Geo: -8.675, 115.261Our journey from the dock was.... bumpy. I would say that in the pot-holed road, there were more holes than road. Our 15 minute journey on the way in, took 1 and a half hours on our return (we moored up in a different harbour). I'm not sure which was the lesser of 2 evils, an extra hour on the boat or an extra hour or so on the non-existent road. I'll call it a tie and say I'd like to repeat neither.Our hotel's publicity photographer was a genius. Online, the hotel looked like a sprawling luxury hotel with masses of space and large enticing pools. It was pretty, the bedrooms had princess-style mosquito nets and spacious bathrooms and showers, but in reality the pool was about 15 by 3 metres and the entire ... read more

Geo: -8.35032, 116.043The alarm sounded shrilly, jolting us into a semi-alert state of realisation. It was G-day. Gili Day. The day we had been waiting for since March. Let the relaxation commence, we thought! After a brief outdoor bathroom experience (I kid you not, there was an actual tree growing out of the side of the bath...), we were met by our driver who transferred us speedily to the boat dock at Benoa harbour. Our pick up time was 7am, with the boat due to depart at 8am, getting us to the Gili Islands at 11am. Everything sounded perfect!Arriving at the boat dock 15 minutes after our pick-up and finding the ticket office closed was the first teeny little dark cloud on the perfect azure horizon. 45 minutes sleep was lost to this one tiny administrative ... read more

Geo: 13.3667, 103.853.30 am. Darkness. Silence but for the gentle hum of the ceiling fan, circulating the air around the slumbering figures in the bed. The serenity is broken with the piercing ring of Scouting for Girls, signalling that the time has come for the dormant bodies to stir and prepare themselves for their pilgrimmage.4am, the same figures stumble into the reception to collect a breakfast box and meet their Tuk Tuk driver for the day. Mr S will be their guide to the temples of Angkor, about 12 miles North of Siem Reap. Having dodged two growling dogs to reach the reception building, the tuk tuk whirring into life and carrying them off into the darkness comes as a welcome escape!The Temples of Angkor were built around 900 to 1200AD and they covered huge areas ... read more

Geo: 11.5588, 104.917The following day began with a problem. A phone call at 7am (so much for our much-anticipated lie-in) to tell us our bus was here. "Bus?" queried a very tired, grumpy and confused traveller."Bus to Siem Reap," explained the chirpy receptionist."We are booked on for tomorrow,"I sighed, the panic rising in me as I realised we must have booked the wrong dates. The line went dead. Leaping out of bed, I scrabbled around for the tickets. No mistake, we were booked on for tomorrow at 8.30. Relief was ours. Sleep however, was not.We got ready and went downstairs to get breakfast before our tuk-tuk to S21. "Breakfast? We can't do breakfast,"explained the same chirpy receptionist. This was news to us, having been asked the previous evening if we wanted to pay for our room ... read more

Geo: 10.7592, 106.662We got up late, as the rest of the tour group are going into Cambodia with Gap and were up at 6 for a trip to the Mekong Delta, so we lay in and had a late breakfast! Bliss. As we were deciding what to do for the day, the phone rang. I knew at once there was a problem. "Ah, Miss Turner," the voice said, "the room you have booked for tonight is not in this hotel.""What?!" I think the confusion in my voice was evident, as I had taken the booking voucher to reception the previous night and requested to stay in the same room to avoid packing, unpacking and repacking in one day. "The room you have booked is not in this hotel," the voice calmy re-iterated, "It is at the ... read more