Wednesday 16th January 2008

We got up this morning to find that it was raining... again! The 'wet season' is exactly what it says on the tin here... WET! We had our last free breakfast at the Hotel Sorga and then went back to our room to pack our bags. We've arranged to go North, to the town of Ubud for a few days and had to check out. Thankfully, the check-out time in Bali is much more to our liking. Whereas it was 10am in Australia, its 12pm here, giving us plenty of time. At about 11.50am we settled our bill and then walked round to the Hotel Arena, who were going to be giving us a lift... they charged less (ha ha). The lift to Ubud only cost Rp150,000, which is a bargain - because it's over an hour away. Our driver was really nice and tried to drop us as close to our new place as he could - although, he couldn't get right to the door, because it's located in the middle of the paddy fields. The location is beautiful and the hotel, called the Hibiscus Cottages, is fantastic!

When Nikki rang yesterday to make enquiries, she was quoted Rp150,000 per night for the room - but she said that she'd seen it for Rp100,000 in the Lonely Planet (which is out of date). To our delight, the guy said that's fine - he'll charge us Rp100,000 per night and when we arrived he kept his promise - but on the condition we didn't tell anyone, because they're paying more. The thing that made us even more happy was that the room is TOTALLY worth Rp150,000... it's huge, with a huge en-suite bathroom and massive porch. We had a choice of two rooms and the first one was amazing - probably one of the poshest we've seen in 9 months - but we thought we'd have a look at the other... just in case. Our minds were made up before we'd even climbed the stairs onto the porch of the second one - we'd be taking the first room - because hanging across the entrance, in a web that must've been almost 5 feet across, was possibly the BIGGEST spider we have even seen. It didn't have a particularly big body but I think, if it would have been led out flat, it would've covered my face. I'm sure I seen it lick its lips as we were climbing the steps, and then tut as we walked away!

Once we were all checked in, we went for a long walk around Ubud. It's very peaceful here, and not at all hustle-and-bustle like Kuta. Ubud is a bit of an arty place, with loads of shops selling really cool pictures. Nikki loves them and is going to find out the cost of sending some home. When we were out on the main high-street, we stopped for some lunch - but didn't fancy rice again, so we shared a pizza instead... it was a Balinese one, so almost traditional.

This evening we came back to our beautiful hotel and relaxed out the front of our room on the porch. We sat reading and chatting in the peaceful surroundings. The only sounds we could here were the ducks, insects and rain - which was on and off every couple of minutes. We did plan on going to a nearby jazz café tonight, but we wouldn't have got 100m away without getting soaked, so maybe tomorrow...

OH! MY! GOD! Three months TODAY and we'll be flying home to England... what a bummer!