Bali, Singapore & Malaysia all in one!

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Update from Zoe

Ubud was lovely far more chilled out than Kuta. As Dan said it's the art capital of Bali and each of the surrounding villages is dedicated to a particular art, for example there is a town for silver craft, wood carving, painting etc and in the village there will then be 20 of such like shops, quite a funny thing to see when you are driving about. The second evening there, we watched a balinese dance show, which i can definitely say is unlike anything else i've seen before! About 80 men sat around a fire lamp provided the vocal music for the dancers. The brightly dressed dancers told a love story - i didn't really understand what was going on, but it was certainly entertaining.

We also saw some of Bali's countryside and a few temples. Away from the towns are lush, green fields and some of the temples are amazing. We also tried some snake fruit, quite nice pineappley taste, but a bitter aftertaste - good for bad tummies apparently! After a few nights staying in our little bungalow - only 5 quid a night, we returned to Kuta for one more evening. Our last night we went to Paddy's bar and watched the indonesian band play a variety of music from the proclaimers to Nirvana! It was certainly entertaining, better than the first place we went to that was playing german dance music. Sadly we said adieu to Bali, would recommend to anyone to visit there and sadly from speaking to the locals there the tourism is still suffering from the bombs, as tourism is still much lower than before the bombs.

In Singapore we stayed with a family friend - Bernard, it was lovely being able to stay in a home for a few nights and to have a great host. Singapore is hot and very humid - i think me and Dan almost keeled over when we stepped out of the air con airport. Whilst there we had a mooch around the city and some of the many shopping centres and visited the night safari, which was good - the animals definitely move about more in the dark (didn't like the bats though!). We also went to Sentosa island, which is like a touristy place for locals and visitors. 2 days was definitely enough, as we would have struggled to keep ourselves busy for another day.

On to Malaysia via coach, we first got a coach to JB just over the border then bought another ticket to Melaka (saved q a few pennies this way, as malaysia is cheaper - we are proper scabs now!). The coach to Melaka was superb, only 3 seats to a row, so they're wide and reclinable - more comfy than some of the beds we've slept in! The chinatown here is good and they have an amazing chinese temple here. I sampled some rice balls - as you'd expect rice in a ball, but apparently it's something to eat whilst here - they were pretty good. Walking around is fun, as the pavements are a bit hit and miss because they privately owned by the shops.

Tomorrow we're off to Kuala Lumpar.

Ta ta for now......

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Comments

[Jen]

Greetings from the big smoke!
Hello! Wow, its all sounding amazing, no, I think I can even go as far as to say its sounds ‘wicked cool’ (remember that one Zo?)! So glad you guys are having such a fab time, I (like everyone else reading your blog) am dead jealous! I’ve moved to London now, got a flat (though no hot water yet – boo) and a bit of temp work. Got some interviews for permanent jobs coming up so cross your fingers for me! Take care guys! Loads of love, Jen x