Departed brisbane on the 13th november 04, was ment to be an afternoon flight with garuda at 4pm however the plane was delayed untill 12 midnight-something to do with a bird flying into some part of the plane and them having to change the part the test flying it to nz and back... so that was abit of a downer to the start of our holiday! arrived in bali at about 6am so we had missed our first nights accomodation too. stayed the first five nites at barong hotel, quite nice, clean. First few days were jsut spent goin to the beach and meeting up with old friends also clubbin everynite.. basically jsut to bounty, paddys, mbargo, fuel, santa fe and a few others. later that week met with other friends from oz, went to uluwatu to the big temple with all the monkeys had amazing veiws i would recoomend goin to see one of the dances performed there, also took a trip to ubud did a little bit of shoppin along the way, went to monkey forest for the 3rd time. WE then spent our next five nights at bali sandy hotel down a samll laneway off poppies 2. Lovely hotel however we did not think the service was too great, were paying 200 000rp pernite for 2 people. breaky included. Went to tanah lot, was quite nice especially the sunset, had not been here on previous trips. we then moved to bali sandat inn 2.. this is located in benasari lane off poppies 2. i highly recommend this hotel to anyone on a buget. i had a room with aircon, double bed very clean bathroom, breaky for 120 000 rp a nite and my friend the same but with a fan for 80 000rp a nite. Staff are very friendly, lovely gardens/grounds and there is a nice little pool. a good place to meet other travellers. i then stayed here for the rest of my trip about another 4.5 weeks. Loved it. a week later my friend left and i was by myself, which was fine cus i had made lots of other friends also. That following week i got pretty sick with jsut the flu i think from drinking and goin out to much but that passed after about 5 days (luckily enough not bali belly!)During the next three weeks went to serangan a few times to go surfing (good waves) and alot quieter than kuta. Also went up to klungkung twice for a few days at a time. Its located basically at the end of the white water rafting area. not far from there. attended a few ceremonies with my friend which was extremely interesting for me cus id never seen anything like it. Stayed in my friends village both times and its just amazing to see how there culture and living style really differs from my way of living in oz. had to use one of those squat toilets which let me tell u didnt seem to clean but hey was an interesting experience. Went to the beach at klungkung with black sand but couldnt swim because the water is soo ruff basically no one can go swimming there unless u jsut paddle at the shore. Also went to temples there, shopping which compared to kuta is so different. Everyone just stares at you cause they get hardly any tourists in this area so its strange for them to see a bule. There was really only one main little shoppin area and it didnt hav alot to offer. Places i ate at during my stay werent flashy as i was on a budget this trip however the food was still excellent. Warung indonesia, gong, pub bagus, indoneasain warung all off poopies 2. Ate at tjs mexican was lovely, kori - lovely, and went all out at KuDeTa one night. I really love it there however it does seem a little bit overpirced. For my friend and i we ended up spending just over 600 000rp on dinner there that night. i recommend the soup kitchen things on the beach there food is great and very cheap! Towards the end of my trip went to bali zoo, i didnt even no it existed! Its out past denpasar somewhere but was good fun and was a really nice zoo cost from memory 90 000rp entry i think. Later that nite attended a kadek dance, i think thats what it was called, where at the end one of the dances is liek in a trace or hipnotised and dances over hot coals really very interesting! cost was 50 000rp from memory. On my last day i got my hair braided, the lady told me 2 hours. Ended up sitting there for 6 hours before it was finshed and i made them rush towards the end cus i was gettin extremely impatient but they tured out great. paid 180 000rp with extensions. spent he afternoon grabbing last minute things i had forgotten and saying goodbye to friends. Left for home ont he 24th arriving home christmas morning. My bags were 20kgs over after 6 weeks of hardcore shopping, the lady said i had to pay excess baggage, went to the supervisor and he gave me a 10kg discount. Still ended up costing me an extra $150au to get my luggage home. flight was smooth slept most of the way and had 3 seats to myself! absolutely no problems through customs. had all wood things in one bag to be declared but after scanning my bags he jsut said merry christmas the exists behind that door! i was shocked! all in all had an excellent trip and cant wait to be bak.. probably august or so this year! not too long to wait!