitting really, ending where it all started in a way.

Arriving at the airport we were suddenly aware that this was it and hopefully all our planning was going to pay off for a smooth journey. Alas this was not to be...it turned out to be an absolute stress buster and i'm surprised we didn't explode with what happened! We were at check in when the red lipped Virgin ground staff lady promptly informed us that we needed an onward ticket out from Indonesia to board the flight and get into the country...ARGHHHH!!! (This happened to us in NZ too so you would have thought we'd learned our lesson).

We were already running late and were last to check in anyway so this was not good news. We made a mad dash to the internet computers and kicked off the annoying kids playing on them to get onto Air Asia's site and book a flight FAST. It was so stressful and all in RP currency so didn't make sense, everything was in millions!
We chose a date, booked it and finally thought the drama was over but then realised we couldn't print the itinery out as evidence. After haggling with the Virgin Blue staff to print it out we realised they'd only e-mailed through an insurance policy, not the actual ticket...DOUBLE ARGH!!!!

In the end a nice lad checked us in despite thinking we hadn't actually booked a flight as the flight number was different to the usual Air Asia number so we thought we'd been conned. It was his 2nd last day so luckily he didn't give a f*** but in theory he shouldn't have let us on. Then we ran flat out to the gate and into our seats, which amazingly were together and we even had a spare one next to us. The flight went fine although we were on edge the whole time about not being allowed into the country at customs because of our dodgy Air Asia booking!

Anyway we got in and that's all that counts so now i'm pleased to say i'm typing this from the hotel 'pool beds' feeling very relaxed and sun soaked. I'm not sure what it is about the two of us but Tina and I seem to have this ability to attract good things at the moment and have had all sorts of benefits/unexpected goodies thrown our way. On check in we were instantly upgraded to the luxury villa that comes complete with private pool, loungers and 'relax couch' area, there's a beautiful four poster bed complete with muslin drapes which is gorgeously romantic not that we need it (!) and even a......BATH! I haven't had access to a bath since I left England which is, yes, a year and 3 months ago, hence my excitement.

On our first dinner out we got chatting to the matre'd who turned out to be a part time tour operator too who could help us out with trips, not only that, he just happened to have a pair of VIP tickets to club night happening the following Friday which he gave to us, random!

Our first few days have been typically jam packed and although we both just want to lie by the pool and veg out we're both struggling with turning off our in-built OCD compulsions, the need to see and do everything that there is on offer. Our hotel is based near the beach on the border of Legian and Seminyak which is a great location as it's far enough away from Kuta (the mental tourist hub) to be peaceful yet in the heart of everything.

It's now day 4 and the first time we've just got up and done nothing, the first couple of days we both went crazy by trying to buy everything on offer in Kuta. The cheap prices and combination of markets and holiday vibe have proven deadly and my purse is noticeably emptier than it was just a few days ago....however I am wearing a couple of nice silver rings and a new bikini now though ;)

On Saturday night god knows how it happened but yet again I managed to utilise my contacts from The Terrace and got us two free tickets to the infamous Ku De Ta White party. Ku De Ta is one of those swanky club/bars on the beach which hike up drink prices to shocking amounts yet get away with it for being such a great venue.
The white party was the bars 10 year anniversary party and tickets on were sale for over a 1,000,000 rupier each, that's about 80 quid. Through the power of strategic emailing and skype I got in touch with a club owner back in Melbourne who then got in touch with his 'Bali contact' who then met up with us to get us in.
It was an epic night and had some of the best house music i've ever heard being played for 6 hours straight, amazing!

Yesterday Tina and I managed to get ourselves away from the coastal areas and inland via a minibus to Ubud. A fairly
touristy but much more rural village that's well known for its silver jewellery and a sacred monkey forest sanctuary. The journey up there was great, I just switched on the ipod and zoned out to my tunes while watching the scenery change from moped infested roads to shimmering paddy fields.
We had a fun day haggling for things, sipping beers with incredible views out over the farmland and wandering around a very 3rd world style market. We even checked out the monkey forest (something i'm surprised Tina agreed too although very relunctant!) and watched them steal food from people and cause all sorts of havoc. It was cool seeing the baby monkeys only a meter or so away from us but not so cool when the mummy beared her teeth and looked like she was about to rip the flesh off our bones.

Talking of haggling, it's something I should mention just because of how hirlarious the situations have been when we're doing it. The poor Balinese locals don't have a chance when we let loose on them and it's fair to say our tactics of bullying/begging/yelling at them seems to be working a treat. Sunglasses also seem to have become a bit of a running joke out here. Every stall, and I mean EVERY stall sells hundreds of fake Ray Bans, they're everywhere! Tina and I have this thing where we get lured into the shops by the pretty colours and then spend hours looking at pairs. A few nights ago things got a bit hysterical when we got a taxi into Kuta to go out for dinner and both ended up coming back to the hotel with 2 extra pairs of shades and NO dinner, thus taking my total to 8 pairs. It's actually ridiculous.
Apparently we both now have Balinese boyfriends, both who run sunglasses stalls and who want to take us for a ride on their mopeds hahahahahaha.

Right, think that's probably enough for now?! If you've made it this far then thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the installments to come. Bali really is beautiful, this is my first time in Asia but it's everything I hoped it would be, I love it here. I'm sure the stories will get more and more random...........