Legian

Bali is a mixture of lots of things, there are beautiful buildings, surrounded by balinese statues and each morning, the people leave offerings of small baskets of flowers and food for the gods, however, these are soon trampled by the hoards of people who walk through the streets looking for a bargain, a fake handbag or a huge, carved willy!!! The people who own the shops are desperate for your business and literally drag you in off the street, we walk along and they shout, 'G'day boy, howya?' it's wierd, they have a kind of fake Aussie accent. This is because there are so many Aussies here, Bali is the Aussie equivalent of Spain and as a result has a similar feel. A strange mixture of cultures. The shop owners leave their shoes outside their shops and the tourists trample through in their flip flops. There is obviously a lot of religious belief amongst the Balinese but again this is diluted by the Bintang Beer swigging tourists. Kuta is busy, super busy, the busiest place we have visited so far. The streets are far too small to hold the amount of tourists which are crammed into them.

But there is also something quite beautiful about Bali. Although the people are pushy, they are also incredibly friendly and can't do enough to help you. They are also very interested in where you are from and your relationship, 'Are you married? Have you only one son?' are questions we have been asked a thousand times, it appears the Balinese like to know exactly where you fit into their social structure. Being married is fine (we say we are) and having only one child puzzles them! The weather is beautiful and once you get away from the bustle of the streets it's magically peaceful.

Today Will went for a surf on Legian beach, which is a long beach which stretches for miles. As you sit there planes come over the water and almost touch the sea as they cruise into the airport. Me and Sam walked into a big resort hotel and sat around the pool, hoping no-one would ask us to leave. I walked to the attendant to get some towels. 'What room?' he asked. 'Ummmm 20,' I said thinking it may have only been a small boutique hotel, 'Ok, 325.' thankfully he didn't understand my accent, gave me the towels and Sam and I spent a nice couple of hours lazing around the pool in one of those swimming pools which overlook the ocean. Lovely. Then we went for lunch and all had Nasi Goring, which is rice with chicken and egg and a couple of drinks for the equivalent of £7. Finally we braved the streets once again as we tracked down a pair of trainers for Sam. He grew out of his a while ago but we have made him wait til Bali as it's so much cheaper here.

The picture above is of us all in our finest clothes, dressed to the nines for our night out at Sydney Opera House!!