Home, Glasgow, Scotland. 04.07.10.

24 hours, three flights, four airports, two taxis, one bus, six movies, one flu and a hint of sadness at returning to daily life after such an incredible trip, we arrive home and are delighted to curl up in our very own bed.

Thank you.

Suan Lum Night Bazaar/Pak Khlong Talat Flower Market, Bangkok. 03.07.10.

We feel light-footed after offloading our luggage and head off to some of Bangkok's most amazing markets. First stop is the Suan Lum Night market, where after browsing the stalls we sit down to a delicous curry before catching a cab to the the Pak Khlong Talat Night Flower market which winds through the streets in every direction, full of incredible flowers and decoration. Every second stall has a tv or mobile phone showing the world cup match between Germany and Argentina. Leaving the flower market we stumble across a clothes market full of young locals. Walking though the long and narrow tunnel of tarps, each vendor has unique, interesting and often self designed clothes, shoes and accessories. The prices are incredible and the quality high and we wish we had space to carry things home. Back to Refill Now for a short sleep.

Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok. 03-07-10

We land in Bangkok and after collecting our bags and checking them into left luggage, we go the the Samitivej Airport Hospital to have the burn checked out. The doctor is very reassuring and is confident there will be no scar. Phew. Gunnar took the opportunity to have a small injury of his own checked out. Two consultations with the doctor, two dressings, two courses of antibiotics and one lot of painkillers come to less than £40. Plus our nurses double as city guides.

Poppies 1, Kuta, Bali. 02.07.10.

One more day in hectic Kuta before our flight to Bangkok. Our plans for the day are put on hold after Dieny sustains a burn to the leg from the exhaust of a neighbouring bike. Thank you Cassie, Megan and Rebecca for your advice and to Anne for her early morning referral to the Readers Digest Medical Dictionary.

After ice-lollies and coconut on the beach (while cooling the burn) and with some added advice from the lifeguard, we are off to the local chemist.

Our evening is spent browsing Kuta's shops on our bike before being pulled over and taken for a ride by the local police. Not a perfect last day in Indonesia.

Kuta/Mataram/Lembar, Lombok / Padangbai/Kuta, Bali. 01.07.10.

Our last morning in our luxury hotel we make the most of the delicious breakfast before driving North to try and catch the ferry to Bali. We stop at a market in the outskirts of Mataram to pick up a couple of young coconuts and some parts for the car which has been shaken to bits by the rough roads. We return the car and taxi to Lembar for the slow ferry to Padangbai, Bali. A tenth of the price of the fast ferries, the public ferry is not frequented by tourists and local sellers board the boat prior to departure offering goods, drinks and snacks at local prices. The five hour journey passes slowly but pleasantly and we spend the evening on the upper deck with just a few jovial locals. We arrive late into Kuta and check into the first place we can find that isn't fully booked. Sleep.

Sade, Lombok. 30.07.10.

We arrive at the small traditional sasak village of Sade as the sun is setting and a local resident offers to show us around before the light fades. The town consists of 120 densely packed thatched cottages and is home to a community of over 600. Narrow, winding streets lead up the small hillside and the open doorways offer glimpses into an extraordinary way of life. Our guide allows us into his uncle's house. The remarakably smooth and hard concrete like floors are in fact formed by mixing earth with rice husk and are polished fortnightly with buffalo dung to protect it and deter mosquitos. We stop to look at the scarves and sarong's handmade in the village using cotton or banana fibres and natual dyes - the vibrant yellow above is from tumeric root. After agreeing a price for some sarong's we realise that we're out of cash and the nearest cashpoint is in a town an hour to the north, so we arrange a meeting later that evening and hit the road.

As we hesitate at a junction a motorcyclist recognises that we're lost and offers us to follow him as he is passing through our destination and will help us find an ATM. As he pulls over to say goodbye in Praya we realise that he works at our hotel and we'll be seeing him at breakfast.

We take the opportunity to walk around the Praya night food market to sample pancakes and fried chicken. The whole town is suddenly plunged into darkness, apparently a common occurrence. As each stall struggles to start their ineffective generators, we take our food to the car. In the gloom Dieny dips into the bag and hands a piece of chicken to Gunnar who, failing to get much meat off the bone shines his torch to discover he's eating a foot. Dieny passes another piece and Gunnar shines his torch: a head. We lose our appetites.

On arrival at Sade, we are welcomed into our guides home. We sit and converse with his wife, brother and the weaver for some time before bidding farewell and being escorted to our car. We are invited to stay with him and his family on our next visit.

Kuta/Mawi, Lombok. 30.06.10.

Another jaunt along the bumpy road to Mawi for some more impressive surf. The swell was much bigger than expected and one unfortunate surfer lost half of one eyebrow to his board. There is a thatched shelter on the beach for parking cars and motorbikes with some bamboo benches for watching the sets during down time. A local woman sells young coconut and chilled whole miniature pineapple amongst other snacks.

Kuta/Grupuk/Mawi, Lombok. 29.06.10.

A very delicious buffet breakfast at Chilli's bar, Novotel. Buffet breakfast doesn't really do it justice so perhaps it's worth mentioning that there are crepe, waffle and omelette chefs, continental, asian, american, fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt and drinks counters. All facing the beautifully smoothed sand of the beach.

First stop of our surf day is Grupuk where we charter a traditional outrigger to take us out to the point. It's small and lumpy but Gunnar decides having chartered the boat, it's worth a paddle. He is alone in the water. 15 minutes later, Gunnar is scrambling into the boat making mutterings about a tiger shark.

And so onto Mawi and a 50 minute drive over the most outrageously potholed roads known to man. The beach is beautiful and the waves are small but perfectly formed. No sharks and plenty of comrades in the water.

We eat at Number 29. The food is incredible and charged at local prices. Perfect? It becomes evident on the third visit to our table by bracelet hawking kids that this is not a proactive way of earning some pocket money, but a push from parents who understand the soft-spot we tourists have for their children. An adult will drop the child/children off on a scooter/pick-up, and the children will table hop in the hope of some sales before being picked up some minutes later and, we can only presume, taken to the next eatery. This practice becomes very tiresome. The trade-off for a local rate meal perhaps.

Gili Trawangan/Senggigi/Kuta, Lombok. 28.06.10.

An early rise to pack for the boat, horse cart and truck ride to Senggigi on Lombok’s beautiful West coast, where we collect a shaky Suziki Jimny to tour the island. We drive the length of the island, stopping occasionally to look at unusual trinkets or to taste new snacks. Just a few miles from Kuta, we pass through Sade, where by a stroke of luck a rare traditional ceremony is taking place on the roadside. A local woman, Alfie, tells us the ceremony is to mark the circumcision of the villages toddler boys. Girls with powdered faces and cigarette adorned headdresses are carried on painted wooden horses (like Swedish Dala) mounted on the shoulders of four dancing boys.

We follow the procession and stay with the party for some time before driving on to Kuta where we take advantage of a last minute deal to book a beautiful and luxurious private Villa at the nearby Novotel. Once settled and having freshened up in a proper shower we make our way to the Lombok Lounge. True service with a smile accompanies a delicious Chilli Crab dish and Nasi Goreng special. We are approached by two local girls aged eight and ten who speak fluent English and give us a well rehearsed sales pitch for their self-made friendship bracelets. After getting them down to 15,000 rupiah for one (still a high price) the duo slip off to the next table where they proceed to converse in French.

Gili Trawangan, Lombok. 27.06.10.

Breakfast on our verandah followed by one of us surfing the small pointbreak at the south end of the beach while the other lounges with a book. We spend a lazy afternoon on the beach before returning for some more grilled seafood, this time adding a red snapper to the order. Later we wander down to one of the many bars showing world cup matches to watch England play Germany. The outnumbered Germans sang and danced as the goals went in while the English, dejected, sunk into their seats.

Gili Trawangan, Lombok. 26-06-10.

Breakfast at 8:15 for the 9am fastboat to the Gili Trawangan, largest of the three Gili Islands. It is beautiful here and has a really fun vibe. We check into our bungalow before hiring bikes and going for a cycle around the one mile square island. There are no motor vehicles on the island so push-bikes and horse pulled carts are the only transport option. It is a welcome break from spending most of the last few days driving and in hectic towns centres.

Many of the sea front eateries display the days catch for your picking. We had an incredibly delicious and fresh meal of grilled gambas, prawns and tripley at a paraffin lamp lit table on the beach before heading over to the Horizontal Bar to take advantage of their beach ‘beds’ and bonfire.

As we sipped on our triple strength cocktails the group in front of us leapt from their seats urgently calling a waiter and a great deal of commotion ensued. We were later informed that the group had found a scorpion on their lounger.