We kind of spontaneously decided to go home from India via Indonesia, because why not, right? So we left India a couple of weeks earlier than our original plan and hopped on a plane over to Bali. Bali was definitely a change of pace from India, one which came as both a relief and a strange emptiness all at once. India's charismatic chaos is one that you settle into (a sink or swim kind of situation), a life of dodging traffic, turning down eager tuk tuk drivers, finding the cheapest dosas in town, and avoiding being roped into buying something from the bloke on the street's friend's brother's shop. One that I had begun to thrive in, awake and energetic. Bali slowed us right back down.

We began in Ubud, where we stayed a couple of nights in the beautiful Puri Gangga Resort (which I've written about) followed by a week in a great Air BnB called Bhuana Shanti Cottages, overlooking rice paddies and run by the loveliest of people. It was here that we celebrated Christmas and my twenty-third birthday, sharing gifts on our balcony, sipping on pitaya smoothies, day tripping to the phenomenal Tegenungan waterfall, and sipping wine and feasting on the tastiest food. The days all seemed to melt into one another in Ubud, filled with so many vegan cafes and restaurants, rice paddy trips, multiple waterfall swims, and of course the odd Balinese massage or two.

Following Ubud, we hopped on the fast boat to Gili Meno, a tiny little island close to Lombok, so small that you can walk around the circumference of the island in not much more than an hour. From one side of the island you can see across to Gili Trawangan (the bigger, busier, party island), and from the other side you can see across to Gili Air and further across to the heavenly volcanic mountains of Lombok. Of the three Gilis, Meno is the quietest and least developed, with dodgy wifi, sea water showers, traditional little bungalows, and no cars or motorbikes whatsoever. The snorkelling is amazing, a whirlwind of rainbow fish in amongst the pure blue water, vivid blue starfish, quirky coral, but the best of all is that the surrounding reefs are home to a collection of sea turtles. We only spent three nights on Gili Meno; the food was a bit stodgy there, and to be honest, a small tropical island isn't my idea of heaven (is that weird?) and I need my surroundings to be a little more wild to make my soul happy. To be continued...