it is clear to me that the bristles are of wale-bone construct.

There was an article in the Sunday Times about the top ten snorkeling sites, worldwide.

Here the Bali bit:

THE LIBERTY, TULAMBEN, BALI
Most shipwrecks lie in deep water, but part of the Libertyís stern section rises to within three metres of the surface, just a short swim from the beach. In fact, the abandoned cargo ship rested on the shore until 1963, when the nearby volcano, Gunung Agung, exploded, pitching the 6,000-ton ship into the sea and splitting the hull in two.

The wreck attracts a great deal of marine life, including a friendly school of bigeye trevally ó streamlined silver fish that group together in impressive twister formations. Visibility is changeable, but is usually adequate to view the tangled topography of the wreck from the surface.

I based myself in Sanur, a sleepy resort town in the south of Bali, staying at the Sativa Sanur Cottages (00 62 361 287881), a friendly little hotel, for £44 a night. English-owned AquaMarine Diving (00 62 361 730 107, www.aquamarinediving.com) will pick you up at your hotel and take you to Tulamben and back for £44, including snorkelling and lunch. They can also arrange trips to Baliís other great snorkelling site, Pulau Menjangan, on the northwest coast.

EQUIPMENT
A snorkellerís most important tool is the mask. In the shop, try one on, breathe in slightly, remove your hand and lean forwards: the slight suction should keep the mask in place if it makes a good seal with your face.

SAFETY
There are plenty of poisonous creatures in the sea, but none of them seeks to attack people. The golden rule is not to touch anything: if an animal is moving so slowly that you could grab it, the likelihood is that it has a formidable defence mechanism.

If you plan to snorkel from the shore, buy fins that can be worn over neoprene booties. Even with protection, it is advisable to shuffle through the sand so that any stinging beasts have the chance to flee. Sharks in the tropics are wary of people and only eat fish. The exception is the tiger shark, which sometimes stalks pods of dolphins. Tigers hunt in the late afternoon, so never swim with dolphins after 6pm. Flailing snorkellers look too much like injured dolphins.

Have you replaced the citronella with something???????

Talking of hairbrushes, mine says ‘whalebone’ on it. Which bit is whalebone: the handle or the bristles; and if it’s the bristles, what part of the whale are they from?

HAHAHAHAHG!!!!!!!!

those pictures are classic! all three of you standing there like you have a personal problem which might possibly require the aplication of ungents, then waving like dictaters at the populace. and as four that last one! well as i was screwtinizing it aghast and muttering “the face of evil!” under my breath, i notice something uncanny. livs face is turning more and more like dods, minus the wrinkles ofcourse!

well today we went to the beach, this was ment to be a nice beach as it was some way away and not too crowded. quite possibly it was the dangerousely lethal beach dod mentioned in a recent communication. upon arrival it seemed to be swarming with people but on close inspection not too bad. we found a nice spot to sit and read as far from the water as possible as it was quite high. we had already watched in amusment as someones stuff was swept away by a large wave. “it dousen’t matter if we get a little wet?” i said to annika as we laid down on our sarongs. i imagined i small bit of water moistening me toes which were pointing seaward. “not really” she replied. and so we read. i mention at this point that geoff has passed on to me gai jin and it grips like the cold hand of the devil! or something. anyway sudenly there was a noise, as of screaming, and we were waist high in water, had we been standing, which were weren’t so we were in fact under water. annika was floating nearby like a bit of drift wood and foam and beach detritus was every were. i made to steady her as our belongs sailed by on the way to the sea. we got to our feet as quickly as possible and charged to the rescue of our stuff. we didn’t lose anything. but our books, shogun and gai jin, which i had still in my hand and i had used as a makeshift proping devise as i got to my feet, were well, if not truly, saturated. annika was i might irritated, saying i quote “i hate this beach!” but it did not reach me. clavels books seem to have infected me and all i could say was “karma, neh?” and then we went into the sea which was very rough, annika almost drowned and we built a sand castle.

er… as to the funeral thing, we went back with the french guy some time later dressed in sarongs as you were not aload in without them and wondered around the temple feeling somewhat out of place. at some point loads of people came in and sat down(we were the only non balinese) and a large rotund preist conducted a ceromony which lasted about four hours by my reconing. as it consisted of him ringing a small bell and mumbling, i began to lose interest after the third hour. what i did find interest were a collection of very small houses on stilts which ringed the temple. they were just big enough to house a cat or maybe a chicken, as long as it were not too fuusy about turning around. they varyied from a simple platform and what looked like a very small seat to larger brick edifices with deortive carvings. the french guy noticed my interest and said that they were houses for the gods, so that they had somewere to stay when they came to the ceromony. this seemed really cool to me and i imagined a small, fat blue chappy seated in the chair and looking faintly bored. it was tricky to get out as we were boxed in by happily chatting mourners, and it was quite imbarasing when we finaly mustered the crust to escape. it was a lot more interesting the i have made it sound.

i was going to use an imoticon then, but i thought “no.”

the fire and tranbce dance was neat…ish. it consisted af maybe fifty blokes chanting a mildly hypnotic yet irittating tune ans some dancers followed by setting alight to a big pile of coconut husks and an old chap with a hobyhorse charged about on the embers. though i thought that this was quite cool, i was not very impressed. annika said that if it was so easy why did i not do it? unfortunatly i had a bit of jip in the old leg. otherwise i would have done it like a shot.

so far i have killed two extreamly large cockrouches and a monstrouse thing that looked like a mutant moth. at some point i will have to hunt down the cockrouch “nest” armed only with my head torch and my hair brush, still stained with gore and bits of smashed carapace. it would make a good film.

i fell oddly expressive today, has any one done anything to the tael? or have i killed it by my lack of entries? i will check.

the shadow puppets i will tell you about some other time, alright?

i nearly laughed myself into a fit reading your latest e-mail mama! most amusing!

julio

Hi Liv,
Nice hat you’re wearing there!!! I remember those contraptions well, and the itchy head I had for about a week afterwards.
Just saw that Ping Pong webpage – most anusing but just a little bizarre!!

G

Hail,
Pics od graduation most amusing. Liv’s dangly bit appeard to have a porblem as it is always blowing in his face! Italy sounded fun, and i bet the stench was as the smell of a thousend roses compared to india! Racing souds fun, tough no one appeard to have made any bets??? Didn’t james and louise come up for it? Are they coming for lunch tomorrow? say hi from us. well, better go and get ready for the rugby. Rich had dyed his hair blue, which is most amusing! Gill is coming out to NZ……with Rog!!!!! We will probably end up meeting them somewhere. Looking forward to travelliong with a car as the last couple of days have been fun.

Love Tanya