Beaten by a bad chapati

We arrived in Haridwar after a gruelling ten hour journey in a sweaty car on the bumpiest road in.the.world. It seemed as though Karam was also on a mission to put us through the roof when my head bumped it for the fifth time. Things had also turned a little sour with the one CD we had bought so that 'who let the dogs out' skipped on every other (awesome) word. No matter how much Karam spat on the CD and rubbed it on his trousers it just wouldn't work (shocker). The journey did take a more positive spin after we convinced Karam to find and stop at a McDonalds for us; it had been almost three weeks of curries by now. 

As Haridwar wasn't included in our tour we had to book our own accommodation. Because we are extremely stingy we wanted to pay no more than £2.50 each. Considering how much we had paid the rooms weren't too bad. We did have to wash under taps and use a hole in the ground but apart from that it was a delight. We were very excited about being in Haridwar, partly because of the Ganges- pronounced gang-ies- and partly because we were on a mission to find the one armed and elephant babas (featured in Karl Pilkington’s, 'An Idiot Abroad'). That night we left to go to the Ganges at prayer time. When we began walking down to the river I was shocked by how busy it was. There were already thousands down there an hour before prayer time. People were lining the sides of the river and swimming in it as well as drinking the water. Karam told us that it was especially busy as it was a weekend and people would travel there from around India to come and pray. They were also filling up tubs of water to spread around their homes for good luck. We felt a bit too self conscious to get in the water here because we were the only westerners there. We also weren't sure what the clothing protocol was; the women seemed to go in, in their pyjamas while the men were taking a dip in a vast array of transparent underwear. The amount of men happily strolling around, half-naked with erections, was also at a disturbing level. 

After all the enjoyment of the Ganges we decided we wanted the take a boat ride along the river. Karam (as per usual) completely misunderstood this and tried taking us to a white water rafting centre in a place called Rishikesh. This wasn't a complete loss though as Rishikesh was beautiful. It is right in the foothills of the Himalayas so we were totally surrounded by mountains and the Ganges runs through the middle. It was a more relaxed atmosphere here than in Haridwar and we had a really good day looking around the town, climbing a path up the Himalayas and swimming in the Ganges. We also managed to find a honey cafe with some nice, non-curried, food. 

After leaving Rishikesh we spent a few more days in Haridwar, unable to find a single baba. I was seriously disappointed about this but after walking round asking a number of locals and sticking my arm in the air to try and imitate the baba we clearly weren't getting anywhere. But I will include a picture for those of you who aren't familiar with Karl Pilkington...

Our last stop before our tour was over was at our driver’s village where he had invited us to stay for the night. We were less keen on the idea of this than when he had originally invited us as he kept asking Lucy if it was going to happen with him and 'Goonda'. He was also generally irritating because he couldn't understand a word we were saying (I sound mean saying this but after three weeks of trying to explain every tiny little thing my patience was wearing thin).

Anyway we still took the trip to his village and had quite a mixed night there. It was soon apparent that our visit had caused some excitement as people kept turning up at his house to see us. However, everyone was really nice and he had a cute little niece who we taught to play snap. His sister in law cooked us a lovely meal which we ate before everyone else as is customary for guests in India. The downside to this was that our driver was completely hammered; he was and his mate, who had come round to the house to fix their computer were both so drunk. We were quite used to seeing Karam drunk by this point because he would sink back a fair bit of whiskey each night but his friend was a complete pest. He kept saying Soph's name but couldn't speak anymore English than that. He also offered me a piece of soggy, yoghurt covered onion when he was eating his dinner. 

In the morning things also took a turn for the worse. I had woken up feeling a bit queasy but ignored it until Gwend said she had been sick in the night and Soph complained that she had been feeling ill too. After this we were all running to Karam's little hole in the ground. This was a complete nightmare because not only were we all feeling horrendous but we were flying that day and had to sit through a two hour journey to the airport as well as the flight. Luckily we got through the flight without any emergencies. 

Gez, Jaz, Gilbert and Gary cross the Indian desert

Before leaving Pushkar we had some post to send. It took a LOT longer to send than we thought and so I went to wait outside because I had left my passport in the car. Waiting outside anywhere in India is always an experience and after five minutes a skinny Indian dressed in a toga with a lot of white hair came up to me and played a weird kind of recorder in my face. I let this go on a little longer than I should have because I was hoping Gwend would come out and see so it took quite a lot to get rid of him in the end. When Gwend did come out we also got surrounded by cows because a man came and scattered grass around us (he kept putting it on my feet even when I moved). 

When we finally left Pushkar we were heading on another long journey towards Khuri, near Jaisalmer which is in the desert and borders Pakistan. As soon as we got out of the car I could feel the heat difference; it was forty five degrees and I could barely breathe. Luckily it cooled down a lot at night which was good because we were off on our camel trek. We arrived at our accommodation which was two huts in the middle of the desert; although our driver had told us that we could sleep outside for a more authentic desert experience if we would like.

We got ready for our camel trek and were all a bit unsure about how it would go; we named our camels Gerard (renamed Geri aka Gez, upon discovery that she was female), Gilbert, Gary and Jasper (renamed Jasmine). Luce and I had nice well behaved camels; Gwends- Gilb was a bit more weird; foaming at the mouth. Sophie's camel, on the other hand, was insane. For some reason, my guide decided he wouldn't lead me but attached me to Gary who had his tail tied out of the way of his rear end which was not in a good way. For quite some time I thought Gary had a lump of shit hanging from his tail until I realised that it was actually the biggest, shittiest ball I have ever seen. This earned Soph's camel the name, Gary shitty balls.

After a fantastic time camel trekking we got back to our charming huts. Gwenda and I decided to go for the authentic approach and slept outside. This was a nice idea but the reality wasn't quite so lovely. As soon as we had settled down we heard a voice saying 'Goonda, you want to go for a walk with me?' This was the voice of our driver, Karam, who was no longer sweet but had turned out to be massively annoying and in love with Gwenda. In the morning we also realised that he had been lying when he told us we wouldn't get bitten in the desert as 'Goonda' was absolutely covered in bites. The next morning when Karam asked his regular question 'good sleeping'? He was met by more than one scowl.

Our next two destinations weren't particularly exciting because they were stop off points on the way to our final destination in north India, Haridwar. This was quite a low time in India as we stayed in two of the hottest rooms imaginable and spent the next two nights tossing and turning drenched in sweat. We did, however go to see a miniature artist who drew a whole picture on Gwend’s nail along with all our names.

Honking Hell- Only in India Would You See a Monkey Crossing the Street Eating Naan Bread

So India;
We got to the airport and soon realised after boarding the plane that there were only about five other Westerners on board- we were leaving backpacker territory....
We arrived, clueless as usual, in this crazy and diverse country. For once, we had arranged an airport transfer; however, after waiting for an hour at the gate and not finding anyone there we eventually took a taxi to the hotel we had booked. Our driver had no English and didn't quite seem to grasp where we were going so when he pulled up outside a travel shop to get directions we were all quite relieved to be confronted with a young man who had perfect English.... long story short; he told us that the hotel we had originally booked was in a slum and a car couldn't even get down there so we ended up booking quite an expensive tour with his company instead. Fortunately for us our original hotel owner then got in contact with us encouraging us to get in touch; he believed we had been scammed. After visiting another travel shop we soon realised we should have paid half the price that we had paid for our tour. We were confused and decided to let the original hotel owner guide us- this was the best move we have made as he helped us to get the money back from the tour we had booked, found us a much cheaper option and gave us lots of helpful advice.

After all the drama of getting our money back (including a trip to the local (corrupt) police station and several tears) we were ready for some sightseeing round Delhi. We went to see several temples- the second was a bit of a shock. We had to take a rickshaw ride to get there which I felt terrible doing as there was the skinniest man pulling Gwenda and I along on his bike- I felt like offering him a hand. When we arrived at the temple we had to walk through a market to get to the steps; once inside I saw a man walking around with bare feet- he had no toes on one foot and a cut that looked like it had an insect living in it. As well as this, the entire time we were inside there was a little chianggar (our name for a child Indian beggar) following us around. He kept telling us his name and asking for money, it’s heartbreaking when the little children do this but you can't give them anything because the moment you do more beggars immediately swarm round you. I felt quite intimidated here and didn't really have time to enjoy the temple. However, the next one we visited was my favourite- it was called Humayun’s tomb and is said to be the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.

I won't lie and say that Delhi was my favourite place but it was very interesting to watch such a different culture in motion. Whilst there we saw lots of monkeys roaming the streets- one casually eating a naan- we were also given a huge amount of attention, people asking for pictures and money, we saw cows everywhere, rickshaw drivers and tuks tuks. There is so much noise- they have no lanes in India, just a system of honking that they use to pass other vehicles. I think it will feel extremely quiet when we leave.

We left Delhi to go to Agra where we were all excited about seeing the Taj Mahal. It was so nice to get out of the city and after a four hour drive, through motorway, villages and across dirt tracks; we arrived at our hotel located five minutes from the Taj. Our lovely driver Karam took us to dinner and introduced us to a dish called Thali which is a mixture of different curries, breads and rice. The food is incredible, it’s so full of flavour but not too spicy, although I think the locals take it a little hotter.

We woke up and got ready to meet our Taj Mahal guide at 6.00am (ouch) and walked through a nice little park to get there. Our guide was very informative but may have been a strict teacher in a former life because he kept telling Gwenda off when he thought she wasn't listening and he wouldn't let us see the Taj until we had repeated back to him what he had just told us. Despite the early start we were grateful to arrive at that time because our first view of the Taj was unspoilt by tourists. It was magnificent to see it up close and appeared huge until we walked around it and got inside. After leaving the Taj (closely followed by our guide until we tipped him) we left for Ranthambhore. This journey was exciting to start with but after our second flat tyre it wasn't so fun. Our nifty driver had changed the first within minutes but with only one spare tyre we had to roll for five minutes and found a place where they could repair it. To get the weight out of the car we had to all get out which was funny as we were in a tiny village where they're not used to seeing white faces and at one point there were sixteen men sat on a bench just watching us.

We were extremely excited when we arrived because we had lovely rooms and a huge garden that we played cricket in with our driver and some of the hotel staff. It was crazily hot outside- about forty degrees so was strange not to be sunbathing but having to be fairly covered in such hot weather. We went on the safari in the afternoon and about five minutes after we got inside we were lucky enough to see a wild tiger. We were excited because she was really close and we had been told we would be very fortunate to see one at all. We carried on into the dry, hot jungle and saw lots of monkeys, deer a crocodile, peacocks and a kingfisher and were soon so lucky that we saw our second tiger. This one was sat down so we were able to take lots of pictures. The guides also know the tigers really well as there are only thirty five so they told us that this one was the oldest female in the park. We were extremely hyped up by the time we got back and ended our night playing card games in the garden with our driver whilst drinking some kingfishers and whiskey.

After Ranthambhore we left for Jaipur which is known as the pink city because it's full of pink buildings. I was really excited to be visiting this city as we were having an elephant ride here. Unfortunately we didn't really get to stroke the elephant or anything but it was still good because we rode on it up to the famous Amber Fort. The view was really good although our guide was quite crazy and kept humping the elephant.

In the afternoon we decided to strike out on our own and go to the markets- after five minutes of leaving our driver we were debating calling him back. As soon as we stepped out of the car people were hassling us but we held our own. We also had a bit of a treat when we saw a naked old man walking down the street playing with his bits. We had to deal with a lot more chinaggars but I now have a system for getting rid of them- saying "Ne Heeng" (no) with a scowl on my face, followed by "go away"! Seems to do the trick...

Whilst in Jaipur our driver took us to his cousin’s shop where he said we could buy whatever we wanted with discount and then we would share a home cooked meal together. I have one thing to say about his cousin- the man was a moron. He kept pressuring us to buy things and told us about a million times how their textiles were made; I was actually quite interested in this the first time he explained it as they use old clothes to make new fabrics. Despite this I couldn't complain about the meal, it was probably the spiciest food we have had but really delicious- our first Indian takeaway... in India.

Before leaving Jaipur we decided to get some henna tattoos; I got a Ganesh up my arm. It looked good but we were a bit limited in what we could do with our wet henna and Gwenda had smudged hers within about five minutes. We didn't really know what to do after it had dried but luckily the lady in our hotel helped us out. Then she asked us for a tip. 

We now had another long journey to a place called Pushkar. We were looking forward to staying in the hotel here because our driver told us it had a pool- we were not disappointed as it was a really nice pool and, after double checking we were allowed to wear swim suits, we were straight in. We did go and see the village though which was really nice as it has a big spiritual lake in the middle where we watched the sunset. We also got some Italian food which was quite welcome after eating curry for an entire week. The next day we spent entirely by the pool and soon noticed some Indians peeking through their curtains at us. We decided that we would climb up to the temple before we left; it was a hot walk but really well worth it when we saw the whole of Pushkar on arriving at the top. It also meant we could see how far into the desert we have now come.

Phi Phi, Koh Lanta and back to Bangkok

After leaving Krabi we took another boat ride across to the party island of Koh Phi Phi. As I've said it is a big party island so there's not a huge amount to say about what we did in the day because we were mostly hungover... It was my birthday whilst there though and a big group of us did a snorkelling trip to Maya Bay for it. Maya bay is infamous for being the location where 'The Beach' was filmed. It was a really spectacular beach and the trip, combined with the night out after definitely made it a birthday to remember.

After five nights of partying in Phi Phi we finally said a sad goodbye to Bryce, Brian, Jon and Robbie and went off to relax in Koh Lanta where we were lucky enough to find accommodation for £5.00 a night which had its own pool and gardens. We didn't see much of Koh Lanta because it was quite expensive to get around but we had a bit of a stroll along the beach and it seemed quite a quiet place. After two nights here we had another tiring journey all the way from the south of Koh Lanta up to Bangkok. There was a bit of a contrast in the room we paid a fiver for in Bangkok... we were down rabid dog alley which I hated walking through.

As we had arrived in Bangkok at 6.00am we had a pretty full day in the city and spent some time taking a tuk tuk around- lucky we had time on our side here as he kept taking us to shops where if we bought something he would get a free gas coupon. It was a good time to be in Bangkok because it was a bank holiday so there was a mini celebration happening at a big temple. As a result of this when some people gave us food to feed the pigeons for "good luck" we believed it was part of the celebration, not that they would snatch ten pounds out of my hand to pay for the corn.




We spent our last day in Bangkok visiting the famous floating market which was really interesting. We were fairly spent out by this time so didn't buy a lot but it was good for the novelty. Another positive was that we had a free lunch included and there were some really snobby people on our tour who didn't want any so we got double- jackpot. In the afternoon we went to visit the River Kwai Bridge. It was really good because they run a train across it but you can still walk along at the same time.

This was pretty much the end of our Thailand experience; once again it was a country I was devastated to leave because of all the friends were made there and the beautiful and unique sights that we saw.

Cracking Krabi!

After leaving Koh Samui in we headed towards Krabi. I didn't really know what to expect about this place as it was inland and, apart from Bangkok, we had only visited islands.

We spent our first night at a hostel and met two nice girls from Rugby; Nic and Jess who we ended up spending all our time in Krabi with. I loved Krabi because we did so many activities there. On our first night we climbed up to Tiger Temple which is 1327 steps to the top. It only took us half an hour but we were absolutely exhausted when we got to the top. It was completely worth it when we took in the view and witnessed a gorgeous sunset. We had also taken beers up there to celebrate when we got to the top... we didn't realise the entire thing was a temple until a lady walking by told us off and said  it was as bad as drinking in church- oops. On our way back down (which we thought would be the easy part) we got caught in torrential rain and ended up wading through calve deep water to get back to our bus.

The following day was the start of the Thai celebration of the New Year that they call Songkran. The first day of this is basically a nationwide water fight- what could be better?! So we spent the morning standing on the corner of the hostel throwing buckets of water at people passing by and getting equally soaked by the locals. At lunchtime we went to Railay beach which was a short boat ride away and is absolutely beautiful. We got further soaked when we arrived and had our faces covered in clay. I wish we had a festival at home like this, it was great fun.

The next day, after listening to a tip from one of the guys at the hostel, we hired bikes and cycled to a small fishing village. We cycled about 14km to a five star infinity pool we had been recommended and were lucky enough to use it for free. The village was such a contrast from what we had seen of Thailand so far- there were goats everywhere and little children running out to wave and shout hello to us. After leaving the pool we decided to go to a fish restaurant that we had seen signs for. This was a real novelty because it was one of those restaurants that I have only ever seen in pictures that float on water. The tables all surrounded a netted area where they kept the fresh fish. I think the staff could tell it was a first for us so fed the fish while we were there which meant we were able to see small sharks jumping out of the water and a huge blow fish. The only thing the restaurant wasn't built for was the torrential rain we then had as we were eating our dinner; luckily it eased off enough for us the get the boat and cycle back.

The last activity we did in Krabi was rock climbing. This had been recommended to us as its one of the top ten places in the world to do it and you are climbing on real limestone cliffs. I really enjoyed this and would probably say it’s one of the best things I've done whilst travelling. I was also thrilled because both Gwend and I succeeded in climbing a thirty metre wall. It was so tough and at one point I was clinging to a flat piece of rock like a lizard moaning that I couldn't do it, but with a bit of encouragement I got there. I was so glad that I did as the view from the top was beautiful and I whooped excitedly the whole way down.

The following day, before we left Krabi we had a real treat. One of the boys from the hostel (they had become a bit of a family as so many people had stayed there weeks longer than planned) cooked twenty four of us a roast dinner. It was a welcome change from noodles and we also got the chance to catch up with the three girls who we had met on our Whitsundays sailing trip in Australia who were staying in Krabi at this time.

Thailand- Bangkok, Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, Koh Samui

We arrived in Thailand after a short flight from Bali and met our new travelling companion, Luce’s sister, Soph in the airport. I was excited to arrive in Bangkok after spending time in some quieter areas; unfortunately it would be a while before my excitement would be satisfied. It took us about three hours in choc a block traffic to arrive at the infamous Khao San Road and we were all so shattered when we got there that we just booked into the first hotel with space. We actually ended up in D & Ds which is a busy hotel that I think a lot of backpackers are keen to go to. After the not so luxurious accommodation in Bali we were pleased to find a gorgeous hotel room with a roof top swimming pool.

That night we went to find some Pad Thai on the street for our dinner which completely filled us up and cost about 80p. This was also a bit of a luxury after Bali which was slightly more expensive. We had decided to leave Bangkok the next day and spend more time there on the way back when we fly out. As a result we didn't do much more than a bit of shopping on the first visit. It was a lot of fun trying to barter with the Thai people, although it wasn't as easy to bring down their prices as the Indonesians.

That night we had booked a night bus to Chumphon to get a ferry over to the island of Koh Tao that we wanted to visit first. We were all a bit apprehensive about how much sleep we would get on this. I barely slept at all but Soph probably had the worst experience; she went down to use the toilet which was a bowl full of wee, no flush and a load of bottles of water to try and flush your business down with. You can imagine the state of the floor on a moving bus... Anyway she had gone down to this lovely lavatory to find that there was a Thai man on the phone in there who had kissed her on the cheek earlier. After leaving the toilet he spent his time trying to open the door while she was in there and then gave her bum a smack on the way out- nice. 

After this we got dumped in the middle of nowhere at 4.00am, luckily someone else came to get us about ten minutes later and take us to a disgusting cafe to wait for our 7.00am boat journey. The ferry was unbelievable, I'm quite lucky that I never really get seasick but about 70% of the passengers were running to the top deck to be sick during the four hour journey that should have taken two. At one point I opened my eyes and saw the sea level with the boat but just thought, not much I can do about that, and went back to sleep.

After arriving we found a place pretty quickly and spent the afternoon settling in ready to go out that night. The weather wasn't great but luckily the storm from the boat hadn't followed us.

We went out to a place called Lotus on our first night which was as good as everyone we had met had promised. There were buckets of cocktails flowing freely as well as fire dancers performing on the beach that Lotus was on. We tried laughing gas which is basically the same as helium balloons but they make you laugh hysterically for about 5 seconds. I absolutely loved it; it was so funny (obviously). Later on we bumped into a couple of people who were on our kiwi experience in New Zealand which was really surreal but happens more often than you think with people all following similar routes.

The next day we moved rooms to a nice place right on the beach with a lush BBQ restaurant in front of it (where we ate every night).

We didn't go out again but we watched hangover part two the open night which we have been obsessively quoting ever since. We also watched some live music at the Fishbowl bar which was fantastic as it was only two guys and a guitar but they did some really good covers and sang Stereophonics for us because we told them we were Welsh.

On our last day in Koh Tao I was feeling really ill but we had decided to go snorkelling and I forced myself to go. I'm really glad I did as it was a lot of fun; in the morning we went to a private island off Koh Tao and snorkelled there. The beach was beautiful and we saw some things that looked like baby swordfish swimming around. Later on we took a taxi to a place called shark point and Gwenda and I swam in the water for about two hours until we saw three black tip reef sharks. It was completely worth it and Gwenda said it was hilarious watching me chase after a shark to try and get a picture of it.

We left Koh Tao the day after to visit Koh Phangan. Koh Phangan is renowned as a massive party place which is famous for its full moon parties. We were excited to go as we would be meeting up with Chad, Matt, Katy and a couple of other people that we knew. We had found some good accommodation called Thai Dee Gardens in the busy area of Haad Rin and had all managed to squeeze into one room. The first night we were there we went to a pool party which was fun but also disgusting as at one point I saw a condom float past me in the pool. We didn't do much during the days while we stayed here except start drinking. The full moon party was amazing; there were thousands of people all over the beach at different bars and everyone was covered in UV paint. I couldn’t be bothered to spend too much time on my body paint design and ended up with bright yellow feet covered in green spots- I’m extremely creative. On the beach there were also fire throwers everywhere and people limbo-ing under flaming ropes. Unfortunately, as it was completely packed we all lost each other in about an hour after going to the toilet, getting drinks etc so I did spend a lot of my time wondering about and dancing on my own.

After the full moon party we decided to go and see a bit of the island. We didn't really want to hire mopeds as we had heard so many bad things about accidents but the taxis were so expensive and we thought as long as we were careful that it would be fine. It was a good laugh as there were ten of us riding around- Luce, Gwend, Soph, Chad, Matt, and Jon, Brian, Bryce and Robbie (boys who we had met on the island) but unfortunately when we were going down a gravelly, steep hill Matt slipped a bit and scratched his bike which cost him a couple of hundred when we got back, this was a massive shame for him as we had been having a fun day seeing some of the sights.

We've left Koh Phangan now and are on Koh Samui. It seems to be a more resort style place where couples come on holiday so is slightly expensive in comparison with other places. We are still with the boys and have also met up with Katy again so on our first night here we went to a Thai boxing match which was good but absolutely brutal; they give these massive kicks which are so fast you don't even realise what’s happened until the other person is on the floor. The kids competing are also pretty young which isn’t too nice to see. After the match some of the boys had a photo in the ring but when we tried we weren't allowed because we're women- what a nightmare.

Last night we decided to go and see a ping pong show- briefly this is when you go to watch Thai ladies shoot ping pong balls out of their lady parts. It’s quite gross but we felt like we couldn't come to Thailand without seeing one. We searched for ages and couldn't find one so decided to go to a lady boy show instead, when we couldn't find one of these either of course the boys suggested a strip club. For some reason we agreed to go. It was ridiculous but funny and Lucy, Soph and I ended up putting a ping pong each into a girl’s cleavage (that was apparently how you tipped them)! We soon got out of there and went to Green Mango, a famous open air club in Koh Samui.

Today we thought it was about time to actually get some culture in and went on a tour of the island. It was a weird but fab tour; we started off at some beautiful temples. Again when we tried to take a photo with a Buddha we were told we weren't allowed to touch it as we are women. It’s annoying but I suppose you have to respect their culture. After this we visited the famous golden Buddha which was huge and a really impressive sight. We went from there to a viewpoint where you could see a gorgeous view of the main beach in Koh Samui. Afterwards we went to a "monkey show" which we all found cruel as it wasn't a show it was just demonstrating to us how they use the monkeys to collect coconuts from the trees. It was horrible though because he had the monkey on a chain round the neck which he kept yanking. We did have a picture with one that seemed happier because he was being given lots of food. When I had my picture he dropped his fruit down my top and stuck his little hand down to grab it.

In the afternoon we went to look at the famous grandmother and grandfather rocks- this sounds lovely but it was actually two rock formations, one in the shape of a giant penis and one in the shape of a giant vagina. This was interesting but also quite disturbing. Our last stop was to a waterfall which wasn't overly impressive in itself but as they also do elephant trekking and tiger photos there we got to see both. We leave for another place tomorrow and are excited for April 13th because this is when the Thai New Year begins along with a massive water festival.

Bali

After leaving the Gili Islands we went back to Bali, aiming to spend the majority of our time in Ubud. We had a pretty scary moment in the taxi when our driver tried to charge us more than the agreed price; I was so tired at this point that my argument back when he was asking us to pay more was "No! Just no!" while Katy quietly slipped the bags out of the boot. However, when we arrived at the place we had booked we all had massive grins on our faces because we had an incredible infinity pool and a huge room with our own television. We were enjoying this luxury after our shady accommodation on Gili Trawangan.

On our first day we pretty much just relaxed by our new pool which resulted in me getting bright green hair from the chlorine and burning under my nose producing what looked like a red hitler tash. After another day staying in luxury we thought we'd better look for something cheaper, and did we find it. We moved to some really basic rooms which looked pretty grubby but at three quid a night we weren't too bothered. This was until Luce and I came back to our room and found huge cockroaches running around; after seeing one crawling on our bags we all decided to cram into one hot room for the night. Katy, Luce and I were in one bed, while we pulled a sun lounger in from outside for Gwenda. It was certainly a travelling experience.

Because we are massive cheapskates we kept the room for another night anyway but kept ourselves busy by going to the huge Ubud market, getting some pampering for Katy's birthday and going to a dance show. The dancing included someone boogying around in a load of red hot charcoal which was quite a sight. In addition to this, we had heard quite a bit about the Monkey Temple in Ubud so took a trip there for Katy’s birthday. Luckily we had been advised not to buy bananas for the monkeys and on walking in, seeing a man with a banana getting piled on by some monkeys, I could see why. I know monkeys are supposed to be cute but I have to admit I found them quite scary. They were running around like devils in disguise stealing people’s things and jumping out of every little crevice imaginable. Katy also felt my distress after one monkey took a liking to her and was chasing her round tugging on her sarong. Needless to say we left fairly soon afterwards.

After leaving Ubud we got a taxi to Seminyak for our last night. At this point we had given up pre-booking accommodation as it had been so easy to find it. This was a massive mistake for Seminyak because it is quite an upmarket area and we trooped around in the blistering heat for hours trying to find a place. Eventually Luce and I waited with the bags and Gwenda and Katy went to find a place we had seen in Gwend's lonely planet guide book. When they came back they had got a taxi with them who had brought them back and was waiting to take us back to the place they had found. This taxi driver was insane. He couldn't even remember what day of the week it was let alone where he had picked the girls up from to take us back there. It was a stressful ten minute journey to the rooms and in the end we walked down the street to get there as the taxi driver couldn't understand a word we were saying but just kept grinning and giggling at us. 

Luckily the accommodation was perfect for us and within our budget so we left our stuff and spent the afternoon on the beach. In the evening Gwenda and I decided we wanted to try the local Balinese delicacy- Luwak Coffee. This originates from an animal called the Luwak which looks like a cross between a rat and a cat. The animal has a diet of coffee beans and when it digests these back out they are made into a different type of bean and turned into coffee. I have to say I was impressed with this drink- when you moved past how disgusting the idea of it was it was really nice, all the flavour of coffee but not bitter. 

This was pretty much the end of our stay in Indonesia. It was a nice relaxing time but we spent a lot of time relaxing and not doing many activities so unfortunately there's not a lot to say. The Indonesians were so nice and funny; when you walked past them in the street they would make jokes and wait until you laughed before bursting out into their crazy high pitched cackles which would get you laughing even more. It also seemed like a really diverse place with beautiful beaches but also amazing mountain scenery in places like Ubud. I think I would like to go back as a holidaymaker rather than a backpacker to make the most of all the trips and activities available.