Counting Bintangs in Bali

We finally arrived in Denpasar airport, Bali, relieved to be out of Medan airport and the world of Batavia Air and massively excited about the coming days. Seeing people that we actually know and like very much! YAY! I might have got a little over excited at times, but wouldn't you have been if you were spending five days of sheer joy with the likes of 'Genius' La Roger, Tait, Trev McClure, Chie Kishimoto, Laura Steen and Thomas Robin. The perfect 'Balimooner' crew, I'm sure you'll agree.

Before we met up with all the lovely people mentioned above, Sam and I spent one night in Ubud. This is one of the places I believe that features in the probably rubbish (I haven't read it, so apologies if my predictions are out of turn) book, 'Eat, Pray, Love'. We were very lucky to be staying in one of the poshest resorts there - Ubud Green, a wedding present from my former boss. It was well plush. We had our own villa, with entrance hall, huge bedroom, outdoor jacuzzi, kitchen/dining room/lounge, a private plunge pool and sundeck with views of rice paddies and a butler on call if we needed anything. We were offered welcome drinks, welcome massages, afternoon tea and even a free taxi service into town. Pretty cushty. When you're staying in a place like this, the obvious thing to do is turn it into a spa. Well, that's what Sam wanted to do. He tried in vain to recreate a Japanese onsen experience, filling the jacuzzi with piping hot water and using the plunge pool to cool off afterwards. Unfortunately it didn't have quite the desired effect, since the hot water tank ran out before the jacuzzi was full.

Ubud itself is pretty and where you're supposed to go in Bali if you want to experience some true Balinese culture. We saw a bit of Balinese dancing and thought it was a bit boring and I did some shopping at the market, but that's about as cultural as it got for us.

Then it was time to meet everyone in Seminyak, the part of Bali where you go to party and party that we did. Accommodation this time was the pimping Villa Aisha, courtesy of the wonderful La, as a wedding gift. The place was incredible - a huge four bedroom villa with a massive pool and sundeck with loungers, which we made much use of. Many an hour was spent at the Villa Aisha, sunbathing by the pool, drinking lots of homemade, diabetes-inducing cocktails, offering alternative commentary on the Olympics, playing cards (La will always be the best president in my opinion), and worrying about how many Bintangs were left in the fridge.

Outside of our deluxe abode, we visited the beach and ate and drank at lots of swanky establishments in the area, including Potato Head, where we watched the sun set whilst we posed in the infinity pool with our cocktails (definitely felt like I was on the set of 90210). We also took a daytrip to the Waterbom Bali waterpark, where peer pressure saw me take a ride on an insane flume called 'Climax' - a vertical drop, 19m off the ground and I got caught in an eddy under a bridge on the 'Lazy River' with a jet of water continuously pelting my face, much to Sam and Trev's amusement.

All in all, our time in Bali was just fabulous. It was amazing to see our friends (a pleasant break from just each other) and a relief to not have to be choosing our accommodation for a few days!