Horizontally challenged!

After two days spent 'acclimatising' two doors down at the relatively sulubrious Puri Sading we have now spent the past two days, three doors down at a place called Flashbacks. Despite the name conjouring up images of Vietnam War Vets lounging on armchairs the place is immaculate, (all for 265,000 rupiah-£18 per night). In all honestly, despite it only being four days into our trip, I have not felt as chilled as I do right now for six years. The last time being sat on a sun lounger in lushly green surroundings in Greece. Yesterday was spent turfing our increasingly heavy rucksacks the distance of about six Mini Cooper's to our current residence, the aforementioned Flashback's then lounging around the plunge pool (see photos above) and then making our way down to the shopping fortress that is Hardy's, a place so bustling with cack it would not feel out of place on a wet weekend in Skegness. We went with the intention of buying a plug adapter, since the one we brought with us is as much use as our Mosquito net, another dud. What we didn't realise, and were rightly castigated for, was that to buy anything electrical we would have to inform one of the thousand employees so that they could write you out a piece of paper quoting your intention to buy said product. Once you had peroused the other multitude of items in the store, cheese donuts, chocolate made from bark-that sort of thing, you then paid at the checkout where the checkout girl shouted something about electrics and one of the employees came rushing over with our plug. A rather strange if not laborious process?! I also, after searching through what was essentially a mountain of clothing items, bought a pair of swimming shorts that after inspection back at the hotel, could actually stand up on their own.

Last night we ate at by far the best restaurent we have eaten in and it goes by the name of Swastika Restaurent. That's right people, Swastika's, but not a fascist in sight. In contrary the food was unbelievable, basic chicken sate taken to the next level gently simmering on the table straddled across hot coals. I opted for the Barbecued chicken 'Balinese style', a delicious plate full of Chicken thighs devoid of bone and a plate full of semi-hot, garlicky sauce to pour atop. We shall be going again tonight.

Today started off slowly, after a terrible night's sleep and feeling let down by the fact that I couldn't watch Match of the Day this morning via the Beeb's website due it not being available to resident's outside of the UK. We then ate our free breakfast of delicious homebaked bread topped with fresh tomato and freshly brewed coffee and then followed that by walking down to the beach area for a walk. What started as a stroll turned into a three hour amble due-south through some of the nicest sets of villa's and resorts you could imagine. Passing through the hoards of sellers who can all still remember our names and relationship status we reached prime 'honeymooners' territory and wasted no time in lapping up the manicured beaches and photo opportunities. From there we dodged the rabid dogs and made our way back to the hotel to collect our bags and mangoes to return to the beach for a bit of beach action. Despite the constant threats of invading rabies we had our first proper beach session under the midday sun. It was also the first time we acknowledged how lucky we are to live this lifestyle, it is bliss. From the beach we headed back to the plunge pool for bintangs and to email as many Ubud homestays as possible in preperation to learn how to cook Balinese-style and dance like a bit of a twat. Ubud tomorrow! Much love, Tommmmmmo (thanks Claire!) xx

Salam from Sanur!

Believing is definitely something we needed to do when planning and saving for this trip and for the moment at least, things are mightily sweet. After the constantly draining rounds of goodbyes before we set off on Wednesday the flight itself seemed to stir up memories of flights when I was a child. Gone were the constant flashes of explosions in the sky and impending doom to be replaced by surges of excitement for the months ahead, that and a valium induced haze which certainly took the edge of things! Qantas were amazing though, amazing food (roast shoulder of lamb served with fresh veg and new potatoes and a breakfast of scrambled eggs, toasted muffin, bacon and real stewed beans), constant snacks (twix ice-cream, fruit, cookies) and the unbelievable array of entertainment. In fact one of the options you could choose was to watch footage of the flight from the perspective of the tail, bearing in mind this was a huge double-decker it was seriously impressive, especially when you could almost shout at the pilot to tell him to straighten up as he came in to land at Singapore.

After deliriously wondering around Singapore airport for an hour or two it was time for flight #2 over to Bali. Now the safety briefings at the best of times at the start of a flight are nowadays rarely listened to but this was incredible. The plane, from the moment they sat down, was the loudest most raucous gathering of people I have ever heard. It was as if a massive fox had been let loose in an Indonesian Chicken pen, rendering the safety announcement, quite predictably, useless. Still the in flight meal option of what was essentially a large 'chocolate' bomb gave the whole thingh yet more surrealism to soften the blow of being surrounded by hens, one of them quite literally.

So we landed, got through 'customs', (small men with sticks) and got a taxi with Indonesia's own version of Paul Daniels, with a speech impediment. He seemed to say every third word as if had lost his bottom teeth, meaning that pen and paper, alas, was the universal language on this journey! Anyway after battling the hideousness of South Bali's roads we found ourselves in Sanur at our hotel. Sanur, locally, goes by the moniker, S-nore, which is slightly offensive given that when we ventured out for dinner we were treated to not one but four live bands in a small vicinity, beats the crap out of Southsea nowadays!! In the end we ventured for a cool looking place over the road and had a sharing platter of Balinese treats which was mouth-wateringly beautiful followed by two Bintangs, the local beer. Whilst we ate a young Balinese quartet played songs for the crowd and took ANY requests. They were amazing for four late teens/early twenties guys and just topped our first night off with another hint of surrealism as they thrashed out ny request of Roxanne!! Tommmo x