Ok firstly the said picture we have neither seen but we are not updating our photos till a place in Jakarta we know.

We are in Surubaya, trying to avoid the heat it feels hotter today then since weve been here. Ok well Ill start with Sanur as that is where i left it. Remember Avacado day, well please bear this in mind over the next few paragraphs. Next day we thought we'd grab a taxi and head to Denpasar to sort out a bus ticket. We got to the Ubung nus terminal and were hounded through it by hawkers and such but we evetually managed to get what we wanted well kinda. We did have a bust ticket on a nce bus to Surabaya that left at 8am the next day. We left and decided since we were here we would go to the Denpesar Musuem we got close and found alot of people dressed in hindu ceromonial dress, I thought Ive seen this before. Oh yeah turns out that the temple in Denpasar which happens to be right next to the museum was having a special day to day, so as Denpasar had limited things to offer we headed back to Sanur. We had alovely chilled afternoon and ended up wiling our evening away in a bar on the beach with a few beers.

The following morning we arose early to get our bus and outside our hotel in SAnur was thousands of mopeds, it was like a rally. THe lady at the hotel explained that last night Hindu belief states that their gods spirit came down and therefore they have to and wash themselve on the beach hence the traffic chaos. The taxi driver said it nly happens once every 6 months or so but that was true with the one in Lembegon. They are difficult to miss.

So to summise Bali ....

It is a beautiful island and I can see why so many people come here, but we learned on our cycle tour and a trip to Lenbagon that before Kuta it was so much better. Kuta was fun and I laughed so much but its so brash and judging from the new developments is set to become the new superclub and luxiourous heaven. People in Bali also dont seen to take themselves all that seriously, we saw t-shirts saying 'No i dont want any f*** : transport, massage, hairbraiding, moped' etc.

The bus than at 8am was early it didn't ;eave at 8 or 9 but at half ten, and all this time the bus was left idling in the bus depot. Environmental issue not yet a major concern. We got going and 3 hours later we reached Gilamunuk for the ferry to Java. After crossing the BAli strait, we drove forever. Stopping once at Indonesian services were we did get free food. Yay! (By the way we had taken food with us and water). The journey overall was meant to take 10 hours it didnt, more like thirteen, which wasnt helped by one random stop. We pulled into what looked like a bus graveyard and the drivers said alot in Indonesian (nobody could speak English but we managed), what we established was that we had to get off teh bus, by the looks of it for them to fiddle with the air conditioning on top of the bus. the back seats were dying .. Standing in the dark in the middle of who knows where is a sobering experience. At length we continued and finally made a destination after severl stops to let people of it seemed at there house but we got here. Luxury awaited us as a treat and beacause the bus judging from our current experience of public transport would get there at god knows when we had booked a night at the Ibis at a special internet offer. Janec enjoyed the duvet and hot shower this morning. So did I!

Surabaya is a traffic nightmmare and is not in any way designed for pedestrians. WE have so far sorted out accomodation for the next few nights, booked our train ticket for Jakarta, seen a Russian submarine, and been to the best Tourist Information Centre in the world. We went in and the guy sat us down offered us a drink and proceeded to provide us with all the info we needed, leaflets and a very good map. The zoo tomorrow, our oppoutunity to see Komodo's.

Just for those who are tracking us time wise please do remember we are now back to 7 hours ahead.

Love you lots.

Ruth and Janec

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