Wednesday - 23rd of February

Today, we find ourselves at a very high priced internet cafe, surrounded by French people Skyping to their French families back home... The privacy of our own villa is now gone thanks to me and a very silly place to put a glass of coke next to a laptop. Can you see the end result? I'm in trouble when I get home... eeeep!

Anyhow, welcome to Wednesday. It's been a great few days to unwind so far in the trip. Yesterday I had a great day with my new Alaskan friend, Thomas, who taught me how to ride a locally hired scooter of my own. We rode around Ubud so I could get the hang of the bike and finding the right balance. It's so easy to get around on, but I'm always aware that you need to be alert 110% of the time, especially on these crazy Balinese roads! Kate was at the language centre all day so Thomas was kind enough to show me the sights.

Thomas and I toured up to the remote rice fields of Ubud to see what is affectionately known as the 'Eat, Pray, Love' house, the house where Elizabeth Gilbert wrote a third of the novel of the same title. It was a small, secluded little hut that was placed right in the middle of an open area of rice fields, such a cool sight to see. Thomas even took the risk of shooting high definition video on his Nikon camera, whilst riding through the streets. It was a very stupid idea at the time, but he pulled it off and got some great footage.

That was my whole day spent learning how to ride a scooter, and it has come in handy because Kate has her own personal TRANSPORTER now :)

Today hasn't quite been as busy due to massive amounts of bucketing tropical rain stopping us from wandering and exploring. Kate had to teach her kids today and was slightly late due to monsoonal rain stopping us from riding the scooter in death defying weather. Eventually the rain stopped and she made her way to the language centre, which left me to hang out at the villa and take it easy until she got back.

We've been eating at a lot of local Warung's and the food is immensley cheap and so tasty. One part of this trip that I've noticed in comparision to other previous trips is that we havn't over-indulged on food, which is the worst feeling when it comes to the end of the trip. At this rate, we're only eating 1 or 2 meals a day... and the rest of our dietry supplements consist of sweet, sweet Bintang :)

Tonight we are having about 10 people over to the villa to throw a farewell party of Ina. She has been in Bali for 5 months and has finally come to the end of her trip, she leaves for Germany on Thursday. Most people that know her are very sad to see her go, she has a very bright and bubbly personality. It's always sad to see a person that has those qualities leave, but as they say, all good things must come to an end.

Now we have to stop off at a local convienience store to pick up some bintangs to kick start a massive night tonight. We're gonna be sporting sore heads tomorrow, that's fo sho!!