Dateline Wednesday 24th August - Unbelievable Ubud

What a stunningly beautiful place is Bali, quite honestly, it's one of those locations where you run out superlatives.

We flew out from Brisbane on Wednesday afternoon, Pacific Blue (part of the Virgin group) flight DJ4199 scheduled to depart 16:40 and arrive at Denpasar, Bali at 21:10.

Jubbly booked a local company to arrange the airport transfer and shortly after 2 pm we were at Brisbane's International Airport. When we booked our flight at the Bribie's travel agent, they warned us that we might need a return flight to be allowed into Indonesia on a 30 day visitor's visa, but we thought we would chance it. In the event, the airline desk staff informed us they couldn't let us depart without purchasing return fares, so this was eventually done, allowing for the maximum stay in Indonesia. Then the usual shuffling around of my luggage which was busting limits again (imagine my surprise, LOL) so Jubbly kindly obliged to absorb my excess baggage!

A fairly uneventful flight, apart from Jubbly's hilarious efforts to get organised with her headphone cable - I tell you, it was like a scene from a "Frank Spencer" episode. That girl should be doing slapstick/stand-up comedy, she's wasted!

We arrived at Denpasar about half an hour early and, getting off the plane, made our way to baggage reclaim, where there seemed to be thousands of locals milling around offering help (a taster of things to come on Bali)! After that, the scramble for the 30 day visa queue and then through immigration where they didn't even look for proof of a return flight!

Outside the main complex into Arrivals but there was no sign of the lift that had been arranged through the hotel. Plonking our bags in a café, we ordered drinks and made a start on our travel problem. We found the hotel e-mail and website addresses in our paperwork but that's not much use when there's no Wi-Fi or internet café in sight. I suddenly remembered Jubbly had forwarded an e-mail from the hotel and sure enough, opening up the laptop, there it was in the appropriate folder, with a phone number! Ringing the hotel was a challenge itself with language issues galore but eventually I managed to convey the gist of my message and was told the driver would depart immediately! A slight problem is that Ubud is around an hour's drive away from the airport - every few minutes we were being approached by someone offering taxi services but as our driver was on his way, we decided to wait. Jubbly was getting quite tired and I could tell she was on a short fuse, but then it had been a long day for her and it wasn't over yet! The girls in the café were delightful, giving us our first taste of Balinese hospitality - they even gave us the password for their private Wi-Fi.

The immediate feel of Denpasar airport was of a ramshackle place but pretty quaint. One thing was for sure, the temperature was rather higher than what we'd left behind in Brisbane, which was cold and wet. Here it was hot and steamy and by now it was well past 10 pm.

Eventually, our driver, Dewa, arrived - we loaded up the car and we were finally on our way to the hotel. He was quite a character, with a great sense of humour - when we introduced ourselves Jubbly was renamed "Jackie Chan"! Of course mentioning I was from Manchester brought the immediate response "Manchester United". Jubbly then started on what has since become a routine on Bali, telling the driver that I liked dark skinned, dark haired Asian ladies and it was her mission to find me one and asked whether he could help, LOL! I can't begin to tell you the number of times she has said that since, usually accompanied by blushes from moi!

Passing through the outskirts of Denpasar, we couldn't see an awful lot as it was dark but it seemed to be endless temples and statues, very impressive indeed.

About an hour later, we got to our hotel, Matahari Cottage Bed and Breakfast, just off the town centre, although we didn't know that at the time (it's on Jalan Jembawan, best entered from Jalan Raya Ubud). The car was unloaded and we were lead to our suite, a single room (large double bed plus another double mattress on the floor) and en-suite bathroom, plus a large outside verandah. We were so shattered we just unpacked the bare essentials and hit the sack.

Waking up a few hours later (still dark), we found ourselves in a delightful complex. I've since realised that all these places are idyllic - how does each location manage to take your breath away? But we were first timers and this was a first time experience, not that (a week down the line as I type this) you get blasé about it, even though you see these sights every day over here!

The location of the hotel was stunning - lush, exquisite gardens and a stunning temple just looking out over the verandah. The previous night, in the dark, we hadn't noticed that when you pulled up the blind in the bathroom, it was open to the world outside! A lot are like that, I guess it stops the room getting steamed up and the warm fresh air will dry your towels without problem.

There was a gorgeous covered eating area outside, complete with traditional Balinese roof, where we were served breakfast. There was also an amazing library (I've seen photos of the library being used for weddings) with an incredible collection of books and magazines - just picking up a pile of National Geographics stacked on a table, the top two editions were from August 1959 and September 1963! A German who was also staying at the hotel told me he was reading the complete works of Blake! The collection certainly had an ex-pat feel about it.

But we were only there for one night and we had a taxi on order. While I waited I wandered onto the street, a collection of craft shops and a temple. Virtually next door there was a traditional Balinese Therapeutic Massage place - when the young lady saw me outside she immediately scurried out to engage with me. A very gentle soul, Lena, seemed desperate for the business, but unfortunately for her "not today" as the taxi was due to arrive soon afterwards anyway.

Our destination was the Desa Sanctuary on the other (south) side of town in the Pengosekan area of Ubud off the busy Jalan Raya Pengosekan, yet another spectacular residence, this one currently consisting of five houses for rent. We were booked into the Joglo Ganesha - I'd recommend looking at their website to get a feel of the place. Essentially, a twin-storey house with a large open-plan living room plus kitchen area (which houses a four-poster bed complete with mosquito nets) and bathroom downstairs and a bedroom upstairs complete with outside bathroom and verandah. There is a pool on the complex for them into that sorta thing and rice paddies on the land next to it and across the main road.

We were introduced to all the staff, a very friendly crew, totally eager to please who helped us with our belongings and once we unpacked we decided to walk into main Ubud village and get something to eat. Well, the PR spiel for Ubud talks about it being this idyllic place, but don't kid yourselves, it's a massive tourist success, attracting visitors from all over the world - and if you're driving through the main thoroughfares during the middle of the day, expect to be in a slow-crawling line of traffic. The main road in for us, Jalan Raya Pengosekan, was no exception being one of the main arterial routes in and out of the village - hordes and hordes of scooters and just a slightly lower number of cars - peaceful it most certainly ain't! It's very difficult gauging distances from maps and the hotel complex was further out than we'd imagined, the route in made a bit more difficult by the absence of solid, level and even pavements alongside the road - but hey, I'm not quibbling. I'm used to walking along country roads where, half the time, there is no pavement, so you get used to be on the side of the road facing oncoming traffic from a safety point of view.

We found a nice restaurant just on the edge of the village, the Sunti Resort, which has its own accommodation alongside. I can't now recall what we had to eat but I do recall it was top notch! A beautiful meal, amazingly priced, with superb, friendly service and in delightful surroundings, something that seems to be a norm in this neck of the woods. (* see addendum)

Afterwards, Jubbly said she was tired, so she headed off back home while I went further into the village - fascinating passing all the restaurants, hotels and gift shops. Jalan Raya Pengosekan becomes Jalan Hanoman, then you turn left into Jalan Monkey Forest.

Within a few minutes, you come to the Monkey Forest Sanctuary itself,adult entrance fee IDR20,000, about £1.44 at current exchange rates. I purchased some bananas to feed the monkeys and set off down the path. I'll let my photos do the talking to describe the entertaining hour or so that I had in the Sanctuary watching our "cousins eating, playing, fighting, squabbling and looking after their young. Just wonderful stuff.

Turning back, I retraced my footsteps but missed the turn off towards Pengosekan and walked north up Jalan Hanoman. Slightly smaller shops here than the larger affairs on Jalan Monkey Forest. I probably walked halfway up Hanoman before turning round and making my way back to the "billet". At the time of writing, sunset was just after 6 pm but I returned home, about 5:30 pm, tired but having had a glorious day in this beautiful part of the world.

At night, we ordered a take-away - can't remember now what we had but, again, it was delicious.

* addendum - just found the bill for our meal at the Sunti. I had the Nasi Goreng (Indonesia's national dish, Mixed fried rice) while Jubbly hd Grilled Tuna Steak. For dessert, I had Apple Ampanadas, followed by Bali Coffee.