Think first your idea, for regrets are useless… ~ Indonesian Proverb HE SAID... Today we were exploring the outskirts of Ubud– by road and mountain bike. Location Ubud is a bustling mountain town in central Bali. Transport We were travelling to Ubud’s northern fringes in a minibus, cycling for a couple of hours through the countryside, then heading northeast to Sideman in a minibus. Accommodation We checked out of Puri Padi (our accommodation in Ubud for the past three days). Cuisine …Breakfast (Puri Padi, Ubud)… The open-sided dining area at Puri Padi was small and intimate. We were offered a choice between two breakfast options – American or Indonesian. This was our third (and final) Puri Padi breakfast, and I’d favoured the Indonesian option each morning. I enjoyed nasi goreng (stir-fried rice) with a p... read more

With only one drop of indigo, the whole pot of milk is ruined… ~ Indonesian Proverb HE SAID... Today we were exploring the mountain town of Ubud– by foot. Location Ubud is a bustling mountain town in central Bali. Transport Walking. Accommodation Puri Padi. An extensive hotel complex with well-kept gardens. The walk from reception to our room was quite a distance, but enjoyable enough. The room itself was large but basic, with heavy wooden furniture. I loved our small private terrace. The door to the terrace was locked from the inside with a wooden latch, which you had to carefully slide through two wooden staples. It wasn’t exactly secure, but it had an old-world charm. Cuisine …Breakfast (Puri Padi, Ubud)… We enjoyed a late breakfast on our first morning in Ubud, which is very rare ... read more

Different fields, different grasshoppers; different seas, different fish… ~ Indonesian Proverb HE SAID... Today we were travelling east from Ketapang (Java) to Pemuteran (Bali)– by road and ferry. Locations > Ketapang is a seaport on the eastern coastline of Java > Gilimanuk is a seaport on the western coastline of Bali > Pemuteran (our destination) is a fishing village located on the northwestern coastline of Bali. Transport We arrived at Ketapang’s ferry terminal in the early afternoon. The place was deserted. We breezed through security and didn’t need to show our passports. We were, after all, travelling between two Indonesian islands. We boarded a small ferry via a narrow metal walkway. It was fairly basic. We walked into the bowels of the ferry, climbed a set of steep narrow stairs and entered an open (but covered) ... read more

If there is smoke, there must be fire… ~ Indonesian Proverb HE SAID... Today we were travelling south from the Seloliman Nature Reserve to Mount Bromo– by road. We organised our packs, dropped our keys and left the Seloliman Ecolodge in the early afternoon. We had a three-hour drive to Mount Bromo ahead, and it was great to be travelling in a large minibus with a little more room than normal. We crawled over rough rural roads on our way out of the nature reserve, passing a noisy local wedding along the way. The narrow streets gave way to wider and smoother roads once we turned onto a major thoroughfare. As we sped along the highway, the scene playing out on either side of the minibus was all too familiar – rice fields stretching for miles, ... read more

The shadow should be the same length as the body… ~ Indonesian Proverb HE SAID... Today we were continuing to explore the atmospheric city of Yogyakarta. When we woke at 5am, Ren was feeling drained. The previous afternoon had been difficult, as she had started to feel unwell during our walking tour of Yogyakarta. Rehydration tablets helped a lot, as did an early night with extended sleep – despite being broken. However, Ren was resolute in her determination to take the day by the horns. She hadn’t travelled all this way to spend the day in a hotel room. She was going to continue exploring this bohemian city, and nothing was going to stop her. I headed down to Greenhost Boutique Hotel’s breakfast area around 6am. The buffet was expansive, but it was not overly exciting ... read more