Krabi & Koh Phi Phi 12/3/12 - 17/3/12

Our journey from Malaysia to Thailand took around 10 hours, but felt even longer! We took a ferry from Langkawi which arrived into the Thai port of Satun. After waiting 2 hours for a coach to turn up, we then set off on a 5 hour coach journey to the South West town of Krabi. Krabi is a town used as a base to travel to the South West islands of Phuket, Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta.

Krabi was a nice place. The only downside was it didn't have a beach, otherwise we would probably have stayed longer than just the one night. We went out for our first Thai dinner and ate a really good green curry for just over a pound! We decided to give Phuket a miss as we'd read it was mostly geared up for package holiday makers and that our budget wouldn't go too far out there. So instead we made our way to the island of Koh Phi Phi.

The ferry across to Phi Phi took 2 hours and we sat out on deck sunbathing. It was pretty chaotic when we arrived with dozens of touts trying to sell their accommodation to the couple hundred of tourists who had just arrived. It was really hot with our bags, so we just got speaking to one tout and got ourselves booked into a hostel for our first night. It wasn't the best of places and not massively cheap, but it'd do for one night. As soon as we'd dropped the bags off, we went out in search for a better deal for the remainder of our stay on the island.

Phi Phi was a pretty cool island. There were hundreds of backpackers and it had more of a party atmosphere to it. But there were still families dotted about and if you walked off the main strip, it was quiet and chilled out. Our first evening Jenna decided that she needed a foot massage. To be honest our feet have taken a bit of a battering with the amount of walking we do. So I found a cheap bar and bought a beer. Jenna's foot massage was only supposed to last an hour, so I gave her some money and left her to it. Anyway, two hours later and maybe 3 or 4 beers later, she finally showed up. Turns out she'd decided to have the foot massage, foot pedicure and god knows what else. That is why I am in charge of the money and not her!

The next evening we decided to have a bit of a night out. We bought ourselves a couple of buckets of vodka, coke and red bull and ended up at a large, outdoor party on the beach. We had a good night but felt rough the next day. We only left the room for lunch and dinner, so it was a complete waste of a day and we promised that we wouldn't make a habbit of it. Having a hangover at home with Domino's pizza and sitting in front of the TV is do-able. Sitting in a stuffy room when it's 35 degrees outside is not!

We did manage to make our way up the view point to watch the sunset. It was a steep climb but the view was good. Phi Phi has two beaches separated by a strip of land where most of the accommodation and restaurants etc are located. The island suffered a lot from the Tsunami and many people staying in the same small strip of land as us were killed. A couple of times whilst standing on the beach it did cross your mind and you could imagine the unbelievable sight of a large wave coming towards the island. But you just have to put it to the back of your mind and realise that disasters such as the tsunami could happen anywhere.

The beaches on Phi Phi were very good, although the sea wasn't really clear enough to snorkel. It was busy, but not too bad and they were perfect for a couple of days of sunbathing. On our final day we decided to go on a full day trip to a few islands. The trip cost less than a tenner and was a great experience. There were maybe 30 people on our boat, with a real mixture of nationalities. We visited Maya Bay first, which was the setting for the well known film, The Beach. We also visited Monkey Island, Viking Cave and Bamboo Island. The beaches and sea were spectacular and we had fun snorkeling. Maya beach was absolutely packed full of day visitors, so wasn't quite as idyllic as in the film, but still stunning nevertheless!

On our way back we stopped off at Shark's Point where you could swim with reef sharks. For some reason I decided to have a go and Jenna was eager to see them. We swam round in search for ages with one of our guides. It was a very strange experience swimming through murky water, not knowing if a shark would appear. Anyway, turns out we didn't see any, which I'm not sure if I was upset or happy about. 

Just before we made it back to Phi Phi, we stopped off one final time to watch the sun go down and then have a go at cliff jumping for those who wanted to. It was a 30m drop into the sea and a tough climb, but I decided to have a go, once I'd seen the guide successfully do it! Jenna tried taking a photo but it was too dark. I don't think it's something I would rush to do again! When we docked a few of us from the trip went out for dinner and I ended up with 30 mosquito bites on my feet!

Palau Langkawi 9/3/12 - 12/3/12

Our last stop in Malaysia was Palau Langkawi, an island off the north west coast of the mainland. We spent three nights in Pantai Cenang in a hotel right on the beach front. The area was geared towards holidaymakers rather than travelers so we struggled to find accommodation, either it was too expensive or looked like some form of 'hostel' from a low budget horror movie.

We spent the next day on the beach and then had dinner in a very nice restaurant on the beach that got very busy at sunset. The following day we rented a moped and drove to the cable car. It took us ages to queue up but the queue was well worth it. The view was one of the best we have seen on the entire on the trip and we even got to see a couple of eagles from above! We had a really nice Indian family in our cable car and the little girl said as we were arriving at the top that it reminded her of 'Never Never Land' from Peter pan and to be honest she was spot on. You will see what I mean in the photo below.

There is also a large suspension bridge that you can cross which was very spectacular although I am not sure it is supposed to move that much!

After the cable car trip we still had the rest of the afternoon so we decided to go to Tanjung Rhu beach in the north of the island as recommended by our Lonely Planet guide book. It says the sunset view is classed as one of the top 10 in the world, so we settled down with our towels and books after being told to move further over to the other end of the beach by the hotel security staff (there was a hotel located on the beach) as apparently we were making the beach look untidy! The cheek! The resort did look like a 5 star retreat and I guess if I had paid the money to stay there I wouldn't want any 'commoners' blocking up the beautiful views, although we were already penned in around the corner so we weren't in view!

So at about 6.45pm just as the sun was starting to go down we were told the beach was closing and we therefore had to leave. So after all the palaver, we didn't get to see the sunset after all! What made matters worse was that we got absolutely soaked on the moped ride back to the hotel. It then carried on raining for the rest of the evening so we got drenched again when we ran to the restaurant for dinner! We ate in the same restaurant as the previous night because we were so impressed with the food. They also had a band playing live acoustic music so that was a nice end to the evening and our time in Malaysia.

We really enjoyed our time in Malaysia and saw some incredible things but I felt it lacked a little something that parts of Indonesia had. I can't tell you what that was though if that makes any sense? Perhaps it was the fact that we went to Indonesia first? We still had a lovely time in Malaysia and I don't regret anything we have done on this trip but I think if I ever went back I would go East to Sabah, Sarawak and Borneo. It looks a little more cultural, it has turtle island only a few kilometers off the coast and plus there are loads of orangutans in Borneo!

Cameron Highlands & Penang 5/3/12 - 9/3/12

The Cameron Highlands is known as a 'hill station' which I think roughly translates as a beautiful area of green hills which Malaysians use as a weekend retreat, away from the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur. The Highlands are at a pretty high altitude, so the journey there involved plenty of steep climbing up some very tight bends through some spectacular rain forest roads.

It was a lot cooler compared to Kuala Lumpur which was a relief. We had some dinner in a Dutch themed cafe where everything was orange and then set off in search of a hotel. The Cameron Highlands are known for its tea plantations, so the next morning we caught a taxi to a plantation which we had passed on the coach the previous day. The plantation was located on a series of hills and could be viewed from a cafe positioned at the top. The view from here was impressive and we could see the huge scale of the plantation, even though this was just one plantation of many in the region. We were hoping to see how the process of turning tea leaves into tea bags worked, but unfortunately this was all hidden away. So instead we were happy to make do with eating scones with jam and drinking tea for our breakfast in the cafe!

We caught the same taxi back into town and went for what was described by the tourist information as 'a short rain forest walk to a waterfall'. In reality we walked for 20 minutes through what we would class as shrubbery, as opposed to jungle, and then we were unable to make it as far as the waterfall as the bridge was closed! We should have taken the advice of the guide book by checking that the path was fully open before setting off!

In the afternoon we decided to visit one of the many strawberry farms where you could pick your own. Unfortunately I think we might have visited out of season as there weren't really that many strawberries to pick! Instead we spent more time looking around the cactus farm and the strawberry - themed gift shop! By the time we'd decided to call it a day the heavens had opened. And as anyone who has visited Asia will testify, when it rains, it really does rain! We sat under shelter for over an hour but soon got bored and so we decided to make a break for it. We went to the gift shop and bought two strawberry printed umbrellas and walked the ten minutes back into town. We got absolutely drenched despite the help of our strawberry umbrellas!

Like much of Malaysia, the Highlands are home to lots of Indians, so we decided to try one of the numerous Indian restaurants. Jenna discovered that she quite likes vegetable dahl, which should now make it easier to persuade her to go out for a curry when we get back home.

Once we were happy that we'd seen the best bits of the Highlands, we caught a coach up to the North West of Malaysia to the island of Penang. Penang is a huge island with a city called Georgetown. It's linked to the mainland by an eight mile long bridge. We found a decent little hostel in the backstreets of Georgetown and then went for a walk around the city where we once again got caught up in some very heavy rain!

The following morning we were back off to the mainland as we wanted to visit an Orang utan sanctuary. Although it was a bit out of our way, travelling from Penang was the easiest route for us. It took us a good 3 hours to get there, including two ferries, a taxi and a bus, but it was worth it! The sanctuary was located on a small island in the centre of a lake. A small boat took us across to the island where we met by a guide who took us around the island for about an hour. 

The idea of the centre was to house orang utans from birth and then to release them into the wild when they had reached a certain age. This was to help protect them from poachers etc until they were old enough to fend for themselves. It was the visitors who were caged in, rather than the orang utans, which worked quite well and allowed the orang utans more freedom to do whatever they would in the wild. There were a couple of very young orang utans who were in an isolated room due to their age and they were hilarious to watch. They wore nappies and kept trying to climb up onto the window sill to peer out!

Kuala Lumpur 2/3/12 - 5/3/12

The end of our time in Indonesia also marked the half way point of our 6 month trip and the next stop was Malaysia. We booked the cheapest flight available to take us from Bali to Kuala Lumpur. The only downside was that the flight was at 6.30am. I thought we could save a bit of a cash by staying up through the night and avoid staying in a hotel. Turns out we probably spent more on keeping ourselves occupied!

The flight was only a couple of hours long, so we were out of the airport by 9am. We jumped on a bus and arrived into the centre of Kuala Lumpur an hour later. Our first impression of Malaysia was that it seemed a little less chaotic than Indonesia. From the central bus station, we used the monorail (reminding me of the Monorail song in the Simpsons) to take us closer to our hotel which we had already booked. Our previous experience of large cities in Asia was that it was worth paying a little extra money for a better room after spending the entire day walking around a grubby city. The hotel was good and we had a great view of the city from our 14th floor room.

The bed was the most comfortable we'd had in months and so we spent the afternoon catching up on some sleep. I woke up at about 6pm and decided I needed to find some food. Jenna was still enjoying the comfort of the bed and decided to sleep on through. I ventured out on my own without Jenna in tow which was a bit strange as we have done everything together! So I decided to take advantage of this rarity. I decided to go for dinner in one place that Jenna would always refuse to go, an India buffet cafe. The type of place which is only visited by local Indian men who mop up their curry and rice with their hands. Jenna and her alcohol gel would have stuck out like a sore thumb! The place looked like it hadn't been decorated since the 70's and I had a few odd looks, but the food was decent (although I did eat with a fork) and I didn't end up with Delhi-belly.

Feeling slightly more refreshed, the next day we got up early and walked across the city to KL Tower. The tower is one of those concrete telecommunication towers that you see in most big cities like Berlin, Auckland and Sydney. The viewing platform was actually higher than the viewing platform on the Petronas Towers (the 2nd tallest building in the world). We took the lift up to the top and spent an hour taking in the 360 degree views of the city. 

For some reason the ground floor of the tower had a small collection of animals. We took a look, but it wasn't the best and we didn't think much of how the animals were kept. The tortoises were caged into a small area by a one foot high fence. While we were there, one tortoise decided to make a break for it by climbing on the back of his friends and slowly try to climb over the fence. He was really struggling and we could see it was going to end in tears. 

 We held our breath as his body started showing signs of weakening and then he fell spectacularly backwards, almost knocking himself out on one of the fence posts. It was one of those scenes that would have been funny if it wasn't so sad! I could tell Jenna wanted to help the tortoise, especially after releasing Henry the turtle into the sea only a couple of days previously, so not wanting to give her any ideas about smuggling out this little man, we moved on swiftly!

We then walked back across the city to the Petronas Towers - Kuala Lumpur's most recognisable building. Although it wasn't possible to go the top, we had a good look around and visited the gigantic shopping centre at its base. Around the corner from the Petronas Towers was the Convention Centre which was home to a large aquarium. We spent a couple of hours there and saw an impressive display of sharks, turtles, stingrays and tropical fish.

Our hotel room had a television with a number of sports channels and so for the first time in about 3 months we were able to watch a full 90 minutes of live English football - we watched Newcastle vs Sunderland. Whilst it brought back some of the excitement of watching a live match which I'd missed, it also brought back the even stronger emotions of how annoying co-commentator David Pleat is and how patronising ex Scummer manager Alan Pardew is! When Pleat suggested that Alan Pardew had to be considered as a contender for the vacant England managers job I think I woke up the rest of the hotel with my opposition to his suggestion!

The next day we used the monorail again and took a look around the Central Market area. 

 This was next door to Chinatown, which we briefly walked through, but once you've seen one Chinatown, they all tend to look the same. This area was also busy with Indians. We've found in Indonesia and Malaysia that Indian men like a good stare at Western girls and they do it in the most unembarrassed, obvious ways! It was a hot day so Jenna had a pair of shorts on and the Indian men were in full on staring - mode. The first few we caught staring were quite comical, but the next couple had a little more menace. So I made eye contact myself and politely enquired as to what they were looking at. They just looked marginally embarassed and continued walking!

We visited the Planitarium in the afternoon which showcased Malaysia's 'contributions' to the space programme and also had some interesting astronomy bits and bobs. The main road outside the planetarium had wild monkeys roaming around so we stopped there for a bit to take some photos.

On the morning of our final day in Kuala Lumpur we managed to find a post office where we could box up a few souvenirs to send home. While we were boxing the items up, an Indian man who we assume was a postman but we are not entirely sure, came over and started to chat. He was a very enthusiastic man and very proud of Malaysia. He was friendly, but I think both Jenna and I had slightly pretend, slightly nervous smiles for the entire conversation. When he'd finished chatting, he shook my hand and then full on bear hugged Jenna who was sat down at this point and planted a very forceful kiss on her neck! Our forced smiles continued until he was safely out the door!

We decided to head North to the Cameron Highlands so we made our way to the central bus station to catch our coach. The coach station was some sort of underground bunker with no ventilation and dozens of stinking buses which would never be allowed on our roads. We had no choice but to breathe all of the fumes in, particularly as nobody seemed able to work out which bus was ours! Both of us felt like our insides had again aged about 10 years!

Lombok and Gili Islands 20/02/2012 - 02/03/2012

So, our next stop was Lombok, only really as a base to head to the Gili Islands but arriving their turned out to be quite entertaining. We caught a slow ferry from Padang Bai to Lembar that was supposed to take 4.5 hours but ended up taking nearly 7 due to us getting shipwrecked! When I say shipwrecked I mean stuck in the sand about 10 feet from the shore but shipwrecked sounded better! 

We also had to walk on and off the ferry with all the traffic and this was horrendous, due to the amount of car fumes I inhaled in such an enclosed area, I am sure I lost 10 years off my life! I'm not talking a small boat, but a boat almost as big as a P&O ferry!

So, we arrived at the port in Lembar in good time but for some reason we ended up letting other boats dock before us. It looked like we were waiting for a slot to dock. We must have been waiting for around 40 mins. When we were finally given the go ahead to dock we couldn't move, we were stuck in the sand at a rather funny angle. Nothing hugely drastic but we were definitely not level. The crew began to appear with walkie talkies checking the back and the front end of the boat to see where we were stuck. There was a lot of shouting and arm waving going on and then we noticed that the other passenger ferry going the other way was coming back to rescue us. The rescue happened by one of the crew members on the other boat throwing us a rope and signalling for us to tie it around something. They did this and went to edge the boat away ready to pull us out but the first time they attempted it, the rope snapped. They then attempted it again, this time with two ropes and we were successful. We were all laughing on the boat though saying that if this happened in England we would have been made to wear our life jackets and stay seated. It would have definitely trended on twitter and an investigation taken place. Here, they were letting us walk right up to the edge and take photos!

Once we had finally safely docked, we caught a minibus to Sengiggi where we stayed for 2 nights. Nothing really to report on there apart from some great scenery en route from the port to where we were staying. Oh and we also ate in an Italian one night and asked for a four cheese pizza but when it came it had no tomato sauce on it. James and I asked why it didn't have any on there and the chef came over to tell us that he was Italian and that it is how you should eat a four cheese pizza, he even said he would show us his passport. We said that was fine and we were sure he was correct and we didn't mean to offend him, but the menu says that it comes with tomato sauce. In the end they changed them for us and we found out he was a guest chef for the evening as the usual chef was taken ill. You can't be a guest chef and just start making up your own rules! Who eats a pizza that consists of just dough and cheese? Anyway in the end it was one of the best pizzas we'd ever eaten!

After Senggigi we had to get a short boat ride across to the first Gili Island we were visiting called Gili Air. Before we got the boat across, we met a really nice local lad at the port called Ali. He told us he goes to school in the mornings and then makes bracelets to sell in the afternoon so he can afford to go to school. He was such a sweet boy and I will never forget him! We gave him James' hat so he could either sell it or wear it- up to him. 

Everything works in funny ways out here. We bought a ticket for the boat to get over to Air but we were then told that we had to wait for six more people to buy a ticket before we could leave! That would be like the equivalent of booking a coach to London and it not leaving until they had sold a certain amount of tickets, regardless of what the scheduled time was! It does make me laugh. When we finally got on the boat (without the extra six, I guess we had waited for over an hour and they obviously decided that was long enough) we were so tightly packed on due to the amount of supplies we were taking over to the island- about 20 large egg boxes, 6 barrels of water etc that I don't even know how we would have got another six people on there anyway! 

Our first impressions of Gili Air were good. The island is clean in comparison to the rest of Indonesia and there is no traffic. You can only get around by horse or bike. The water around the island is crystal clear and the sand is lovely and white - perfect! 

The first afternoon we were there we walked around the island which took around 1 and a half hours. We then went snorkeling which was great. Saw loads of tropical fish and colourful coral. We had some lovely food on the island as well. We ate barbecued red snapper and tuna kebabs one night and then chicken kebabs the next night and they were so cheap! We did a lot of lazing around on the island which was so nice after the hectic couple of weeks we had had in Java and Bali. The island was so relaxing although there were a few weirdos about! I guess that comes with the territory of it being a 'calming' and 'relaxing' place. They also sell magic mushrooms which James and I were constantly asked if we would like to try. There are a lot of things in life that I will try once but drugs is not one of them! We met a lovely couple called Bryan and George from Seattle while we were on the island. We had a few drinks with them one afternoon and then lunch with them the next day before we left for the next island- Gili Meno. 

Gili Meno is the smallest of the three Gili islands and therefore the quietest. This was my favourite island though as I got to help out at the turtle sanctuary for the day. Boulong set up the sanctuary because he was sad to see how many baby turtles were being killed before they had even made it into the ocean.  Literally the turtle eggs would hatch and all the baby turtles would run towards the sea and then get eaten by fish or birds before they had even entered the water properly. Considering the decreasing amount of turtles in the ocean nowadays Boulong was concerned by this and decided to raise the little turtles for a year before he put them back in the ocean, this gives them an increased chance of survival, therefore the work Boulong is doing on the island is imperative to the survival of these amazing animals. He also gets a lot of stick from the locals as they eat turtle eggs and they can't understand why Boloung puts so much of his own time and money into helping the turtles. I think he is amazing! 

We fed the turtles at 9am and 3pm and then after they had been fed we would clean out all the tanks and give them fresh water. I got to hold so many of them and had such a good day. 

Boloung also took us snorkeling in the morning and afternoon and the water around Gili Meno was better than Australia and the Great Barrier Reef. Absolutely stunning! It also helped that I saw about 6 turtles! 

Whilst I was there I also released one of the older turtles. I named him Henry after my friends little boy and this sounds so cheesy but it was such an amazing moment. Something which I will never forget. I felt like a mother letting her teenage son leave home for the first time!

That night because I was in love with the turtles I took James on a hunt to find a turtle coming to shore to lay eggs. Boloung said you can sometimes see them come onto the sand to lay eggs at night but usually only with a full moon and a high tide but I told James this didn't matter and therefore we were going anyway. If there was even a tiny chance I was going to see one then I was going to take it. James and I walked around the island in the pitch black at midnight trying to locate a turtle. I don't think James was too impressed to be honest. Apparently he was being bitten everywhere and it was ridiculous- we were never going to see a turtle, 'It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack'. Turns out he was right and we didn't end up seeing one, but I wanted to just check anyway. We weren't going to have time to go to Turtle Island in Malaysia so this was my only chance to see one!

The next evening we went to watch the sunset from the other side of the island and had dinner over there too. 

 I forgot to mention here as well that the hotel we stayed in on this island was new and they had all sorts of problems with the water. The first night we didn't have any water at all to shower with or use the toilet so as you can imagine that was nice, and then on the second night the water that was coming out of the taps was bright green so I think we went two days without having a shower! Yes I know that is gross and believe me I was not amused but I guess that is what happens when you are 'travelling'.

The next Gili island was the biggest and the liveliest of the three called Gili Trawangan. Again we spent a lot of time sunbathing and relaxing (yes I know it is tough being a traveller)! We met a crazy local barman in one of the bars that we were drinking in and he kept us amused for two of the three nights we were there! 

 The last full day we had we rented bikes and did a little tour of the island. Little note to you all- don't cycle in 35+ degrees of heat because it is not pretty! I was NOT looking good by the end of the day. We also tried to find a viewing point on the island but we couldn't find the correct way to get up so in the end we gave up. The directions in Asia are a nightmare. One minute a place or an attraction is signposted and then the next minute you have driven/cycled another 5k without it even being mentioned. You normally find that that is because you were meant to instincrively know that you needed to take a left at the traffic lights  3k before even though it was NOT signposted!! Hilarious!

We had a great time on the Gili islands- they were one of my favourite places so far. Another thing that made them so memorable is the stars at night and the moonlight. The moonlight was so bright that you could almost navigate around in the dark and the stars at night were so bright they were like nothing I have ever seen before. Incredible!

The next day we caught a ferry back to Bali, where I saw turtles and dolphins. We visited the Bali bombings memorial which was really sad, even more so as I think 22 of the people that died were British. 

 It definitely does make you appreciate things when you visit these kind of memorials and serves as a reminder about the times we now live in. We then got a transfer to the airport ready to get our flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Bali 12/2/12 - 20/2/12

Bali is the next Indonesian island East of Java and a popular holiday destination. After the chaos of Java we were looking forward to a bit of relaxation in more comfortable surroundings! We caught a public ferry from Java which got us into Denpesar at around 10pm. Denpesar is the capital of Bali, but not really somewhere tourists spend much time. We jumped into a taxi and made our way a few miles West to a resort called Kuta. The hotel we stayed in was pretty new and the taxi driver unsurprisingly struggled to find it!

We stayed in Kuta just the one night and moved on to Legian the following morning. Legian is the next resort along the coast and sort of merges into one with Kuta. Legian was quieter but still had plenty going on. We walked into a couple of hotels to see what was available, before settling on one which was cheap enough and in a good location. We spent the first day down the beach and had a look around the town. The following day we jumped on a minibus which drove us a couple of hours inland to a town called Ubud. Ubud has a small forest which is home to approximately 50 monkeys! The monkeys were very tame and jumped up onto us as we fed them bananas! One cheeky monkey even jumped onto Jenna's shoulder and pulled her ear ring out of her ear and swallowed it!

We'd been travelling for over two months, so I was overdue a hair cut. I decided to try one of the Legian hairdressers and tried my best to explain what I wanted. I wasn't quite sure how it was going to turn out! But the very camp hairdresser did an excellent job and told me that I looked 'very handsome' when he was finished. So I needn't have worried!

Jenna and I decided that it was about time we had a massage. You can't walk down a street in Indonesia without being offered a massage by several different girls. For about 3 pounds each, we had a 1 hour full body massage! It was very good, but I refused to wear the paper y-fronts which were provided. I preferred to stay in my cotton boxers!

The next destination for us in Bali was a small beach resort called Candi Dasa, about two hours by minibus. We found a relatively cheap bungalow by the sea and stayed for a couple of nights. Although we were traveling out of season, it was really quiet. There was no real beach to relax by, so we decided to rent a moped for the day. The traffic in Bali was nowhere near as chaotic as Java so we thought it would be safe enough. I had a moped for 4 years when I was younger, so I loved getting back on one. It was 125cc so it had a bit of power as well! I gave it a test run up to the petrol station and back before letting Jenna jump on the back! We rode a few miles up hill to a Balinese village where you could watch the villagers making traditional local crafts. We then rode further along the coast to White Sand beach. We spent the afternoon on the beach and went snorkeling. The beach was pretty amazing and we had it pretty much to ourselves. We then headed back to the hotel and decided to take a detour through some random villages. We ended up by a small fishing hut. We got chatting to the family who lived there and bought a couple of coco nuts from them, which one of the men climbed up a tree to fetch for us! The head of the family told us that his daughter wanted to get on Facebook but didn't know how. He went inside his little hut and produced a laptop! So we spent the next hour setting her up with an email account and a Facebook account!

The next day we caught a taxi a few miles down the coast to a town called Padang Bai. This is where you can catch the ferry to Lombok. The best beach in the area was called Blue Lagoon, which was a little off the beaten track. It was an amazing beach, but spoilt by the amount of litter on the sand and in the sea. Indonesia is a beautiful country, but many of the locals do their best to spoil it. They just throw litter wherever they fancy. They don't have bins or rubbish collections, so litter just builds up and it's pretty disgusting in places.

We went snorkeling at Blue Lagoon and the fish were pretty special. After about half an hour though, I felt a fish bite me twice on the sole of my foot! It hurt a little and I told Jenna but I think she thought I was making a mountain out of a mole hill. Ten minutes later though, I saw a fish with blue lips come darting towards me. This was unusual as most fish usually do their best to get out of the way! The fish bit me on my hand! This time it drew blood! I got out of the water and showed Jenna again! I got a little more sympathy! Jenna went back into the water and then started splashing around. Turns out the same little fish with blue lips started darting towards her! I'd been worrying about sharks, I hadn't even thought about possible attacks from tropical fish!