A "B.Day" to remember!!

---

We are supposed to be in Singapore but we opted to spend a week in the Gili islands and bump our flight off instead!

We arrived at Gili Trawangan from Bali, where we had spent a week with Meg & Rich travelling from Denpasar to Ubud, then Tulumben to Padangbai.

We had a brilliant 27th birthday in Ubud, first we went to the monkey forest where the boys were mauled by hungry and aggressive chimps, then Meg and I had 4 hours of pampering! It was great, we had 3 treatments each, for just over £30!! We had an hour facial, a reflexology massage and a full body Balinese massage with a honey scrub. Our day of pampering ended with a flower bath which we were both looking forward to, most of all because we were stuck to the sheets with honey! We were shown to the bathroom & asked to take a shower before we got in. This all sounded perfectly reasonable. Meg was desperate for a pee so I went on & showered. We heard a knock at the door then the woman shout "you use shower before bath!" I replied "Thank you, I am" a moment later a more assertive shout of "you use shower before bath!". I was a bit annoyed by this point and again replied "It's ok, I am!" At this point, the lady then barged in, regardless of the fact that Meg was peeing and I was "showering" (in my complimentary paper pants) and proceeded to inform me (whilst pissing herself!) that I was using the Spa's "B.Day" to shower, rather than the proper shower hidden around the corner! -Blood red doesn't quite describe my colour but we wet ourselves laughing!! Showering with ass water, lovely!

We had already attracted a fair bit of attention throughout the day, probably because we're twins but leaving the Spa after that was a the worst walk of shame! I'm still laughing about it now and I know that most of the people that know me will struggle to believe I could have had such a blonde moment!! :-)

The Gili Islands were amazing, such a relaxed place and the diving and snorkelling was brilliant. We spent a week at Gili T after saying a sad goodbye to Meg and Rich. From there we then spent 2 days at Gili Meno in hammocks chillaxing!

We decided that while we were so close, we may as well see Lombok before returning to Bali. We are in Kuta, Lombok, writing this now. We arrived from Gili Meno in to Bangsal harbour- the complete opposite of paradise. The scenario of grabbing bags, demanding money, scams galor, false information..... horrible place but once you're out of the harbour with your limbs, wallet and passports, you're set!!

Lombok is much quieter and less touristy than Bali, and the culture here is different too. We spent 2 days at Senggigi, exploring the bars and then recovering; then 3 days at Kuta. We met a local guy called Polo who has taken us out fishing and kindly took us home for a cup of real Lombok coffee (which is really good until you get to the bottom, then you have to take a large gulp of sludge and think of a word to spell while you swallow it!)

Tomorrow we leave for Bali and the airport to hopefully find a flight to our next leg of the trip in Malaysia.

We have about 10 weeks left now, donations are at this point are very welcome! ;-)

---

Photos

DSC06792
Luxury in Bali

DSC07305
Our pad in Gili Meno

DSC07600
Gili Trawangan

DSC07537
Kuta, Lombok

DSC07479
Cheers drive!

DSC07443
Sunset over Bali's volcano

DSC07362
Missing home comforts a bit!