I love Bali

Hello from a very hot & sweaty Bali. This might be a long one so sit yourself down with a nice cup of tea & read on....

Made it to my first hostel.  Bit weird sharing but good way to meet people & for keeping costs down. On my first night I met a lovely German girl called Alena. She had been travelling Oz for 8 months & was on her way back home, spending 6 weeks in Asia. She said she was moving on the next day & recommended the hotel.  The next morning we went for a walk around Seminyak. I didn't see to much of it as after 20mins walking we were allured by the cheapness of the massages. She was checking out of the hostel at 12 so we both opted for a 30min back, neck & shoulder massage.  Guess how much? £2 whole pounds. I kid you not. My back was a bit stiff from the flight so I lay there & shut my eyes & enjoyed the relaxation.  I can honestly say it was the best massage I've ever had. We walked back to the hostel & she said why don't I come with her. I had already paid for 4 nights. I said no & waited with her for her taxi. Then I thought why not just go.... I need to be more spontaneous! 5 mins later I'd checked out, managed to get a voucher for the remaining 3 nights & was on my way!

We got to the hotel & it was lovely.  The Serenity eco village in a place called Canggu.  It's an environmentally friendly place where the accommodation is made from bamboo, they recycle everything & you can do yoga. The pool area was so relaxing with water features everywhere & chill out areas with comfy cushions.  We booked a double room & no room number's here, it was called 'Freedom'. It was slightly over my budget but for 2 nights I thought I could make an exception.  So glad that I did. I loved it.

The next 2 days were  spent relaxing at the pool, going for walks down the beach, meeting new people & just having a great time.  Went to Echo beach, had dinner & lunch in a beach cafe, even did a morning yoga class (11 months of no exercise, I really struggled but I did it... maybe didn't fully enjoy it but it's a start!).  The location is really popular for surfing so met a few surfer dudes. By now our party had increased to 5. We were joined by Freddy & Helmut from Germany,  & Rebecca from Italy. We somehow managed to get the 5 of us, plus luggage & driver into a taxi.  No idea how! We headed to Ubud where we would spend the next 2 nights.  I'd booked us into a homestay so it's like a b&b I suppose where the owner's live there too & you have your own room, bathroom & private outside area.  The room was pretty basic but the owners were really lovely & welcoming  (amd it was cheap as chips!). They live in 1 room along with their 3 children. Cramped is an understatement. The wife (I cant remember her name) will bring your breakfast to the seating area outside your balcony every morning. There's a choice but all include fresh fruit salad. Yum.

That afternoon we visited the Monkey Forest, one of the top attractions in Ubud according to TripAdvisor.  The forest is right in the centre of the busy town so I didn't expect it to be so unspoilt. Large trees with tropical plants everywhere.  Amazing. You could buy bananas from sellers outside. One tourist had done this & before we had set foot into the forest a very cheeky monkey (pardon the pun!) grabbed the whole bunch from him & started eating them!  I laughed!! Some of the monkeys were a little bit scary as they were wild. One jumped onto Alena & tried to get into her bag, and scrached her a little on her back. It was a good place to visit but don't bring anything of any value as they'll be off with it!

I went to bed around 10pm as we were getting picked up at 2am to do the volcano trip.  Hardly slept! We were collected around 2.15am & drove to a cafe (if you could call it that, it was a little shack near a farm which smelt of manure,  nice!). We had a banana pancake & a cup of tea then headed to the volcano. I may have already mentioned but I'm not at my fittest at the moment so walking up the volcano in the dark, sharing a torch, wearing borrowed trainers, tired, I was probably not in the best of moods! It took us 2 hours to get to the top.  The sweat was driping off me & my glasses kept steaming up. Once at the top though, you could see the sun starting to break through the clouds. Wow,  it didn't feel real. We watched the sun come up in awe. A really magical experience.  As it started to get light, wild monkeys came out of nowhere. Bit traumatised by the forest earlier that day, I tried to keep my distance from them.  We ate banana sandwiches & a boiled egg for energy, were shown the smoke coming out of the volcano  then headed back down. Once back at the hotel, shattered wasn't  the word for it..... I was exhausted.  I didn't sleep long though as the rest of the guys were leaving early the next morning & I wanted to spend a bit of time with them.  I had decided to stay in Ubud on my own another 2 nights.  I wanted some chill out & recharge the batteries time. We went to the market where I wanted to buy EVERYTHING! So many lovely nick nacs; bracelets, earrings,  sarongs,  clothes, bags, you name it. I settled on a mirrored coaster... just £1!

I had some more sleep & went for dinner with the guys. Said my goodbyes & headed to bed. The next couple of days I pottered around Ubud and caught up on sleep.  Went to a pilates class at the yoga barn which I really enjoyed. The instructor was from Australia & the setting was very calm & serine.  I wish I could go again but im easing myself back into exercise. 
Met some nice people in a restaurant this afternoon. An American guy who's married to a lady from Bali & their son. They were telling me about the island.  They very kindly gave me a lift which saved me an hours walk. I was almost going with them to meet the whole family but I declined.  Everyone is so friendly here although you do have to have your wits about you as some want to rip you off! And you need to barter for everything! Realised I've not met anyone from the UK yet. It's been nice meeting people from other countries.... One of the aims of my trip!

Tomorrow I'm heading back to Seminyak for 2 or 3 nights then I might fly to an island called Flores. Or I might not! Who knows! Can't believe its been almost a week since I arrived.  Time going quickly already. I've booked to go to Singapore on the 18th June (going to stay with Val who I used to work with at Beaver Travel) so will be in Indonesia until then. Will try & make my blog a bit shorter next time!!

Jackie x