After I finished my A-levels in 2011 and before I started my law degree, Ben and I wanted to do some travelling. Something a bit more adventurous than just a laze around beach kind of holiday. Well, let me rephrase that - Ben wanted to go travelling in the typical sense of the word with backpacks, hostels et al I wanted to see some more of the world but with just a little more luxury than your typical backpacking trip. We decided on South East Asia, starting in Bangkok, going through Laos, down Vietnam and back through Cambodia to fly home from Bangkok again. Ben would have gone for months as he had done in the past but while I wanted to see as much as South East Asia as we could, three weeks was more doable for me. So we compromised and set about planning an amazing trip to see and do as much as possible but staying in fairly nice hotels along the way. All, in all it was an incredible experience and real adventure that we really loved.

Part Two of our Balinese adventure, pure relaxation at the Tembok Spa Village on the Northern side of the island. {I know it's not a Tuesday when most of my usual travel posts are but didn't want to stretch out this trip over three weeks}

After our time in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, we couldn't wait to get to Bali. Before booking the trip, we were looking into a range of South-East Asian beach resorts that were easily accessible from either city. We considered Langkawi or the Thai islands but in the end Bali seemed to have the best weather at that time of year {September} and had an amazing choice of resorts. I was clear to travel agents that I wanted to stay well away from Bali's notorious party towns and they suggested a few nights in Ubud, the spiritual home of Bali located amongst the rice paddies {and setting for Eat, Pray Love}. We had three nights here, at the Uma by Como Hotel followed by four nights in a spa hotel by the beach. I started writing this post and quickly realised I have far too much to share about both places so I'll start with Ubud today and follow with the second part on Thursday.