Hello everyone,

It seems like im having to say this but sorry for taking so long to write. Its been a couple of really cool weeks and just been busy and kept putting off writing but now im here so ill try and write a smuch as i can remember.

Last time i wrote i was in Kuta, Bali. I met Ninja (pronounced Ninya), a really nice german girl who was also on her own so after having a little chat and finding out her surfing experience at the beach went we decided that it would be cool to go and visit Ubud for a few days as its a bit quieter and generally more cultured and less touristy then Kuta.

First day in Kuta we arrived for a really cheap taxi, despite we could have got a shuttle bus for even less we were still amazed how different pricing can be for a taxi ride which lasted over an hour. it equated to 4 pounds each which is mental! Anyways we went and saw the monkeys at the sacred forest which was really funny. We bought some bananas and had to be really careful about letting them see them or not as we found out later that they do try and get into bags and they nearly succeeded with ninja's handbag. Its amazing how similar they are to humans. The smaller ones especially run up on 2 legs and grab the banana from you with 2 hands and then run off having to fight off others. THey were quite aggressive though so i got a bit of a snarling for teasing one and not letting go of the banana which is pretty freaky and scary. I also got chased by one after trying to join in with its game of rubbing a stone on the floor. I did it from a little distance with my own stone but that particular monkey didnt enjoy it and chased me about 10m so while i was s***ting myself and running i could hear ninja laughing her head off. But she got what was coming ot her when a monkey spotted the bananas in her bag and thus jumped on her head! photographic evidence of that does exist as well just not on my camera!

Second day we hired out some pushbikes and tried to cycle round and see some of the rice fields, temples and nicer sites. it was a boiling day so we were both sweaty messes but the view of the rice terraces was worth it and i hope that if and when i get the pictures up, theyll do them credit because they really are spectacular. We cycled right into the rice fields where we met a local farmer called renta who claimed to be having a day off but really was waiting for tourists so he could try and make some money. He told us how they grow the rice, when its ready for harvest etc, showed us how to climb coconut trees and after having a quick go decided it wasnt for me. More disturbing though was his lack of underwear and short open shorts so the angle of his legs while climbing the tree exposed his manhood which led to a few laughs between Ninja and I. In the evenings we just sipped cocktails and dined at really good restaurants for such low prices. I had one of the best currys for a little over a pound, and set over a really nice pool with seats where you lie down instead of sit...heaven!

Third day in Ubud we just had a wlak round near us and had a look in the local market where they seem to have a strange obsession with Penis carvings. Every stall had them as ash trays or bottle openers but worryingly they must sell as everyone had them, no doubt to many english tourists that find them great though fortunately im not one of them. We also encountered another sick site...'boil face man' as hes known now, was trying to sell us something and we turned round and had this horrible man trying to grab ninja with his disgusting hands and arms, and seconds after that a dog came out of an underground food market which looked pretty unhygeinic, it had ribs sticking nearly completely out of his skin and the texture of his fur looke dlike stone, but to look at it, it kinda looked like someone had been sick over him and then it had dried so after seeing all that in a short space of time, worrying for our own health we got out of there and went to see the Water Palace which is a temple set on a beautiful surrounding pond filled with really nice flowers, sounds a bit gay but it was a really nice site!

Fourth day in Ubud we organised the sunset tourwhich took us to Tanah Lot temple which is located kind of in the sea but on a rock, unfortunately our guide told us the wrong time for the sunset so after being there too early we left and half an hour down the road we looked back and there was a stunning bright purple and deep red sunset that wed missed but it was kind of ruined as there was thousands of tourists surrounding it so it wasnt really as tranquil as the tour guide had made out in the firsdt place. I nearly missed out that we also saw a traditional balinese dance called the Kecak dance. Although the plot was quite hard to follow due to strange monkey armies and snake eating chickens, it was strangely good and we both really enjoyed the guys chanting the cak - a - cak -a and we had some fun with the locals trying to start our own chant going not too much avail though.

Next day we left Ubud and met Tomas, a dutch guy who really did think he was gods gift. He always thought he knew best and to be honest was a complete idiot but he tagged along with us, after harrassing ninja and arguing with everything i said just for the sake of trying to be alpha male, ninja and i decided it would probably be best to try and lose him but not until i was supposed to go did we finally get rid of him at the airport. Where id really enjoyed my time in bali the last few days were s*** so after getting to darwin i decided to go back for another 10 days or so, in the end it wasnt too bad buying the flight as i probably saved money from being in cheap bali rather than spending loads on extortionate prices in Oz. After being here for roughly 5 hours ive already spent nearly $100!

So i got back to Bali and surpirsed ninja, so we had a couple of uneventful days before her friend from australia joined us. Nicks american, cool really laid back guy so after missing out on the bintangs as ninjas not a big fan, it was time to start up on them again and its fair to say we sank a few in the last week or so that we were there.

After spending a couple of days on the beach we decided to rent some scooters and head south to dreamland beach and ulu watu which is renonwed for good surf. Dreamland was awesome, the water was a bright whitey/blue colour due to the stone coral reflecting off the sun or something like that so ninja claimed. The ebach itself wasnt great but it was just unbelievable and ive never seen anything like that, again i hope the pictures do it justice. Ulu watu was really nice as well, we went to the surfer view point but were really high up so could see the surfers ride but to be honest everyone was just really looking forward to getting back on the scooters, it was the best part of the day! During the day there was a petrol shortage which seemed typical as the one day that we decided to rent out scooters but we did meet the first english guy ive met since ive been gone...Pete. Born and bred in Birmingham, it was nice to be able to chat about some lower league football etc so we got acquainted while waiting for petrol and so pete tagged along and then stayed with us until the day we left. He seemed to bump into someone he knew from other places so we had a couple more guys join us so it was nice to have a clan! made the nights out a bit more interesting.

The day after the scooters, nick and pete went to ubud but as me and ninja had already been we decided to rent a dvd player as the weather was rubbish. wet season definitely means what it does. Theres always a lot of rain at night but usually for short spells. Anyways, after renting the dvd and watching a few including the worst film in history...Pride and Prejudice, i went loooking for a film that we spotted in ubud that just sounds class...Frankenfish. its one of those films that just sounds so cheesy and bad that i had to buy it...unfortunatley the quality wasnt great and didnt load upi n the player so i had to take it back and got Black Sheep which was just awful but cheesy again and so was entertaining.

I think we went out that night, i know wed been drinking Arak mixers so my memory is a bit of a blank for the last few nights. probably just the usual beign harrassed by lady boys.

I think next day Ninja left for singapore so it ended up being me nick and Filip who was one of Petes mates from previous travel. He taught us an amazing dice rolling game which is so simple but well fun and takes up the afternoon so after that it was back on the arak and getting ready for the night where again its a bit of a blank.

Being abroad and not living to a routine like monday to friday work means that ive lost all sense of date and time so cant really rmember whats happening different days.

The flight to Darwin was one ive never had before. We had a huge bit of turbulence in which i hit my head on the overhead compartment as i wwasnt strapped in that tight, luckily i was alright but a guy up the front of the plane cut his face on something and had to have an oxygen mask for half an hour. it happened when everyone was eating so all the food and tea/coffee went everywhere all over the ceiling and floor. Luckily i kinda saw it coming and quickly downed most of my tea but still enough went over me. It was just lucky that everyone was sitting down including the stewardesses but still was amazing how i was lifted out of my seat about 4ft.

After recovering from that i got to customs where my passport was checked and i was told to go through to a separate room, it appeared that because id gone in and out of australia so quickly from when i went back to bali that this was classed as unusual behaviour so they had a very thorough check of my bags and i was kind of interrogated. They xrayed my card stripes, toothbrush, hand prints on certain items looking for any sort of drug use, it was all fine until an unused toothbrush showed up positive for explosives, so after obviously denying that i wasnt someone who chewed explosives i was let go, though it was quite scary and i was quite nervous just being in that kind of situation but no harm done! I went and slept in the airport as i arrived at half 1 and nowhere would be open.

So that brings me up to date, i met brian i nthe airport, shared a taxi to the hostel im staying at now and after having a little wander im now trying to sort out a flight to brisbane in a few days and now my wrist hurts as its been a pretty long blog. Well done if you managed to finish reading this, its a bit of an essay. Hope everyones good and take care and youll probably hear from me in about another 3 weeks unless im stuck with nothing to do.

Take care and lots of love xx