Irelander Trails

If the welcome drink was anything to go by; a glowing sunset in a glass topped off with a slice of pineapple, strawberry and fancy straw; I knew my week in Bali was going to be all kinds of special. It's a long way to go to find a beach but I'd heard all kinds of stories about Indonesia and as a surfer girl at heart, I had to check it out.I'd been advised by my travel agent Gary at UTravel (www.utravel.ie) to expect the unexpected, and that's exactly what I got when I raised a wry grin from my deck chair in the direction of a lady balancing a basket on her head along SeminyakBeach, one of the many beaches that dot the Balinese coastline. Within seconds of getting her attention I had the shops in my lap and I don't mean a few fruit stalls and ice cream vendors…quality fake designer goods! The basket I'd noticed was full of pineapples but she quickly rallied her friends over who had sunglasses, jewellery, clothes, hats, the works; it was like a portable department store by the sea, one that kept repeating the phrase "Same, same but different!" I'd like to get Louis Vuitton's opinion on that one!Getting away from the beach after turning a lovely shade of lobster, I hired a local guide to drive me to some monkey temples, villages, batik workshops and my favourite…the ElephantSafari Park. The inland regions of Bali are crawling with lush rainforests, friendly villages and an intrepid lifestyle so special to witness it's like stepping back in time. I did have to layer on the repellent but at the safari park I got up so close to the elephants; hand feeding them, taking them for a bath (a big bath!) and even wrestling with a set of trunks over a piece of bamboo!The monkey temples were amazing but a little scary. While I was five feet taller than them they were a whole lot faster and the second I threw a can of coke in the bin, the sneaky little things were in their getting the last drop. The monkeys definitely had a distinctive taste, forget bananas, they were all about ice cream, chips and sweets. I took advantage of the free scuba lesson at my resort on my final day in the sun and got to size up the bottom of the pool, not exactly coral reefs but getting suited up and breathing under water is very, very fun! The photos have been locked away in a vault though, I'm sticking with the theory that no-one looks good in a wetsuit.A few too many bottles of Bintang (Balinese beer) later and with a suitcase piled full of exotic jewellery and crazy buys I slept the whole way back on the plane and didn't for one second regret flying close to twenty hours for a slice of the tropics!