Bali High…

First few days in Bali left me wondering what the hell everyone raves about! The island is swarmed with French and Australian tourists, both equally obnoxious (with a few exceptions, of course), in my opinion! There is barely any accommodation available, eating is very expensive and frankly, don’t care that much for Indonesia food…Thai food is not only cheaper, but infinitely better! But there were a few bright spots…on my first day in Ubud, which was my first full day in Bali, I met Wendy, this very friendly woman from Aberdeen, and she had met this girl, Catherine from Melbourne. We sort of became the 3 musketeers and hung out for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the first few days. We decided to head over to the east coast of Bali, to the town of Amed, away from the crowds. That’s when it all changed…Amed was this great little seaside town, a fishing village really! We sorted ourselves out a couple of beach bungalows and the fun began. It was wonderful going to sleep and waking up to the sound of the waves. The place is really chilled out, not crowded and of course the sea at your doorstep cannot be beat. We met up with 3 very cute French boys (men, really) and spent the next 3 days frolicking in the sea. We were only supposed to stay 2 days, but at the end of the 2nd day, sitting with the cute French boys, having a farewell beer, we decided to be complete girls! We all looked at each other and said, “we don’t want to leave“…of course, we waited until the 11th hour to have this discussion, made especially awkward in front of the boys! Then we had to deal with the fact that the guesthouse was now full (we had waited too late)…“whatever were we going to do?”… as we looked expectantly at the boys…of course they offered to let us stay in their bungalow, which was much larger that ours and could sleep six, though 2 people had to sleep on the verandah. Needless to saw, it all worked out , we had a BBQ on the beach with fresh fish, lots of beers, music…the night was capped with laying on the beach, watching the shooting stars in the sky…I swear there are more stars in the southern hemisphere!

Anyway, came back to Ubud and attempted to be healthy. Did yoga every morning upon waking, tried to not drink more than 1 beer, which I think lasted for a day, spent some time at the spa. Ubud is a bit of a hippie commune, with lots of people running around being spiritual, doing yoga, eating raw food, doing cleanses etc. Figured I’d give it all a try…will definitely stick with yoga and meditation…these are good for my head! And God knows I need to do something about my diet, have become such a cow since I’ve been traveling!

Popped down to the Bukit Peninsula for a few days of beach time. This is where most of the surf breaks are on Bali; there are several small towns lining the southwestern coast, each with it’s own break. First to Padang Padang, which had a fantastic swimming beach, but it was tiny and was very crowded during the day…the sunsets however was great!Plus we had a bit of a mishap…my friend Wendy slipped on the slippery, wet tile floors and broke her right wrist. Poor thing…such a nightmare when you’re traveling. Anyway, she’s doing better now and has a few friends in from Scotland to help with her bags etc.

Next, we headed up to Balagnan, further up the coast, much bigger beach, but not for swimming because the reef came all the way up to the shoreline. Nevertheless, had a great time just laying about watching the awesome waves and those riding ’em! Bali has the clearest water that I’ve ever seen, even on the east side, which has black sand beaches, the water is crystal clear! FANTASTIC!

Have decided to move up my timetable, skipping Oz  and coming back earlier than planned…I hear Scotland calling me, so better get over there! Spending last few days in Ubud to see my freind Jen (from Thailand), who’s now back here.