The unexpected party boat

Two days ago we had the bizarre experience of stepping back in time aboard the public ferry from Lombok to Bali. We'd considered flying but opted to save money and take the five hour ferry, and Boy George were we glad we did! After the hoardes of hassling hawkers had finally broken us with their constant "you want buy ... I give you good price ... just look ... only look... how much you want pay?" causing Meg to purchase an over-priced string bracelet and Mark to aggressively demand some peace and quiet, the sellers left the vessel and we departed.

Half an hour into the journey we were surprised to see a singer and electric keyboard player take their places on a small stage we had mistaken for a step. But once the strobe lights were switched on we knew we were in for a show! And what followed was a mastermix of classic 80's hits, most of the lyrics mispronounced and some magical electric keyboard playing. As we crashed and rolled over giant waves, the young singer in high heels fell about the stage struggling to keep her balance while the keyboard player kept going (raising suspicion that he may have been using the demo mode). At one point we fell over the side of a particularly large wave and as the water exploded off the side of the boat, the passengers all gasped and looked to the crew members for emergeny instructions, only to discover they were walking the aisles taking song requests and looking for karaoke volunteers!

However, we survived the ordeal ... and the waves too, and are now back in Bali but this time inland in the town of Ubud. We have again hired a scooter and are using it to explore the rice paddies, monkey forests and temples.

Meg was delighted to discover that Ubud is a place of culture and contains a few Balinese art galleries and museums, one of which we visited today. Mark was equally delighted to discover that Indonesian beer producer, Anker, do an extremely tasty stout which we had not seen anywhere before Ubud. Cheers.