Suite Hotel Bali Royal Nusa Dua

... the entire site, and the most gracious staff we have ever encountered (even by Bali standards and that is saying a lot!). The one downside was that while we scored a deal with the rooms, the food and drink was on us and the prices were astronomical ($12 US dollars for a cocktail). So, the ironic thing was we had Sporks (combo spoons, knives, forks for use in our budget accommodations – but never needed them) and now, when we are staying in the ...

... to the Batur Volcano and lake and stopped at a few temples on the way. It's been a while since we've been to any temples so they feel new and interesting again. Among the many we visited, the Hot Springs Temple was the best; the locals are celebrating full moon and were on a sort of pilgrimage. They all showed up with offerings and empty jugs to be filled with holy water. Amongst the madness and crowds many of them took a bath in the communal pool ...

... The beach was absolutely disgusting. There was trash ABSOLUTELY everywhere. You could not take a step without planting you foot in some trash. We were appalled and shocked. We had seen some dirty beaches in Thailand, but they were sparkling clean as compared with Bali. We would later find out that the beaches were in a better condition now than they had been a few days earlier. We would also find out that the beaches were in such a condition because of the rainy ...

... too sure how long I would last without vaccination! Had a great morning in town (Kate declared it a "hike" not a "walk" :-)) checking stuff out. I bought my first 250k ring... in Rupiahs that is :-) Sparkly topaz - probably paid too much but I love it. Stopped for some gado gado (a new lunchtime tradition) and then headed back to our hotel. Our rafting tour was awesome!! It was just the three of us and two very hilarious Balinese ...

... swede called Troll who collected people's names, and Gary in his less than sober state was convinced he collected souls, so we left the next day.... And so to Cambodia for the somberest part of the trip so far. Started it in Angkor Wat, and saw the awesome temples, especially the ones with massive tree roots all over them... hooked up with some English guys who were doing the same cambo/vietnam route so we had friends for 2 weeks and I didn't have to pretend to read cambodian ...

... to Ibiza. Will probably get out of here pretty quickly. I'm sharing a room tonight with a French guy I Met in KK. The room is pretty expensive, but it's clean with A/C and hot water, I'm sharing the room costs so it's not so bad. Tomorrow I need to book a ticket to the Gili islands. The Gili's are three small islands off the west coast of volcanic Lombok, will probably stay on the islands for a while to relax and ...

... at when you cannot sleep. apart fron the Tomcat. When I come back in the room, Dr T still has a bad ear ache. I find the t.ts of the neighbor on the balcony. Should I tell her? We spend a couple of very nice hours at the swimming pool. Afterwards, we walk to the city. I buy myself new fake sunglasses: 2,5 Euro, they asked 40 Euro and I think I still overpaid. For me, Kuta is too pushy. Thousands of 'shops' want to sell you their junk. Dr T is right: it is always with a ...

We left the beach and traveled to Ubud which is a remarkable town in the middle of the island of Bali. On the way we saw the beautiful terraced rice fields that we had pictured for so long. We stopped at a Sumatran elephant sanctuary and played around with these massive creatures. The kids loved it ...

... the family. Last stop of the day before we returned to our hotel, was in Sanur. Here we were shown part of the weeks long process of making batik. It is a long and slow process to produce just one piece of fabric, no wonder the very detailed ones are incredibly expensive. I'm pretty sure I am not just speaking for myself, when I say that we learned to appreciate our life today, and the little things in it, such as the jewelery and clothes we wear, which could have taken forever to make...

Factoid of the day: Baby Chickens are difficult to sex... Abstract: After a flight with Garuda fraught with delays and KFC we arrived in Bali 3 hours late to Humidity and best of all Kish, we were escorted back to our palatial villa in Nusa Dua and so began a week of utter relaxation and socialising, except for a day scuba diving. Nitty Gritty: Managed to get up in time for the taxi to the airport, by virtue of the local pagoda playing some kind of 'trance anthem' with lots of ...