Beaches in the middle of December? Yes please.

It's no wonder they say Bali is the Island of the Gods.

While merely 2.5h away from Singapore, I must shamefully admit that it took me a good 22 years before I stepped on Indonesian soil for the first time. Even then, it was only on a suggestion from my friend Faith, who was getting some time off from work. Why not? I said.

Bali is, these days, a popular tourist destination - and while it has always been so, it seems that Bali's tourism was amplified exponentially by the effect of being featured in Elizabeth Gilbert's hit memoir, Eat Pray Love. The Bali of Eat Pray Love is calm, relaxing, beautiful, and timeless; the Bali of today is all that, but also filled with tourists at every corner and the many tour companies and guides that have sprung up around their influx.

Still, there are some things in Bali which don't change, tourists or no. The sunsets by the beaches in Seminyak are breathtaking, clouds formed into many wonderful shapes and hanging over the horizon of the ocean, waves crashing on the shore.

And yes, this was in the middle of December - while it's snowing up in the North and while most of the world is in the clutches of winter, I was out lazing by the beach soaking up the sun.

Welcome to life on the equator.

It is immediately apparent that despite Indonesia being the world's largest Muslim country, Bali is the exception to the rule, being a predominantly Hindu community. The influence of Hinduism is everywhere, from the architecture - buildings are beautifully decorated with intricate Hindu sculptures and carvings - to the many daily offerings lain out on the streets in plates woven of banana leaf.

True to the name of being Paradise on earth, Bali's many plentiful hotels and guesthouses are kept immaculately clean, with wifi and a/c and a pool to soak up the sun by. Many also have in-house masseurs and free breakfasts, and all this starts from an affordable (dare I say, cheap?) $7-9 a night. Yes, yes, and yes.

Soonae enjoying breakfast - coffee, eggs, bread and fruit!

Bali seems to be kept in a constant spirit of festival, so there are always fairy lights and paper lanterns hung from every doorway and tree branch. Where Kuta is known for its parties, Seminyak feels more sophisticated - a little bit more upmarket, a little bit more chilled out. Seminyak and Petitenget are the two most popular beaches, where tourists come to gather, thronging the beaches, lying on the sand, watching the waves from the deck of a resort club with a drink in their hand.

Perhaps this is an expected feature of any island called 'paradise', but children running into the waves at sunset does make for a very picturesque frame. (I don't particularly like children myself, but I love photographing them!)

Don't forget that adults like playing in water too!

I love standing on the beach, just far enough out in the water to watch the waves wash around my feet.

It's especially great when your friends are as camera-crazy as you are and won't stop taking pictures of everything. What a welcome respite to the usual no-one-to-take-photos-of-me woes that the solo backpacker faces!

Yes, gorgeous friend, I'll gladly take photos for you if you'll take mine.

And then to top it all off, watch the sun disappear into black nothingness while an old Indonesian fisherman, geared up in all his traditional garb, goes fishing. (Sometimes, the best thing to do is simply to people-watch.)

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Blue seas in Santorini, Greece

When you're on the ferry from Athens to Santorini, the water is blue - so blue that it's almost unreal, perfectly clean and the most beautiful shades of the ocean.

Santorini is the definition of a beach holiday - incredibly blue water, and a world-famous white and blue colour scheme that extends to pretty much everything on the island. That's a lot of whitewash that the residents of Santorini go through - and because the colour scheme is regulated, you're unlikely to see buildings in many colours other than white-and-blue.

Although Santorini is known for its beaches and coastal ambience, there are two things you should probably be aware of before you head to Santorini intending to have a day out of fun in the sun: first - that volcanic sand heats up really well, and second - that hot beaches don't always mean warm water.

Do not be fooled by how perfectly divine all this looks - the water was way too cold to swim in. There were probably fewer than 15 people in the sea, and I bet they were all Finnish ice swimmers!

Apart from Perissa beach, Santorini's other famous beach is Kamari beach, with its colourful beach chairs and incredibly awesome seafood. Quite unlike Perissa, it is possible to walk on the sand at Kamari without burning the soles of your feet!

Kamari beach is also a lot more of a tourist resort than Perissa, so there are a lot more options for shopping and dining there. There's a little stretch just next to the beach with a lot of shops selling everything from souvenirs to artwork, and lots of restaurants if you're feeling a bit hungry.

The best calamari ever!

Since Phyllis, Steven and I were pretty much starving by this point, the perfectly fresh and cooked seafood tasted a million times even better! The view wasn't too hard on the eyes either - a table right by the beach, looking out into the ocean makes for a great dining experience.

After we'd stuffed our bellies with food, we went out onto the beach and lazed on the deck chairs. It's the best feeling in the world, being fed and being able to just fall asleep basking in the warm Greek sun. Being around water always makes me feel so rejuvenated, and it's one of my favourite things in the world.

So when I hear waves rushing up on the shore and I go out to greet them, it feels like coming home.

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Turquoise

My absolute favourite colour in the world is turquoise. I'm not ashamed that it's in no small part due to my tweens and my having watched Aquamarine, the movie about the mermaid with blue streaks in her hair, and it being one of my favourite chick flicks of all time.



I love turquoise. It's such a beautiful colour - blue-green, reminds me of the sea and the coast, but at the same time it's versatile enough to be used in just about any setting. Turquoise and the sea at Christmas, turquoise shutters on the windows of a white house, a turquoise bedroom... You get the idea.

It also helps that since Sri Lanka last year (still probably my favourite trip I've ever taken) I've loved the ocean.

Now, I've had blue hair before - I've had blue running on the underside of my whole head, and then just last month I went to a salon here in Edinburgh for turquoise highlights. But still, it wasn't enough. I lusted after a head full of turquoise and having real magical mermaid hair.



The only problem? I'm dead scared of bleaching my hair. I've heard so many horror stories about bleaching and I knew how difficult it would be to have my hair stay in relatively good condition, plus because I was performing I knew that not many people would be okay with having a turquoise-headed girl on stage.

So I decided to go for a turquoise ombre, from my dark brown/black hair fading out into turquoise ends.



I think I'm going to call this DIY job a success. I love it!!!! I love how it has just the right amount of magic - it's not full-blown turquoise, but it's definitely got just that touch of heart-fluttering beautiful colour.

Here's how I did it:

You will need blue bleach powder, 20/30 volume developer (40 is really strong so I wouldn't really suggest it), La Riche Directions Turquoise dye, a mixing bowl and brush, aluminium foil, a shower cap or a plastic bag big enough to wrap your head around, a garbage bag and gloves.

I also very strongly recommend a good moisturising conditioner, protein treatments, hot oil treatments, argan oil, coconut oil, and being prepared to give your hair lots of TLC.

Wear your gloves or you will wind up with blue-stained fingernails like mine. Wear a shirt you don't really care about because it will get damaged (and make this your hair-dye shirt), then cut a hole at the bottom of your garbage bag and wear it like a cape.

Refer to this video.



Now, here are the steps.

1) Equal parts blue bleach powder and 30 volume developer, mixed to a whipped cream consistency and applied to the tips of my hair. I bought mine from Sally Beauty Supply - 500g of powder and 1 litre of developer for about £17, which will last me a very long time. Here's the YouTube video I watched to learn how to do it right.



Basically, coat the hair in bleach, making sure to get every last strand, then wrap it in aluminium foil.

2) Leave on bleach for 45 minutes. Rinse out, and check to see if the colour is light enough to work with.

3) I put another batch of bleach on for another 45 minutes, but my hair, which is pretty strong, is very damaged and fried right now so I would absolutely NOT suggest this!!!!! Leave it on for 20 minutes more at most, and you should probably also wait a couple of days before re-bleaching it. You want your hair to get to at least an ash blonde:

4) Condition your hair like crazy, because after having been bleached that much it is extremely damaged. For this I suggest protein fillers, coconut oil, argan oil, any good strong conditioner for dry/damaged hair, and hot oil. Right after I'd washed out the bleach my hair had a mad amount of breakage at the tips, but thanks to an intensive care regimen the health in my hair is starting to come back.

5) Apply the dye (I used Directions Turquoise) to the places you want to colour. Because I have ombre as well as highlights, I just mixed it in on my entire head to make sure I'd get everything that needed to be coloured, focusing on the ends and running my fingers through my hair so I would get the inside as well and not just the outside of my hair. Also, despite the massive amount of hair on my head, I only needed half the 88ml jar to coat everything!

6) Wear your shower cap or plastic bag on your head, use a hairdryer to heat the hair and dye up (this helps the dye to penetrate and last longer) and leave it there for 3-5 hours. You don't actually need to leave it on this long - 15 minutes is enough, really, but I want my colour to be longlasting so I left it for longer. Unnatural colours like turquoise are only stains to your hair, so it won't damage your hair regardless of how long you leave it in.

7) Rinse out with cold water. I repeat, cold water. This closes the cuticle and seals the colour in. Your head will burn because it's just so cold, but it will be worth it.

8) Towel dry. Do not blow dry or use any more heat treatment on your hair. Condition well with coconut oil and argan oil, a treatment for damaged hair, and whatever else you feel is necessary.

The first time you wash your hair, the water will turn blue. Don't worry! It's just the excess stain rinsing out of your hair. You should try to extend the time between washes to make your dye last longer; I wash mine every 2-3 days, and I'm trying to go even longer in between so that I'll get the most out of my turquoise hair.

That being said, do your research on what brands you want to use when dyeing your hair. My turquoise highlights were done with Crazy Colour, which is horrible and not a brand I would recommend at all. It lasted maybe four washes. I chose Directions this time because I loved the colour (when you first do it, it comes out more like blue, but then fades to a good proper turquoise) and because it's only £3.25 from Amazon with £1 shipping. It's a good brand, it lasts, it's got beautiful colour and it's inexpensive. What's not to love?

And that, my friends, is the story of how Cheryl turned into a mermaid.

Will you be dyeing your hair unnatural colours anytime soon?

If you haven't already, you should probably follow House of Turquoise. This is the place where I feed my turquoise obsession.

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