Bali beckoned - they call it the Island of the Gods - but to be honest after 23 hours of traveling all we wanted was a bed!
The first leg of this 4 month adventure was going to be a fortnight's holiday before the backpacking began in earnest. My daughters Tarin and Faith were with me so out with the crummy hostels and in with the posh hotels!
The next morning we were back on a plane but just for a short hop across the water to Lombok. As we came into land the verdant rainforest and the shimmering blue Sea looked inviting. We were staying at Puri Mas a small resort on the west coast of Lombok - the place oozed relaxation and activity levels amongst the McAllister clan were low!
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| Balinese door to the pool |
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| Sunbeds on the shore |
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| Faith in yoga pose |
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| Puri Mas gardens |
Soon enough it was time enough to move on - how do you get more relaxed than Puri Mas? - move to a tropical island without any cars or motorbikes - welcome to Gili Meno! Physical activity did go up tad as there was some great snorkeling from the beach and I spent a day diving. Turtles are pretty common here and on our last afternoon we spotted a big Green Turtle 'flying' over the coral reef.
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| Outside our hotel on Gili Meno |
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| Beachside dining... |
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| Cocktail hour |
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| Local sellers |
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| Our boat to Bali...allegedly... |
Before we knew what was happening half our holiday was over and we were heading to our last destination the town of Ubud back on Bali. Just a short speed boat ride across the Bali straits and a short bus ride to Ubud - easy - we'll be there is about 3 hours! Wrong! Bad weather in the Bali Straits converted that into a 1 hour speed boat ride followed by a 2 hour wait at the port followed by a 2 hour bumpy bus ride to another port followed by a 5 hour ferry followed by a 1 hour taxi ride!
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| Ubud temple |
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| Working in the paddy fields |
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| Inside Ubud family temple |
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| Hindu kittys |
But Ubud was worth it - a funky little town with great food great culture and beautiful Hindu culture. My daughters enjoyed hitting the shops and we loved eating out in some fantastic restaurants. Ubud is place where a lot of ex-pats settle and there's a whole bunch of mystical spiritual stuff going on - when in Ubud you really just have to go with the flow - the girls loved the yoga and we found much enlightenment at the Tibetan gong therapy class!!
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| Balinese art in the making |
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| Temple monkey |
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| Hanging out with the monkeys in Ubud |
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| Our favourite monkey - he had kind eyes unlike most the others who were naughty! |
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| Kids hanging out at the temple |
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| Arriving with offerings at the temple |
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Tibetan Gong Therapy!
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By this time the clock was well and truly ticking on the girls' time with me and it was a sad moment to see them leave in their airport taxi...
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| Ubud paddy fields |
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| Balimese Dance |
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| Morning offerings... |
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Cocktails on our last night in Bali
Next day it was back to backpacking... accommodation duly downgraded I set about planning my next couple of weeks - I had a flight booked for Borneo in 2 weeks so I started heading north... |
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| The rust bucket that took me to Java... |
My last stop in Bali was the coastal town of Lovina - famous for its pods of dolphins. After an early morning cruise I was heading for the ferry and Indonesia's main island - Java
