JannyCanny

There seems to be 4 names in Bali - Wayan: first born, Kedek: 2nd, Neoman: 3rd and Ketut:4th. If yopu to continue having children, God knows why, you go back to Wayan. Lol. I'm living next door to Wayan the healer. She's very famous here. She's the lady that Wayan the healer in the Julia Roberts film was based on. You can imagine how the Americans eat that up. The other day just outside near the entrance she was holding this tourists head and he was knealing with his eyes closed in some hypnotic state. I started giggling. That image there that I've just painted for you is the done thing here. It's normal. It's ABnormal if you're a non believer. Every shop, restaurant, bar, warung (local stall), spa, hotel, hostel, homestay is catered for this ... read more

This guy lones me a bike for a pound (these keyboards don'e have the pound symbol). I decided to cycle to this place that's up north. It's being considered for UNESCO. It's an ancient collection of temples carved into stone set in a vally of jungle. It was fantastric when I arrived but it took bloodly ages getting there. I took a friends advise and went off the beaten track. Julian, who lives next door has been here for 10 months. He showed me a hidden route. there where barely cares on the tiny road. a few scooters every now and then. It was across vast rice filed planes. famers and small villages every now and then. It was so beautiful I can't even descruibe it. I started off so snap happy. but as the journey ... read more

Wayan and Ketut the couple I'm staying with offered to take me to their family temple. Wayan's daughter, Kedek, and her young family also came. We took offering baskets with food and flowers and I was given a kebaya and sarong to wear. I was the only foreign person there. It was an honour being allowed in and to participate in the prayers. We had to sit on the ground. Kedek who is heavily pregnant had to be lowered down and pulled up to stand. Not what you want to be doing in the heat. I felt as though I was going to pass out. There's insence everywhere. You use flowers to pray with. After each prayer you place the flower in your hair. Then after 4 prayers - four flowers - there's holy water which ... read more

I've realised I've never been on an island this small before. It's a divers paradise. If Kuta is for surfes than this is where the diving gang meet up. There are no cars or scooters polluting the place. You get around on foot, cycle or horse and carriage. So it's remarkably quiet. The sand is brtight white and the sea is seethrough blue. There are many raised platform huts on the sand where you can have kopi and sit on a massive cushion wasting away the day. I've tried the fish here and it's yum! Found a secluded part of the beach with an abandoned hammock under a tree. perfect. Finished my book in a day. Rented a bike and worked my way around the island. There's a few spots on the west coast where everyone ... read more

Ubud is a town designed for hippies. Everyone is floating around wearing linen and button necklaces. Having massages and reflexology. There's 'organic' and 'vegan' signs everywhere. Random herbs in drinks: maca, spirulina, wheatgrass... Everyone is meditating and doing yoga. Spiritual is definately the word. Quite different to Kuta! I'm staying in a Homestay with a lovely family. There's also another family: Kadek is the cleaner. She stays in one room with her husband and 7year old son. They live right below me. I went to a traditional Balinese dance show at a temple one evening. The dance is very perculiar, based on small movements of fingers and eyes. But very lovely setting. I've found a man that rents a bike for the day for a pound sio have cycled to a place called tegallalang. It's a ... read more

I got chatting to Christine, a girl from Belgium, also travelling alone, on the boat trip back to Lombok. We got momentarily separated by a horse man who insisted i get in his carriage. we went about 100meters and then he wanted 70.000 from me! Here that's big money (fiver lol). I was furious but then his mate arrived and my idea of running off went out the windeow. Instead I give him 10,00 and stormed off. Apparently this happens often. Anyhoo - Chritine wanted to do aAgung too. We exchanged deets and then went our separate ways in Padangbai. Me back to Kuta to find Christoph. Then that night at 8pm. Christoph and I travelled to Besakih, a village that has the great besakih temple. It's the holiest sight in Bali. Simply because of it's ... read more

Arrived in Lombok after a very long ferry journey. like 4 hours or something. it's only 23km! i can cycle that in i don't 30mins!!! anyway, sengiggi is a lazy town but lovely. beaches are lush here. much quiter and cheap. staying in a homestay with breaky for a fiver a night. very lovely family and endless supply of kopi (coffee). Martin one of the fam, is teaching me indonesian. he keeps laughing. i want to tell him how comedy his accent is when he speaks english lol. met some brits. first ones i've met so far! they knew things like where York is. and i could speak at a normal pace again. broke a few rules though - went on back of motorbike with random lone local male twice. i trusted my gut instinct. one ... read more

rafting in the day - for around 1 hour. the instructor new little english so when counting to give us rhythm to row he just went one, two, thugh. ugh. ugh. one, two... got very wet and had a rather aggressive back massage from a waterfall. but saw both ends of a rainbow. no pot o'gold though elephate night safari was lush - stars were clear and it was pitch black. all i could here was the forest. and then the elephate pooed. funny. thought it was coconuts falling but no the wahout (trainer) said he was taking a dump. over and over... massive buffet afterwards. had everything! stuffed face and then refused to pay for a drink and aked for the free water. hahahaha. snake skin fruit is in season.... read more

Jati Luwih - largest rice terrance - totally massive. green green green. Here you're either a farmer of a trader. Every household has a temple - over 2000 temples in Bali alone. Befriended some monkeys at the monkey temple. I'm growing to like our primate friends Royal temple - check then to Tanah lot - this is where i nearly drowned swimming out to the templ on the sea, named the rocky temple. I felt pretty rock once i managed it back with rice stuck to my face and a soggy flower falling from behind my ear Nonetheless... still beautiful xx... read more

Canyoning day was amazing. It sort of goes against my climbing instinct to go down rather than up but it was verty enjoyable. I'm now qualified to do adventurous canyoning. Have my part 1. We jumped, slid, floated, plunged, dived...you name. it. Flying fox was my favourite. 25m jump aswell down a waterfall! I got swept under the current and swallowed a lot of water. This crazy French guy, Mika, lead us. Ah the crazy French. He know's the singer if anyone's made the link. Also a camera crtew for Indonesian SCTV was there/ A famous newsreprted / journalist named Louisa was presenting. She interviewed me. I'm going to be on the Indonesian news! National news from Jakarta!!! x... read more