General: Bali

Bali - everyone's idea of paradise? Well, certainly ours which is why we chose to go there for our honeymoon last month. Perhaps our expectations were set too high or perhaps we have been fortunate to have seen many other beautiful places for we found Bali to be a great disappointment.

Harsh words? So to be fair let's list the good points; sunny weather, not too humid, friendly people, beautiful landscape, good value for money due to the currency conversion rate. We stayed firstly in a gorgeous villa with its own private pool, tropical gardens and five friendly staff who looked after our every need. Our last two nights were spent in a five star hotel in the hills surrounded by paddy fields.

Sounds idyllic? Well in a way it was. So what went wrong? Well what spoilt it for us, was the fact that it is very commercialised; the locals have to rely so heavily on the tourists and only seem to see you for the money that you might have in your pocket. You might stop your car to admire some scenery at a quiet spot on the road. And suddenly you are surrounded by people trying to sell their wares. OK, this happens in other countries too but somehow we found them to be too aggressive and too pushy. I got pulled into one shop and the shop owner refused to let go of my arm in the hope that I would buy something.

The temples are fascinating and there are thousands of them. But again you have to pay to enter them and even get charged for taking your camera!

Jimbaran Bay is renowned for its sunsets but watch out as some of the restaurants inflate their prices by up to 30% so that they can pay commission to your dirver or tour leader for taking you there!

And so much for beautiful sandy beaches.. we never did manage to find one. The ones at Sanur and Kuta are not particularly attractive as there is rubbish everywhere.

Would we recommend it? Not really - it is a long way to go and there are so many other wonderful places in the world!