Amed, day 2

Amed is in fact not one single place, but a string of little villages in the remote north-east corner of Bali. Well, as remote as you can get on such a small island, anyway. And by villages, I mean mostly hotels. It's beautiful. Behind us are tall, green hills. In front, the ocean, and a narrow line of black sand and rock. This is volcano territory, and the island's scariest volcano, Gunung Agung, lurks nearby. It last erupted in 1963, which is around the time Betty left Don, just to give you some context.

The trouble with Amed is, once you're in your hotel, you can't really leave. I went to talk to a man about some snorkelling (there are reefs and shipwrecks right off the shore) and he encouraged me to rent a motorbike and explore all the wonderful sites in the vicinity. Great. I have never ridden a motorbike in my life and something tells me the hilly, narrow roads of Bali are not the best place to start. I'm really wishing now that my father had taught me how to drive the little scooter we have back home.

Anyways, being sans motorbike, I tried walking. I did not get far. Did I mention yesterday how hot it is here? And I am still handicapped by the damn bronchitis that threatened to have me cancel the whole trip altogether, as well as a twinge of Bali Belly hanging in the air yesterday. Still, I managed to get some lovely shots of rice fields, fishing boats and soaring hills. None of which I am able to share with you now (dear iPad, you know I love you, but sometimes you just enfuriate me).

I'm a little tired today. Jetlag, plus the whole waking at 3am to cough up my left lung. It's my last chance to snorkel, but the water is choppy and I'm worried I may fall asleep in the water and drown. Or cough up my right lung. So maybe today should be a spa day. And tomorrow, off to see a water palace on the way to Ubud. Lovely breakfast waiter Ketut (a fourth born, according to what I have learned about Balinese names) has found me a driver for the journey - for the small sum of $35. It's so much less than what I would have paid, I didn't even bargain him down (on the contrary, I was tempted to bargain him up...)

I look forward to telling you all about the pretty pictures I will take.