Inna Kuta Beach

... outside these shops are annoying Balinese people hassling you to death, imagine the streets are dirty, imagine random metre long gaps in the pavements which disappear into an abyss of black below, imagine every millisecond a moped whips by you beeping in your face because you're walking on the road not on the pavement otherwise you would have by now fallen into aforementioned abyss. That's Kuta. Actually multiply it by 100 and that's Kuta ...

... name was Josh, an American. He really opened my mind. He was a stranger so that I didn't have something to worry about when I talked to him. Then in a couple of time, another guy came, talked to us because he heard we talked something in Spanish. His name was Zbyszek, a Polish. We spent a really nice night together, talked about anything, shared stories about our cultures. It was so cool!<br><br>Friday, I went to Ubud. Ubud was a nice place but I thought the people ...

... Indonesians. They are short, but ripped, they are going to be carrying baskets on a bamboo pole full of our essential items like water, food, tents, cooking equipment and items that the westerners really need. Yes Mr Porter, these are essential items, of course we will need our hairdryers and wooden clogs at the top of the volcano, you never know when those crazy Dutch folk might through a wooden clog party! We climb the volcano in a big ...

... we did NOTHING but eat, read (I've read 6 books already... haha), and lounge on the beach. It was great. In fact, it's only when you actually have to leave the beach and brave the hellish domestic travelling within the country that we really got cranky. Philippines, thanks for the memories. But its time to get goin'...<br><br>I'm now sitting in an internet cafe (one of literally 5000) in Kuta Bali, Indonesia... the epicenter of sex, sand and sun in all of SE ASIA ...

... which girls were hookers, and which 'girls' were actually ladyboys (Tom: I expect, similarly to Thailand, that most of them were 'bar girls' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_girl) - hired by the bar itself to talk to the customers and make sure they have a good night/ buy a lot of drinks - taking home a foreigner optional)! At one of the bars, there was an older guy with an older hooker, well we assumed she was a hooker, who did nothing by wiggle her tits at/in his face for about ...

... made canapes (one layer of crisp, slice of banana, dollop of peanut butter, peanut to top!!!!) my god we are good to ourselves ha ha :-) We spent one day pooling it and the next Phil rented a bike and went of for a beach reccie and came back to take me to the best one. I think the whole south coast has amazing beaches, beautiful clear water and little coves that make it so private but we didn't have much time as Phil had other plans for us :-( Another long day of travel ...

... high gear in the new year, which has eaten up all the time I would have used to write detailed journal entries. As long as I have several scripts to read each week, my journal entries will most often have to take the form of abbreviated highlights. So. My next stop was Ubud, the spiritual, cultural, and artistic center of Bali, and the place where the unlikable protagonist of Eat, Pray, Love spent the last four months of ...

... tourist trap. It's got the best nightlife though by all accounts, so since we were here for such a short time me and Jules decided to stay here and visit other bits of the island on day trips and then come back at night. We booked ourselves into a hotel called the Bounty, which is basically a bit like a resort hotel. We were paying hotel prices (probably close to 20 quid a night), but we wanted somewhere where we could meet other folks..and Bali is absolutely ...

... in armour and you'll get something similar. Some of them are actually Garudas. Watch out for the entry from Ubud, where mel goes gargoyle-hunting) - Ceramic plates and bowls inlaid with identically sized pieces of coloured glass, mosaic fashion. Tempted, but my decor style at the moment is decidedly spartan! - Custom made surfboards. It's Kuta Beach after all! Surfing is why they came in the first place all those years ago. Saw some for sale ...

... After familiarising ourselves with the place we booked to see a traditional dance performance in the evening - a Kecak Fire and Trance dance at one of the many temples in the area. With front row seats, it started with about 70 men chanting and waving their arms and forming several circles around central candles. Several girls then come out and dance in the middle in traditional dress, then are joined on and off by I understoof to be ...