ANA AND ANDY UBUD, BALI, INDONESIA. 23 JULY 2014

We had our final breakfast at our guesthouse and headed to the bus stop to catch our onward transport to Ubud.  We’d not had any experience with Perama until now (a local travel company which has a mixture of good or very bad reviews) and as the journey was relatively short we took the risk in going with them.  We hopped on quite a rickety old looking bus with 4 others heading to Ubud, our final resting place in Indonesia.

The journey started out ok, and then the bus started to fill with fumes and came to a very gradual stop whilst the driver was still driving as if it was actually moving.  Unfortunately for us and our bus driver it was going nowhere.  So we pulled up on the side of a road and waited for him to organise what was going to happen next… To our surprise it only took 1 phone call and within 30mins or so a small mini van type car turned up and we squeezed in there for the journey to Ubud. 

Humm... Perama, It's the best wasn't the tag line associated with this journey!

Although we did break down near a newly built temple, so we got to have a look around

Andy had booked the place we were going to stay for the next 5 days as it was part of my birthday surprise, so I had no idea where we were heading.  Andy navigated his way through the busy Ubud streets and we arrived at the Grand Sunti Hotel quick sharp and got checked into hotel style accommodation with lots of pools, marble and plush looking gardens.  Our room was massive and had pool which we shared with maybe 2 other rooms, it was a real treat to be a hotel guest J

Ah, so this is what you do on holiday...

Quick dip whilst it was still warm enough :)

Just modelling by the pool, this is my Littlewoods catalogue pose

After exploring the hotel complex we headed out into town and had a look at what Ubud had to offer.  During which time Andy popped into a hairdressers for a haircut and shave to remove the mass of hair that he’d been collecting on both his face and head.  Whilst in there we got chatting to a Dutch couple who were also getting a trim and were on their own travel adventures.  They’d been to South America so got the chance to fill us in on their experiences and tips.  Once done at the hairdressers we headed out for a drink with them both and enjoyed their company, so thanks Marlous and Chris!

Back to the hotel to enjoy the comfort and luxury of being on holiday J

So you just me to trim your beard, OK!

Right, must learn some Bahasa Indonesian as it all came off! Andy resumes teenage boy look status

Next day we headed out for some touristy stuff and after popping to the shops we headed to the local arts museum.  Which was good fun, lots of nice art, set in beautiful surroundings and we even managed to get a little lost in amoungst it.  That evening we’d arranged to meet up with Ilya and Irin (yes, well remembered – the couple who we met up at Mount Bromo) for dinner, so did just that.  Was great to see them again and we ate in a local place and planned our excursion to the Monkey Forest the next day.

Spot the odd one out

Youngsters keeping up with the traditional dancing

Bali style housing

And temples

Oh and the other side of Bali - rice fields galore

Andy was asked to take place in a police line-up, luckily he didn't get spotted

We met them both at the Monkey Forest and spent a few hours exploring the area, whilst being climbed on by monkeys and also watching the best and worse of their behaviour.  They took a real good liking to Ilyas who ended up with 2 or 3 on him at one time with us all laughing in the background, until it came to our turn.  

Ilyas acting as a monkey climbing post - they were all over him!

They then jumped onto Irin who managed to make having monkeys climb on you look glamourous!

Now we all know that Andy – I love monkeys, I do – Rotton loves monkeys and he was the only one who didn’t get clambered on!  After all that monkeying around (see what I did there) we’d built up a bit of an appetite so the 4 of us headed out for lunch.

It was funny until they climbed on me too!  This was my immediate reaction...

These guys caught our attention

They look cute but their behaviour was erratic and quite unsettling at times!

Their behaviour was also a little unsettling at times too! I made them pose for this shot...

Next day was MY BIRTHDAY – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME… 

I awoke to the laptop being presented to me with a mega-mix of birthday messages from friends and family through the medium of video messaging.  

So thank you very much to you all who took the time to send something across to Andy and replying back and forth to his messaging – it was the best gift that I could've asked for (along with the bottle of L’Occitane rose perfume of course – cheers And).  Following my video messages which I watched a couple of times (special thanks to team Starr Myers, little Jessica and the ‘Lovers’ for the songs oh, and Al and Amy for the reminder of Rowan, numb toe and laptop) I was then serenaded by a big gang of Indonesians whilst eating my breakfast at my poolside seat J  I think they’d managed to rally every member of staff on site to come and sing to the now middle-aged Brit abroad, so although a bit embarrassing it was a nice touch. 

Yes, all for me.  It's got just my name on it

Next on the birthday agenda was a massage.  So we went and booked ourselves in for a reflexology type massage in town.  Then it was time to catch up with our friends for coffees and birthday cake in a local restaurant.  

Are you sitting comfortably?

Ready for my foot rub! I mean reflexology

So we jumped in a cab with a big cake and met Fernando and Sabine, Ilya and Irin for birthday afternoon tea – very British.  We spent a couple of hours catching up, chatting and eating our way through my birthday cake before we headed off for our evening meal.  

Ah, so it's not all for me?  I have to share it?!

Very civilised afternoon tea and cake for ones 30th 

Presents too! Thanks Ilya and Irin, I've still got it!

The birthday gang, thanks again to you all for the fuss :)

Andy had chosen a really nice restaurant to go to, so I popped on my ‘I look like a normal Westerner on holiday’ top (rather than the tops which have doubled up as PE tops and day-to-day travel wear) and shoes and headed to Bridges.  What a place, we had a great meal and were waited on by a very professional and friendly bunch and they even gave me dessert for my birthday J

Posh nosh a la Indonesian...

A la edible flowers...

A la trio of spoons

So after seeing a few familiar faces in the morning, being sung to by 25 Indonesian locals, being massaged, eating cake and catching up with new friends and then being fed like a queen I can safely say that I celebrated being 30 in style and all thanks to Mr Rotton, what a guy ;)

Towards the end of the night I got quite used to this new idea of being 30

So something a little different for this a part of our Bali adventure.  After a recommendation from Liam who we’d chatted with in Padang Bai we booked onto the Bali Bird Walk.  Yes that’s right, we signed up to be Bill Oddy wannabes for the morning along with 4 others and our enthusiastic guide – Sue.  We met up quite early and set off with Sue leading the 6 of us (4 other brits, 2 of whom had emigrated to Oz) around the countryside of Ubud.  

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No.  It's Andy!

It was a great morning and although we didn’t really catch all the birdlife that was being pointed out we really enjoyed walking through the rice terraces, seeing the locals at work, looking at the local wildlife and listening to Sue’s stories.  

Our enthusiastic guide, Sue - flying, flying, flying

I guess now that I'm 30, I should invest in some of these binoculars at home... Bird walk selfie

She’s a great girl and runs the walk with another Brit who set it up many years ago and is friends with Bill Bailey who featured the walk in one of his own programmes.  

Massive rice terraces just behind the main streets of bustly Ubud

Bird seen on the bird walk, check!  There were loads but too many to remember :)

Cool caterpillar

There's Bill, I mean Andy and his 'bins'

Once we’d walked around Bali looking at allsorts of birds and wildlife we sat and had lunch together before going our separate ways.

Someone busy tending to their crops, massively strenuous labour

Not a bad view, eh!

This guy was stopped part-way through the walk to cut open coconuts for us- happy chap!

Andy holding a dragonfly... He's got superfast timing, actually Sue does and passed it around- no animals were harmed in the making of this photo (we think)

That evening there was a grand prix on the TV so we installed ourselves in our room with beer and takeaway (which I ended up going to get…) pizza and watched the race in between the constant powercuts.

Last day!  We got up early to head out for a walk and explore with Ilya and Irin before checking out of the hotel and booking ourselves in for one last massage.  This time the massage was pretty brutal and we both felt a mixture of relaxation and sheer pain afterwards, and actually for the next couple of days!  Then it was time to catch up with Ilya and Irin one last time before they continued with their adventures too.  So we met for lunch and said our farewells and we made our way to the airport.  

One ticket to Cairns please

Quite a long wait at the airport as we’d got there a little early and then our flight was delayed, but we eventually got to board our flight to Darwin at 1.30am – another long day of travel ahead.

Oh, two tickets to Cairns please!

That’s it for Indonesia, a whistle stop tour of less than 1% of the islands in the archipelago and the end of our Asian adventure!  

Time to learn yet another new language – G’day Oz!

Bye bye monkeys of Asia!