It’s been far too long between posts, so it seems only fitting this one comes to you from the main street of Ubud, Bali, where Miss M and I are catching up on technology after four days of very different living.

Bali is so beautiful and so overwhelming, I thought it might be easiest to make a list, in no particular order, of my favorite things here.

*Lying in our woven hut listening to the torrential rain on the roof. Closely followed by sitting in the Chinese pavillion watching and listening to the torrential rain falling all around us.

*The place we’re staying. Matahari Cottages is amazing, and if you’re going to Ubud, please stay there. It’s jungle setting, fabulous staff and outrageous afternoon teas are too awesome.

*Frangiapani flowers littering every street you walk on. I still can’t help picking them up, it seems so criminal to walk on them. I still love the white ones more, but the pink ones smell slightly coconutty, which makes them quite appealing.

*The monkey forest - oh, those cute monkeys. I still have monkey paw prints on the pants I wore there, and once they realised we had bananas, they weren’t going to let us get away. One climbed onto my shoulder and I patted it, but the guide said “if you do that, they bite you”. It probably won’t surprise you to know I took my hand away quite quickly.

*The temples - everywhere. Why can’t my house have a temple? I think I may build one when I go home.

*The food. I think I’ve gained heaps of weight eating the breakfast and afternoon tea at Matahari, to say nothing of the outrageous dinners we’ve been having. Also iced ginger tea at Nomad - out of this world.

*Well dogs. I have never seen so many dogs in my life. Apparently the ones without collars are stray and are known as well dogs. They look nothing like dogs at home, but are so gorgeous I want to pat all of them. After the monkey forest experience, and hearing they like to bite tourists, I’ve restrained myself. Just.

*The other wildlife. At Matahari, we’ve seen three different types of frogs, geckos by the dozen, who seem to make some kind of noise like a squeaky toy, butterflys as big as birds, and an amazing snake about the width of my little finger which was striped lengthways in lime and black. It was so pretty I spent about ten minutes watching it. The insects are also incredible, although the bees are a little too big and friendly for my liking.

So we’re here for another two days, then leave on Saturday. I’ve abandoned my watch, which is probably the most liberating thing I’ve done for years, and have no idea of the time, and rarely an idea of the day. We make no plans and just wander around. The only thing dictating our day is Miss M, who sometimes is a little overwhelmed by everything, but for the most part has been an incredibly mature travelling companion for a spoiled Western eight year old in a poor and totally culturally different country.

Today I’m loving: learning a new balance pose in our yoga class today, which we did in a beautiful open air studio in the middle of a rice paddy, with butterflys and lizards on the wall, and ducks providing the soundtrack. That’s how I’ll always do my yoga from now on, when given the choice!