We have been in Amed on the East coast of Bali for the last 4 days
after the most beautiful drive over from Ubud. Bali is mountainous and
lush green, it’s just really pretty. Especially beautiful is the huge
volcano (see photo), the 1st we’ve both seen, which looms over Amed.

Amed was tiny and very quiet because it’s low ‘rainy’ season.
Aparently it’s busy when it’s all dry and brown, although it is
slightly cooler than now apparently. It is hot here!

Amed is supposed to be renowned for snorkling, however, the sea was
quite rough and a bit dirty most of the time we were there. Jen even
scraped her bum when the waves attacked when we tried to snorkel the
Japanese ship wreck – we gave up shortly after.

We did get one morning when we were able to do 2 hours of snorkling
right off the beach in front of our hotel. The visibility was
incredible and we saw even more different fish than in Thailand. We
even managed to spot 2 reasonable sized turtles where it got deep.
Fantastic!

Otherwise we spent our afternoons by the pool reading and trying to
keep cool. Last night was a little more tense after we found a huge
but apparently harmless spider in our room – Ben screamed like a girl
and jumped on the bed to avoid it’s scuttling but bravely removed it
shortly afterwards. Jen stayed within the safety of the mozzy net.

Now in Candidasa further south after trying to batter down the hotel
prices which are surprisingly expensive even though it’s dead
everywhere. We have a fairly ‘expensive’ ($20 a night) hotel but it’s
gorgeous and incredibly luxurious to us. Can’t escape the taxi and
massage touts though, even around the pool!

Well we did exactly what we planned, which is not much.

Jen had a full body Balinese massage and I had a foot massage and a
haircut. The haircut was particularly fun when the hairdresser took a
loose razor blade to the back of my neck. Good cut though 🙂

Today we went on a very hot but extremely rewarding walk through rice
fields and villages. The kids here are so friendly and are great to
shout hello to and exchange names. They find it very funny, especially
when they find that our names rhyme.

We are currently sat in a place called Kafe. We have been here for
some food every day as it is Bali’s answer to Zeffirellis, for those
of you who know the legendary cafe/restaurant in Ambleside. They have
tasty healthy savouries and yummy homemade cakes just the same.
Unfortunately there’s less rain so less of an excuse to stay here for
whole afternoons!

Tomorrow we plan to head to Amed on the east of the island where
supposedly it is very cut off, so don’t expect too much news from us
for a few days.

Our 2nd full day in Singapore was spent in the zoo, during the day,
and the night safari in the evening. Both were excellent and really
nice to see a zoo with no fences.

The poor polar bear was splayed out on his tummy trying to cool him/
her self on the concrete. We nearly got wee’d on by orangutans
swinging overhead. In the night safari we saw giant flying squirrels
which really do fly!! Clare would not have liked them – they would
avoid the Wellington boot more easily! All in all it was a really
tiring but great day.

The next morning before our flight we enjoyed our 3rd and final
traditional Singaporean breakfast which we became really fond of: home-
baked bread toasted and spread with butter and a marmalade-type thing
which you dip into a bowl of runny eggs which have a mild soy sauce
and pepper mixed into them. It sounds hideous but is lovely,
especially with the yummy sweet coffee.

All was great until we checked out and had a conflict of opinion over
their laundry service which was rubbish and very expensive compared to
everywhere else. Ben is not typing this cos he would rant for about 12
pages!!

Our flight to Bali was great, as was the airport pickup provided by
our homestay guesthouse in Ubud which is central Bali. We have a
lovely room with a balcony overlooking the rice fields. Ubud itself is
nice but most of all peaceful and relaxing which is lovely after so
much walking recently. Planning to have a massage each tomorrow as
well as a haircut for Ben. Perhaps a walk in the rice fields the day
after and then we’ll head to the coast for a few days.

Well we had to wet the babies’ heads didn’t we?! Booze is really
expensive in Malaysia so we’ve not drunk for weeks but we decided to
chose the most expensive place in SE Asia to have some.

Unfortunately the Tiffin Room was fully booked for High Tea so instead
we spent a lovely evening in the Long Bar. We even managed to avoid
the tacky Singapore Sling and instead stuck to the much more classy
G&T and beer.

We were going to have just one drink but there are 2 babies, what can
you do?!