From Sri Lanka we fly to Bali for two weeks.

Those of you who have followed the blog for a while will know that this is our go to place.

But this year it is not quite the same.

It should surprise no one to see that this is how we were greeted

But this wasn’t just rain – in just a few minutes it felt like a sequel to Noah’s Ark

And when we finally made it to our villa

But rain we can deal with.

What we weren’t prepared for were the crowds. Bali has been getting more and more crowded over the years, but Ubud is in the centre of the island, away from the beaches, bars, and dare I say it, Australians, and has always been much more laid back.

But those days are gone. The Australians have found Ubud along with the Russians and just about everybody else. And now it looks like this

It is chaos twenty four hours a day. The five minute drive into town from our villa can now take up to 30 minutes.

Bloody tourists!

But things are never as bad as they seem when you have Gordon navigating. This was the traffic jam we found ourselves in.

Nothing was moving. Even the scooters couldn’t get through. We had been stuck for some time, barely moving an inch. The Balinese are aggressive drivers – you have to be when dealing with traffic like this. But they are always calm. Nothing seems to get them upset. They never beep their horn, let alone lean on it.

Gordon on the other hand is not a patient man when it comes to driving. He is sitting next to me cursing everyone while studying google maps.

“There is a small street coming up on the other side of the road” he says ” if you go up there, and take a right, we will miss this jam altogether”

Easy for him to say. I have to somehow force my way across the nose to tail cars.

Some 20 minutes and 100 yards later, Gordon points to it and says “there”

The entrance is totally blocked by scooters. I can’t see anything beyond them, but it doesn’t even look wide enough for a car.

“It’s on the map” Gordon says “just push through the scooters”

He is so good at giving orders.

And I am so good at obeying them!!!

I manage to force my way across the road, making the traffic jam worse and making a lot of people unhappy. Next I have to deal with the scooters , but they magically move to either side. It is like the parting of the waves .

Finally I can see where I have to go ………

That is very definitely not a road.

Do I try and reverse back through the scooters or do I go forward?

Reversing seems impossible.

Gordon urges me forward

Of course he does.

I creep forward, shoppers step back between the merchandise and stall holders pull in their displays. I can’t believe it, but I am slowly making progress and no one says anything. Anywhere else in the world they would be banging on the car and yelling obscenities. In Bali no one gets upset – ever! It is remarkable.

The path seems to go on for ever. I want this to be over.

Finally Gordon says, turn right up ahead.

I do

We are stuck. It is impossible to turn round. But the road forward is even narrower and this huge orange bollard is giving us a clear sign that going forward is not an option.

But a little something like that is not going to stop us.

Gordon gets out of the car to move it. He can’t. It is too heavy.

I get out of the car and between us we slowly shuffle it to one side.

I ease the car past it and we creep forward.

It is really narrow. Pedestrians now have to flatten themselves against the buildings

And still no one says a word.

But I know what they are thinking

Bloody tourists.