Hi all

On disembarking the ferry from our first class seats the colourful hustle and bustle of lorries, bikes and people thronging on and off the ferry began. The sight that greeted us from the  dock was of lines of horse drawn surries with a fringe on top, some finished off with shiny bits and pieces to attract the attention of the soon to be passengers. We headed off on reasonably clad roads until we hit major road works again virtually a gouged lumpy bumpy track, so nothing new here then, and to add a little interest a few large pot holes, however progress was good Keith now really getting the hang of rolling around the edge of craters. We arrived in Bima, a sh*thouse of a town and eventually found our overnight accommodation, with the help of a young lad on a scooter. Hot showers - our first in over two weeks, it beats a cold mandi shower into a cocked hat. My hair now making me look and feel like Worzel Gummage - a mental note to have my hair cut before our next trip.

The cost of wine in Indonesia if prohibitive something like 600,000 rupiah a bottle around 43 quid, so we have to make do with the international quality Pilsner "dingin (cold) Bintang", Bintang meaning star, the cost at 30,000 Rh around 2.20 quid. (no pound signs on these foreign puters) for a large bottle.

On our departure from the hotel we spoke to a couple of taxi drivers, thus making our exit from Bima a doddle. We headed for Pantai Lakey and arrived late afternoon after taking an excursion on a road that eventually wouldn't be there, we weren't wrong but let’s say that the locals wouldn't use it to get to our destination. We booked into the 3* Hotel Aman Gati, our most expensive to date Rp 415,000 a night, king bed and en-suite facilities, even the satellite TV worked but couldn't get a news channel in English. All that was quickly forgotten after discovering and swimming in the more than adequate warm pool and lazing on the sun loungers overlooking the breakers rolling in on the soft golden beach, this location is a surfers paradise, the area famed for its surfing competitions. As the surf was "up", girls take note - there were young muscle-bound guys with blond tousled locks together with long legged thin bikini clad females who didn't have an ounce of fat to keep them warm - chaps take note, they were all heading for those endless rides.

This is a bit of paradise that I would quite willingly stay in for a week, but will have to make do with two nights as today we were on our way to Sumbawa Besar, the last stop before we catch the ferry over to Lombok Island located east of Bali, where we expect to find white sandy beaches in quiet settings,

Our journey here today was not a pleasant one - namely the roads or lack of them, it took around 6.5 hours to cover the 230km about 138 miles, but the hard part is now over and we look forward to a short ride to the ferry tomorrow.- more in a few days.

Short'n'sweet today.

Ellen x