The 10 BEST (and WORST) Bits of Bali...Away We Go (sniff-sniff)

We're leaving today.  We're finally leaving Bali after five months of blissful tropical living.  That might be one of the reasons i haven't been so prolific these past few weeks...I've been soaking it all in.

So here is my (kinda) definitive list of the best and worst bits of Bali living:

BEST:
* the food...cafes abound with scrumptious fare on which to gorge oneself
* the lattes (the crack of the caffeine world - wouldn't have been a functioning adult w/out my daily dose)
* the people...we made some brilliant friends who make parting such 'bitter' sweet sorrow :(
* our cook/cleaner/pembantu...time to get my hands dirty - again...get those soft elegant hands reacquainted with soap detergent.  and poo.  and crumbs.
* our digs...jungle treehouse living on lush huge grounds takes some beating...might be the nicest place we ever live (so says le husband....should i be worried?)
* the weather (aside from unseasonal nightly torrential rains during the 'dry season,' Bali weather ROCKS)
* the school (Egg and Dumps had the chance to go to the glorious 'Pelangi School' where the sweetest teachers and adorable playmates in the most idylic setting, made school seem like something out of 'The Truman Show'!
* Monkey Forest (nuff said...I mean how cool is it that everyday my walk into town meant traversing a forest full of hilarious monkeys?!  Beats a Bugaboo-saturated London Common hands down I'm afraid)
* the scenery (rice paddies....ahhh bliss...picture perfect loveliness complete with ducks and cute frogs)
* $1 dvds

WORST:
* the dogs (Rabies huge problem here at moment...sick to death of snarling four-legged creatures)
* the mosquitos (urgh, urgh and more urgh...esp. the tiny ones that come out daily at 3pm)
* the traffic (Ubud is a single lane town with often too many tourists...traffic jams are epic...and suck)
* they've recently opened a big Starbucks (a sign of things to come?  I mean come on...)
* the dampness (my leather is destroyed and ALL my clothes smell of wee - and I'm NOT incontinent)
* the kitchens (trying to cook meals on a hotplate and a toaster oven loses it's appeal after awhile)
* the rats (I should have known the day I spotted the huge Rat Alarm in the kitchen...they are big, ugly and unrepentant - and the sole reason I couldn't step foot in there for a week after my latest spotting)
* expensive reading material ($7 for a used paperback...are you serious??)
* the horrid road by the boys school (everyday on the back of the scooter, the four of us perched precariously, I was always tensed up and ready for an accident on the gravel strewn non-road...urgh)
* the fact that eventually you have to leave (sob...sniff...sniff)

So here I sit, typing away, self-delusional about the piles and piles of possessions which sit homeless in great heaps on the floor, around our already stuffed luggage.  Oops.  Now all those sneaky little sundress purchases and my penchant for dvds seems misjudged.

I could try layering I suppose.  I've been known to do it before (hey, suffer for fashion and all that).  I could literally try and wear say ten dresses on top of each other, look like a total moron and willingly portray myself as obese.  Or I could leave some clothes with Kadek our 26 year old Pembantu (though face it - I can't really see her rocking the mini-skirt look somehow).

The worst part will be if we have to do a frenzied 're-shuffle' later today in the middle of a crowded airport and the husband clocks how many clothes his wife has, and the fact that she has insisted on packing the tupperware.  (I'm sorry, but in India it's inferior and i NEED my tupperware damnit!)

Okay, I'm off.  Bali I'll miss you...people in Bali I'll miss you too...and feel the luckiest girl in the world for having had such a brilliant experience.

Kuala Lumpur....here we come!