We arrived in Denpasar Bali after a short flight! We were still hungover so we were glad it was nice and easy at the airport. It took a while getting off the plane but once we were off the bus we were right at the front off the que! We got a visa on arrival for $25 and got through immigration really quick and our bags came straight away! So easy! We changed the rest of our malaysian ringett into Indonesian Rupiah and headed outside.. to a load of taxi men all wearing the same shirt shouting "Yes Taxi!!" We needed to get to Ubud which we knew was over an hour away but we had read online it should only cost 200,000 rupiah. The first taxi scammer asked for 600.000! No way! We decided to head back inside and we asked a security guard/police man how much we should be paying - but little did we know they all work together here and he just took us outside to the nearest taxi man! Cheers mate! haha We ended up paying 300,000 and as it was 3am it didnt seem too bad! We stopped on the way to get some cash out - a sweet 2 million!! WTF?!! ha! We arrived in Ubud just over an hour later - the taxi driver didnt have a clue were our hotel was so he asked a few people on the street and we eventually found it! We walked in - it was a courtyard type of place and was pitch black! It was 4.30am so everyone was asleep.

We didnt have a clue what or who we were looking for so when we found a door, Matty tried to open it and it was some sort of gallery - we couldnt shut the doors so we wedged them back together and snook off uh oh!! We eventually seen a light and headed towards it - "Helloo??" A young indonesian lads face popped up in the window and we s*** ourselves!! He sleepily showed us to our room and we apologised for arriving so late! The room was huge and really authentic! The only way to lock our door was with a huge plank of wood! We didnt really feel tired so we ended up watching Eat Pray Love! ha We well and truly messed our body clocks up! Just before we went to sleep we couldnt smell a really bad burning smell - Matty took a look outside and out of the pitch black a dog started barking really loud running towards him, he s*** himself!! - when an old lady came after him! Matt asked the lady "whats that smell? Fire??" She didnt have a clue so he just smiled and said goodnight!!

After not going to sleep until 6am we didnt wake up til after 12 - missed breakfast and into the full heat off the day! We had our first Bali coffee - amazing! - and met the owner of the homestay who was an old indonesian lady Wayan - who didnt wear a bra! Why should she? ha We got showered and dressed and went out into the village. Wow! It was like stepping into a film. This was definately the first place we have felt completely culture shocked the whole time we've been away. Ubud is this small town made up of a few villages with unmade bumpy roads - full of huge holes, flowers everywhere, the streets were decorated with dried bamboo poles called 'penjors' Indonesian music playing everywhere. We had a walk round for the afternoon and stopped for some tea at a restaurant at the bottom of one of the villages. It was up a few really steep steps but once we reached the top - oh my god - the view was unreal. Miles and miles of beautiful rice fields, bright green - with a few gardeners in between the leaves wearing traditional hats taking care of the rice. We sat at a small table with cushions on the floor to sit on rather than chairs and ordered some food. We ate our dinner completely amazed by the view - we didnt want to leave! As we were eating a huge parade went past with hundreds of Balinese people wearing traditional clothing playing music, dancing along the street - a bit like church parade but on a bigger scale! ha

The next day I wanted to go and see Ketut Liyer. He is a Balinese medicine man - like some sort of healer/fortune teller. He has been made famous through the book 'Eat Pray Love' and the film was set here with Julia Roberts! We googled were he lived at it looked like it was just down the road from were we were staying! So after breakfast we set off. We found a flyer with his face on just down the road so we picked it up and carried it asking people along the way, which way to his house. After about an hour in the blistering heat wandering around, we finally found his house. It was in a back street behind the main road. We walked in and we had to take a ticket and take a seat and wait our turn. He was sat right in front of us with a couple from Canada and we could just about hear them chatting. His house was beautiful and so peaceful - exactly like on the film - well it was the same because it was filmed in the same place haha! There was a young family that seemed to live here to and there was the cutest baby! We waited for about half and hour before it was our turn. A man sitting next to Ketut called us over and we walked over, took of our shoes and we sat cross legged in front of him. I felt start struck!

He must have been about 80 and he had one tooth sticking out of his mouth. He held my hands and introduced himself before asking for our names. Ketut said I had a line on my forehead which meant I was intelligent, that my skin was 'sweet as shoogar', he then went on to read my palms and told me I would have 3 children, and one marriage for a lifetime. He then read my back and my legs and said I would live until 100 years - Great! haha, that I would be successful in anything I did and I would be lucky. It was a bit general and not really 'a reading' but I was mesmorized listening to him anyway! haha Matty didnt want a reading but he told Matty he was very handsome and that if I ever left my husband - I would be broken! I got a picture taken with him and he said he looked to ugly so made us take another one! haha - Im glad we went but I think maybe now he just makes a load of money from people who have read the book or seen the film, and tell them pretty much the same thing! It was an amazing experience anyway! We spent the afternoon getting something to eat and discovered at the back of our hotel were huge rice fields so we sat looking out over those. The next day or two we spent exploring the area and we discovered the best japanese restaurant EVER! We wouldnt eat anything all day some days just so we could get loads of sushi and gyozas!! Mmm it was amazing!

We organised a cycling tour for the next day. We were picked up at 7.30am and we drove up to a huge rice field about 20 minutes away - it was gorgeous. We were amazed how beautiful the fields were and how complicated all the patterns and shapes were! We only stopped for about 10 minutes while we took some pictures and then set off again to a coffee plantation. The local girls working there took us through and showed us the small animals that volcanos in Bali Mount Betur. We had breakast (fried rice with crackers) looking out over the volcanos it was beautiful! After breakfast we drove a short trip to pick up our bikes. On the way our van with only 7 of us in - was stopped by the local police, they charged them 20,000 rupiah just for having tourists in the car! The driver got back in - obviously pissed off and told us the police in Bali are so corrupt and can stop and charge people for whatever they feel like!

We picked up our bikes and we were given traditional Bali hats. We spent the next few hours cycling through the countryside, through rice fields and small villages, were everyone would say hello as we rode past. We rode past a school were the kids were outside and they all high fived us as we went past. It was amazing and probably one of our favourite experinces so far! About 2 hours in we drove past a temple were there was c*** fighting going on. One of the dutcsh people in our group asked our tour guide if we could stop and have a quick look. We parked up our bikes and walked through the most bizzare thing we have seen! There were hundreds and hundreds of people gambling on the floor with people crowding round them. Further onthere was a small stadium type of thing with soooo many indonesian menb all shouting at the top of their voices. We sqeezed in and had a look. Two men in the middle of the ring were holding up chickens and all the men were placing bets on them and then they would fight. Matty took some pictures and a few videos in was unreal. I felt sick for the chickens - but I suppose this is part of their culture! The thing that upset me the most was the amount of chickens stuck inside bags, all around the ring waiting for their turn to fight. They were zipped up and sqauking at the top of their lungs - it was horrible! After a few minutes we headed off again.

We stopped at a few local houses and a rice field were we had a walk around. We then cycled to a small village were the guide lived and we all went insise a small local house were the ladies cooked us a huge traditional lunch of rice, green veggies, tofu, tempe, sambal and satay! It was delicious! Then a group of young girls and boys around 7 years old, performed a traditional balinese dance for us all it was so sweet! We headed back to our hotel about 4 oclock after such an amazing day!

The next day we left Ubud and travelled to Padang Bai. We had booked the wrong area but we decided to give it a go anyway! It was about an hours drive and we arrived into a tiny village up a steep hill. We were welcomed by two young indonesian girls and a dutsch couple who owned the place. Once we had checked in, Ayesha (the owner) walked us to the beach. It was up a huge rocky hill but it was well worth the walk, the beach was AMAZING! It was called white sand beach (as most beaches in the area were black) and the water was so blue and clear. We ended up spending 4 days here just chilling on the beach and eating in the small village at night time - were they cooked the fish they had caught that day! So nice! I had barracuda twice! mmm! The waves at the beach were massive and became Mattys new obsession. I was a bit weiry, just because I wasnt as elegant as Matty was in the waves and got washed out everytime haha! On the last day we spent there I also got stung by a jellyfish :( It killed!! The last night, Ayesha had cooked a meal and invited a friend who owned another guesthouse in the area so we all sat together and had shrimp curry! We had fallen in love with this place a little bit - just because it was so friendly, everyone knew each other, the beach was amazing and the small village had great food and reggae bars that had live music all they time! It just seemed so chilled here!

The next morning we hit the beach on last time before heading to Kuta! We got a taxi in the afternoon after saying goodbye and arrived in Kuta about 2 hours later. Kuta is known for being the most touristy place on the island and were most people went to party. It was really popular with Australians - its only a 3 hour flight so its kind of like their Ibiza! We checked into our hotel which was on THE busiest road ever! Our room was nice though and we decided to head straight out! We wanted a big blowout before we flew to Australia! Once we got to the main area which was a walk through some creepy alleys - we were in the centre of the 'mad' part! We walked to the beach which ended up being a mission!! Had a look around - but there wernt too many bars (in our price range anway) so we headed back to the main street. They seem to be obsessed with willys here! Every single shop sold loads of different things shaped like willys!!!- bottle openers, lighters, disco balls, towels! haha As we walked along the street every 2 minutes there was someone trying to sell us drugs. We thought it looked like cocaine but apparently it was some kind of speed and not completely illegal - anyway after dodging the drug dealers - which was quite a task - we got into a bar and got a cocktail which they served to us in a sports drink flask thingy! The drug men were stood in front of us and still trying to sell drugs - it was doing ourheads in! Im glad we didnt spend much time here after all, it was crazy! After our drink we went to another bar were we met a really drunk australian couple and a scouser!! He had been in Oz for 2 years and said we would cry when we got there at the price of everything! Great haha - he said he was ordering 3 drinks at a time in Bali - they were that cheap! How much?? ha It was nice to have a laugh with someone with the same sense of humour as us! We then headed off to another bar which was 6 floors high! Girls drank free until 1am so we got a seat and Matty sat collecting drinks while I ran to the bar every 5 minutes haha - the bar man kept giving me funny looks but girls drink free? So there was not much he could say! hahaha We then got chatting to a group of english people and ended up spending most of the night with them dancing in the club! They were so nice! Around 4ish? We headed back to our room and said goodbye to the english people as they staggered up the road with a pizza slice and the lonely planet guide in their pocket ha!

The next day we pretty did nothing but be hungover! We ordered a taxi to pick us up at 6am the next morning, packed and got an early night! We headed to the airport for our flight. After 2 weeks in Bali it was time for our next adventure - Australia!! Woooooo!!!