Another Month, Another Trip To Bali!

Hi everyone!

Wow, it’s already been a month! I guess that resolution of more regular blogging has gone down the pan a little, hey?! Time to get back to it. I’m going to leave the elephant in the room for today (the fact that I’m not back in the UK) and talk about a little holiday at the beginning of the month.

With my little brother now living in Australia, we arranged a little weekend getaway in Bali. Seriously, how cool is it that Bali is just a little holiday break?! Amazing!

We met up in Ubud, Bali – I’d been there just a few weeks earlier at Christmas, it’s a good job I like it there! It was so lovely to get out of Jakarta – at this point I’d already been feeling under the weather for a few weeks and really needed a break (and by break I mean to see some green things, breathe some clean air and some family time!)

We had 3 days together and spent our time wandering around the town, eating and drinking, and making monkey friends (more for Will then me, I was a little nervous after I was attacked by them last time!)

We also spent a day exploring the island a little more thoroughly – Balinese dance, some rice paddies and temples, and visited Mount Batur.

This is going to make me sound horribly uncultured (!!) but I find it very difficult to follow the stories behind the dance! It was fun though 🙂

I’ve been to Bali a few times now, but this was my first time visiting Mount Batur, but it was totally worth the wait. The views were incredible – it started to rain and clouded over within a few hours so clearly Lady luck was on our side!

It was the perfect weekend – just what I needed 🙂

Happy 2015!

I love that renewed sense of  that you get at the beginning of January, don’t you? I hope 2015 will be as amazing, if not more so than 2014. I’m pretty sure that in November I will be leaving Indonesia for good, but there is still so much to see and do here, I want to make the most of my time.

So here are some New Years Resolutions:

Coke free January – I’m a little ashamed to admit that my obsession with the cold bubbly coca-cola goodness may have got a little out of hand recently, so I’m going to give it up for January. They say it takes 30 days to make a habit, so maybe I can take 30 days to break one?!

Less phone time – Another awful Indonesian habit. People in Asia are literally addicted to their phones – it seems they can’t go 30minutes without picking it up, and I’m worried I am becoming more like that! It’s a struggle because I use my phone for everything – blogging, emails, skype, whatsapp – all of these things are a big deal when you live so far away from home, but I need to be more mindful of how I am spending my phone time.

More photography – This one is simple. I have a great camera just sat in my cupboard most of the time, and I want to learn how to use it! I’ve been reading some tutorials online, and asking a few people, so I’m going to use some of my free time getting out and about recording some memories.

Read 25 books – Another simple one! I’d like to replace some of the time I spend faffing about on my phone reading books instead. I’m about to finish #19 in 2014, so I need to step up the speed a little! you can follow my progress on Goodreads!

Take my blog to the next level – I’m talking more regular posting, better photos, more publicity – everyone tells me they love it so I don’t know why I keep it such a secret! if there’s anything that you’d like to see (read!) more of then please let me know – I really do appreciate all the comments and positive feedback 🙂

What are your plans for 2015?