Well I have tried coffee luwak so I guess why not try gecko poop.

I guess the only difference is that the coffee luwak was a conscious choice to consume, the gecko poop - maybe not so .
As a writer I regularly write into the wee hours of the morning usually with a cup of tea by my side so last night was no different.
I was a little hungry so I got up and had a couple of biscuits the fact that the biscuits never came anywhere near the tea is relevant later on in the story.
Sometimes it takes a while when I'm writing, i get immersed with what I'm doing and the tea can sit on the side for a little while.
knowing that the biscuit did not come anywhere near the tea, should have been my first alarm point.
But no, in hind sight of course I drank the tea right down to the last drop.
Finding the lump in the bottom and assuming it was only biscuit of course I chew into it, but this piece of soft biscuit was different than normal - it was slightly gritty and felt chalky and strange.
Spitting it out into my fingertips I was horrified to discover it was pure white.
Oh dear, mister gecko scoreboard 1, me scoreboard well below 0.

It is amazing how when you walk into a spider web you are instantly transformed into a ninja warrior with arm flailing about everywhere and wild strategic moves.

I will actually admit it is not much better when you finally realise that you have just inadvertently eaten gecko poop - instead of wild ninja moves you are filled with a screwed up face, a hacking sound and are running to find a towel to wipe out every liquid and solid part that is contained within your mouth. At this point there is actually very little you can do about it other than to go ack,ack,ack.

The worst part is the memory does not go away and when you wake up the next morning you are still gagging and wiping at your teeth unable to shake the memory off - off to the. Store for a new cup!

So now I have a cup with a lid on it you will have to plot other ways to get your revenge sneaky Mr. Gecko - I'm on to you now.

Go Ahead, Impress me if you can!

I've been travellling for years and its not that I don't love a good brunch buffet any less than anyone else, but when you have shared so many - they do tend to become a little the same.

So it was with a slight reticence that I booked into the French inspired weekend brunch at the Sofitel, Nusa Dua.

Impressed, hmmm yes, perhaps thats an understatement.
From the beautiful French waiters, right through to the toilets where the kids spent ages! Well really, give them a toilet that comes with its own remote control, that washes, dries, warms and gently heats and what do you think they are going to play with. Even the toilet staff who warmly thank you for using their facilities on the way out.

Everything about this place is just fun!

Read the entire article HERE

Amazing Sweets and treats and you (and the kids) can eat as much as you want. No unhappy children here, they are too delighted to be in a land similar to Willy Wonkas.

Well that was a refreshing new shopping change to Kuta!

If your distant memories of Kuta are that of a crazy beach filled with beach vendors and people offering you things which they probably shouldn't be offering you, followed by crazy dusty markets where almost anything goes, you may be surprised to find that a new type of shopping experience has emerged.

Perhaps you just need a day to escape the heat and craziness. This place may be just the ticket, with frozen frappacinos, gourmet foods and treats in the basement and one of the best views of Kuta to sip a cocktail over.

Click here for the full article

Need to get a "do" in Bali?

Funky Hairstyles

Arriving in Bali for a wedding or a fancy affair or would you just like to have a little mini make over?

Now you can, at SPOILED in the Umalas, they will do you all up to perfection, including perfect Blonde highlights, yes Blonde!!! In Bali!

Great Colours including Blondes!

Yay!

Click here for the full story

UC Silver - Breathtaking!

Half way between Ubud and Sanur you may notice an amazing site of huge metal dragonflies all over a building with weird carvings.

This is the home of UC silver!

The level of amazement begins as you enter through the gates but it certainly doesn't stop there. As soon as you arrive you will be ushered down to the workroom where you can see all the pieces being hand made (I don't think I'll ever stick a silver fork in my moth without first appreciating the work in it again).

It is fascinating to realise how much in the way of jewellery you had taken for granted or never even thought about before. Once you have finished in the workroom, you will be ushered up to the showroom. The upstairs level is reserved for the seriously wealthy, with outrageous price tags, one water jug I liked was US$6000.00, however its free to browse and its pretty interesting.

The downstairs showroom is still expensive but possibly affordable, especially compared to Western prices. 

There is no obligation to purchase anything and although a sales person will follow you around with an ever present basket to put your choices in, you can thank them and leave with nothing but a ngreat experience.

There is no entry fee and if you have a spare 15-60 minutes, it is definitely worth the look.

An indulgent 5 star day out when you aren't staying 5 star

Calling all backpackers, those who like 5 star resorts but can't afford them, or those staying elsewhere who would like a change of scenery.

There is a way to make use of these beautiful resorts - legitimately!

*Ahem, cough, cough* Not that I would suggest anyone sneak into 5 star hotels, nick a towel and pretend they are paying guest to use the pool facilities, you no longer have to. Now you can do it all above board and have a great day out.

Take a trip to Tanah Lot to the Pan Pacific Nirwana Resort.

Enter the lobby and progress past the awe inspiring beach views, stopping briefly to take in the majestic sight of Tanah Lot temple without the tourists, take a few photos and head to the pool area.

It's a grand affair with several pools, lagoons, 2 water slides, resting bales overlooking the pool, sleeping huts overlooking the beach and great restaurants.

You can advise you wish to use the facilities for the day, pay 200,000rp per person + Tax (AUD$25), they will warmly welcome you, give you an arm band and allow you to get changed and enjoy all the facilities.

Then when you are ready to eat, flash your wrist band and your food bill, up to the amount you paid will be deducted from your poolside credit. Although the food is at resort prices, you should be able to get a mains, dessert and drink (non alcoholic) for your 200,000rp price.

When you have finished for the day, you can take a pool side shower, get changed and perhaps enjoy a coffee by the pool before heading back, relaxed, enthused and perhaps slightly sun kissed.

Hant Drumming Experience in Ubud

We were honoured and delighted to be invited to take part in a HaNT drumming class with  Sergi Kampanella at the absolutely amazing ‎Santa Mandala.

Set high over a breathtakingly beautiful gorge, we made music together, but more than music, the healing vibrations lifted you and soothed your soul in much the same way as a healing session.

The HaNT Drum is a modern tonal drum from the same family of instruments as Tibetan bowls, bells, or a Shaman’s tambourine. It is a great guide to meditative reality. Playing the drum you can immerse yourself as a creator of this new cosmic music, interweaving your personality into the symphony of the Universe.

We were delighted to metaphorically waft back down the mountain to Ubud and embrace our HaNT healing. If you get a chance you may like to connect with Sergi or buy one of his amazing drums for around 3million rupiah (AUD$300).

You can connect with ‎Santa Mandala Here
and Sergi here

It's my Birthday - and there's no one here!

My lovely Bali friends threw me a wonderful birthday bash, but it is strange being away from friends and family for so long.
My darling hubby struggled as he couldn't organise an event or gift personally, so here's my birthday present from him............ a song he wrote and played and all the best parts are the wonderful souls with their best wishes, I'd love to share it with you.

The biggest pizza in Bali

Tartufo is run by a dedicated chef and a friendly happy team of staff and you'll find wonderful Italian food here. My son decided that he was an especially hungry teenager and could cope with very large pizza - you can see the results of that order here and I think it is the first time he was ever unable to finish a pizza. Rest assured, the wonderful stuff that Tartufo even organised a take home box for him.

You can read more here

Hot Springs in a volcanic caldera

Somehow a trip overseas is always better with hot springs!

In North Bali you will find the Batur Hot springs.

You firstly need to head to Mt Kintamani, pay the road entry tolls and fight through the hordes of sellers attempting to extract any sale from unsuspecting tourists.

Head down the mountain and into the caldera around the lake, following on from the road down (which - take it slowly - is an experience in itself) you will come to a strange moonscape location where the lava from the exploded volcano leaves an eerie reminder that all was not well at one point in this part of the world.

Arriving in the small village there are several hotels, resorts and places you can take a dip in the natural hot springs.

We had met a man along the road delivering his wifes lunch at the most exclusive resort and were guided by him to her workplace.

Heres the direct link

I cant remember exactly what we paid, but it wasn't so cheap - actually we ended up putting it on a visa card - perhaps around $20 pp.

For this you received a welcome drink and entry to the 3 lagoon pools and one huge swimming pool - all fed by warm natural mineral waters.

It was freezing the day we came up, we rode motorbikes and had been caught in icy rain so badly we were quite numb, so to slip into the warm waters was certainly most welcome.

If coming up from Ubud (or further south) plan to have most of a day to do this, the drive is around 1.5hours from Ubud, 2 hours from Sanur/Kuta and you will want to spend a few hours here and perhaps stop for lunch and shopping at Tegallalang on the way home.

How to Get Online & Make Calls From Bali Cheaply

Phone Calls,Data,Facebook,Digital Nomads,Cheap Connections

Upon arriving in a new country, one of the most difficult things can be how to stay in touch with friends and family at home or how to connect with people you were traveling with in the country you have arrived in.

Many Australians have returned home from a lovely holiday in Bali only to be shocked by the exorbitant fees that have become attached to their telephone plan.

Recently my friends arrived back in Australia from Bali and were horrified to receive a $7000.00 phone bill. They had not realised how much data Facebook used and had made a couple of phone calls. They argued the point with Telstra and finally had their bill reduced to $3000.00, but still a crushing blow after a nice holiday.

However there is a way around this and it is actually rather simple once you know how to do it.

Click here for a full article including how to make cheap calls

What on earth is a sand worm and why are they in my feet?

Wandering through a shopping mall the other day i came across the usual stores offering massages and foot  treatments. Nothing unusual here, however, in the past when I was living in china, we use to get a foot treatment where the ladies would almost shave of part to your foot.

Weird huh? But as you sit there and a pile of shavings appears on the floor all of which used to be on your feet it is quite amazing the amount of rubbish that comes off your feet.

The human psyche is rather strange that we love all manner of disgusting things when they are OFF our bodies, there is a self gratifying part of us that acknowledges the "better out than in" principle.

After spending several weeks backpacking through Asia, it is a delight to have this foot treatment in China. Your feet go from cracked horrible things which you slide into bed with only to discover to your horror that you can't get the bed sheets up because of them gripping onto your rough underside of what is loosely referred to as your feet into some sexy sleek thing that just slides between the sheets like satin, leaving you murmuring "Oh Yeah".

*A footnote to this is, that whilst you can find these tools cheaply around, it is NEVER a good idea to locate these harmless looking pieces of equipment and try to do this yourself. How do I know this, hmmm I think you can figure that one out, my endeavours resulted in reasonably large sections of my foot going missing and resulting in me being unable to walk for three weeks. yes, it looks easy enough, trust me, these ladies are definitely well trained in what they are doing.

So i have now spent 8 weeks in Bali in monsoons, primarily wearing plastic shoes and walking through mud. 

My feet could do with a bit of this chinese treatment to say the least. I have been to several spa centres in bali however their pedicure tends to revolve around toenail polish rather than the foot treatments I was searching for. So you can imagine my interest as I walked past this set up in the shopping centre with a promise to make your feet shiny and sleek again.

As I stopped and watched the lady having her feet done, she looked at me and said " You really must get this done - it is wonderful, these ladies are fantastic and your feet will feel terrific afterwards".

I think I really just heard "sexy feet".

This is all the lady needed to grab me and say "Come lady, I will give you a sample - come come, your feet look terrible - let me look at them and I will tell you how much it is going to cost you to have them treated.

Rather than using the tool which shaves the skin off your feet, in Bali (maybe they are just sensible or maybe there were a few tourist feet accidents, but they really don't seem to use them here), they tend to use a rough paddle, somewhat like a nail file.

Brushing away madly at my foot, after a couple of moments the pile of dead foot shavings that appeared on the towel was enough to convince me that perhaps I really did need to get this done.

In what can only be described as a theatrical dramatisation, the lady clucked over my feet and called in her colleague who also shook her head and looked gravely at the soles of my feet announcing "tsk tsk - you have sand worms". 

What ?? - sandworms ??

You can imagine the horrified look on my face as my eyes opened wide - asking what on earth are those and how did they get in my feet?

"Never mind", the lady replied, telling me it is very common - most people have them, she explained they were like a bacteria caused by the wet floors and proudly announced for 100,000 rupiah ($10) and 30 minutes of my time she could remove them all.

Shock tactics or otherwise - I was convinced, get them out immediately - 30 minutes later and my feet are looking all brand, shiny new. They certainly felt a lot better and she proudly announced all of the sand worms are gone, there is nothing more I need to do.

Which leaves me wondering perhaps the term sandworm simply means cracks in your feet, either way I am relieved that they are no longer there. *Sheesh I feel like a bit of a scare tactics sucker here and mildly convince myself it doesn't matter, my feet are now soft and smooth regardless of such worms.

So you might think that my foot treatment ended there, well, why not, my feet are shiny looking, as soft as a baby's bottom and all the sand worms are gone.
Of course that would be the western way of thinking.

In typical Balinese fashion she now realises that she may be able to get another treatment out of me.
I love the way they appeal to your senses of "Oh you have 2 children, you must be very tired mother, you must have so much to do, your legs must be so tired all the time, I bet your back aches, oh you are a writer, you must have shoulder problems, I can fix all of this for you with a 30 minute foot and leg massage with reflexology.
Only 50,000 rupiah ($5) Madam".
"Let me give you a 5 minute free sample just to tell you that I can see what is going on with in your body".
Ok why not.

5 minutes into the treatment she certainly found all of the sore spots and whether you believe in reflexology or not all of the points that actually hurt were the parts of my body that I had been having problems with.
All problems accurately diagnosed, she asks "would you like me to fix these problems for you - yes, come?
Of course I'm going to say yes at this point as she has located everything that I am suffering from.

With a speed adept only to a balinese woman on the verge of a new sale, she whisks the lotions and creams out of the bucket next to her and throw the towel on her lap, lifting my legs up quicker than I can say "Righto".

Over the next 30 mins she prods and pokes and makes my eyes roll back in my head as she finds every part of me that has ever been hurt.

Digging into the back of my ankle she announces, you must have been suffering from headaches lately?

Well yes as a matter of fact, I have had them for a couple of days and have not been able to get rid of them.
She knowingly nods and says "Relax I will fix it for you".
Oh my god I think my eyes are going to fall out of my head, my head is rolling backwards and I tell her it is intensely painful.
She nods and says "Yes painful for now, but headache gone soon".

5 minutes further in, I say to her "I am not sure if we are friends anymore", she says "I know but we will be good friends later when you feel better".

Thus we spend the 30 minutes bantering backwards and forwards and I gently fade in and out of consciousness during the course of our conversation.

Amazingly the sports that cause the most pain did eventually feel better and stop hurting.
What about the headaches? Actually they are gone today.
Sore back and shoulder? Also gone today and as for my feet, yes I slipped into bed as if I was sleeping in satin sheets.

Was it worth it?
Certainly seems so at this stage.
All up it cost 150000 rupiah (Around AUD$15), it took just over 1 hour and you can find this woman on the second floor at Carrefour supermarket near Kuta.

Have you had a similar experience?

I would love to hear about your experiences by having you add them in the comments box below.

Definitely not what you'd expect in a Balinese restaurant!

FRANKENSTEINS LABORATORY

Theatre restaurant and stage show

I've shared with you a few local places lately, focusing on elegance and high tea. So it may surprise you that there's a bit more to Bali than just these - no? Didn't think so, you know Bali too well now to be surprised!

So for a fun night out with the kids that's pretty wacky, if you're down south way, in Seminyak, you may like Frankensteins laboratory

CLICK HERE for the full story 

Suffice it to say it was a fun night out.
Lately they have have been offering some special events including a hypnotist show, which I'm sure would be pretty amazing.

For a hole in the wall style cafe, they do an amazingly professional show at great prices.

The look on the other motorbike riders faces as my daughter rode home in full make up was worth the entire event. Lots of fun!

A Little touch of Paris in Bali

I know, I know, don't be all screaming "Why come to bali if you want Paris?"

It's not that, its just that I like all things at different times and whilst I'm a huge fan of Balinese and Indonesian food, I just think that there's also a time and place for a touch of French Patisseries, high Teas, Romantic Mojitos too.

If you're with me on this one, or perhaps just hot, dirty and super thirsty on Jalan Legian, you'll love this little oasis of tranquility.

Welcome to Angelitas

Have you been to Angelitas? Add in your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below

Click here for the full information and details

Mango Mousse Cake - Bet you can't resist!

Where are my kids and are they OK? Dad misses his kids and sends them a music message.

My marriage has never been conventional, we both chose to walk the path less travelled, we come together and share, we journey on our own, the children are deeply loved by both of us and for the time being (at least for a couple more weeks) they are both with myself.

Selfishly, I am adoring having them both here, my son is almost a grown man now, heading off soon on his own journeys, but as all loving parents know, you set them free, you educate them, you give them opportunities and then you hold your breath, hoping the wind will catch their wings and they will soar in their own chosen field and adventure on their own journeys.

I firmly believe travel can be a game changer for children, they experience the world, different cultures, different places, different lifestyles and if you have done it well, they will experience all this with safety, guidance and an open heart.

We learn maths through currency conversions, we study geography by being there, human relations - nothing like chatting to the local villagers where we find ourselves each day. Art and culture, immersed in it! English and literature - we meet the people who wrote the stories, travelled the world and came back to share about it.

But sometimes a Dad can't convey what he needs to see through skype, an email or a phone chat.

Intimately, I would like to share with you a song written for kids he is currently missing:
Words and music by Daryll Mitchell - For my kids!

You're on Your Own Lovely - But I'll Miss You!

Past readers may recall the post where my husband decided not to hold me back from this adventure, but also decided it wasn't for him.

There's definitely a few stories in there to share with you - it certainly hasn't been without its trials and melancholy and possibly even some confusion and heartache. I think one day there's even a book in me about this personal relationship journey.

But for now, we are separated by the water / time / distance - each with our own personal journey, our own paths that are separate (sometimes so separate it seems like the horizon has dimmed in the moonlight) yet intermingled and awaiting the next chapter.

Together or apart, I express my heart through words, Daryll expresses through writing and playing music.

I'd love to share an intimate moment with you (filmed roughly with a go pro in our kitchen)

Words and music by Daryll Mitchell - for my wife!

Funky High Tea with Fortune Tellers in a Traditional Joglo

Lets continue with a few more of my 

Funky High tea Suggestions:

Todays pick is Biku

Located just around the corner from Le gardin

It is an incredible place with one of my favourite tea selections in all of Bali

Have you been to Biku, add your thoughts and comments in the section below

Click here for the full Description

Swanky, yet funky Interior!

Rose Puchong tea with pomegranate  salad
and fresh baked bread

What is this strange thing I have been given? 

A lovely way to end a fun restaurant.

High Tea Amidst the Chaos - the 1st of a few to share with you!

Looking for an absolutely delightful high tea near Seminyak/Umalas/Petitinget?
I have a few great ones to share with you

Lets begin with Le Gardin

Click here to read more

You'll love it if the idea of dining in a lead light conservatory speaks to you.