The Great Chicken Soup of the World

After 2 weeks in Bali where we did absolutely nothing but relaxing, we are now back in London.

Well....we arrived at 4.30am in the morning at Heathrow Airport wearing flip-flops and sarongs (a pick-up with a twist ). This is definately something that I would not recommend to anyone especially when it is freezing cold outside (big time culture shock for sure). If I did not have a sore throat before leaving Bali (combination of rain and a fan in the room), I will now.

To keep me from falling a sleep, I will now tell you a little bit about Bali and what we did do there, when we managed to get our behinds out of the sun-chairs by the pool.

A few days after we arrived, some friends of ours came to Bali as well (on their honeymoon actually). We meet up with them and had some great times together. After a week in Bali, where everytime we were walking around Kuta, we would get bombarded with "Need transport?", "Got sunglasses, cheap sunglasses" and "Want your hair braided?" we decided to go to Ubud for a few days. We were planning to go there earlier, but as I had a little accident and twisted my foot, I found it very difficult to move anywhere.

Ubud is slightly differant than Kuta. You will still be attact, but in a slightly different way. Did not do much else in Ubud as it was raining all the time, however as we had found this lovely bungalow guesthouse, where the view was great and breakfast was being served on your veranda, it was not a problem being there with a good book.

Might see a movie now, which I hope will prevent me from falling a sleep. We'll see.

Arrived yesterday at our last stop on this journey, Bali .

It is strange being back in asian world again after having been in a civilised world for the past month and a half and especially after been travelling for approx. 15 hours.

Starting at 4 in the morning as our first flight was leaving Melbourne at 8am. After a few hours stop-over in Sydney, we continued the trip to Bali, where we arrive at 2.30pm (5.30pm without the time difference). Sleeping and with our brains still in Melbourne, we managed to get to a guesthouse that was not to expensive and OK in standard as well. A shower and some food later, we ended up in bed at 11pm with no problems falling asleep.

With the same situation as when we arrived in Thailand almost 3 months ago, we as well arrived in Bali during the rainy season. Hurray, was hoping to get tanned a little bit more before coming back to cold and grey London. Hope it will get better later.

Gosh, we are almost through our travels, only 3 weeks left . Have been so much involved in learning and having fun that time just disappeared from me. I don't mean that I would do anything different, but if only I had more time (and, no surprise there, more money), I could have done more of the things that I would have liked to do. Hey, I just got a reason to come back again, GREAT .

As you already know, we are in Melbourne. The second largest city in Australia. Compared to Sydney, Melbourne is more easy-going and friendly then Sydney. There is a totally different atmosphere here and you feel welcome as soon as you step out of the airplan. And it has so much to offer...

Relax in one of the many parks around the inner city is a most when visiting. I personally recommend Fitzroy Gardens, as it is easy to find a secluded area there where you can relax and maybe have a little nap. If you are into floura and fauna, Carlton Gardens is packed with flowers and a small pond, where you can study some of the lovely native birds.

If you want to know about Melbourne's past, the Melbourne Museum is a good place to start, but make sure that you arrive early as there is so much to see. It is the only museum that I have ever visit that has a rain forrest inside , which is a bonus to the whole experience.

For a trip outside of Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road day-trip is wonderful for that. During the trip you will experience at least 3 different landscapes (farming areas, rain forrest and rocky territory) and pleanty of ocean ( http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au ).

That's that for now, folk's. More exploring to be done.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
from Sydney

It is now 2006.....time goes by so fast.

I hope everyone that I know had a fantastic New Year celebration, I did definately.

We celebrated NYE on Wharf 3 close to the Harbour Bridge (have a look at this view: http://www.recklessrepublic.com ). So, with this view, 2 DJ's, one big bar and your friends it can only mean the best NYE party ever and it was for sure. We had a great time and the firework was fantastic. Sydney definately know have to put on a show.

Just to make you all jealous....

That's it for now as we are continuing our journey today, next stop Melbourne.