On this occasion Dean and I had been apportioned the task of sorting our a support boat to guide us safely across to Lombok. With a tip off of a possible helper in Padagbai up towards the Eastern tip of Bali; we stormed off on a locally hired moped to go and see if we could broker a deal. The wind in our trousers, and the throbbing might of a 120cc Honda merrily chugging away between our legs, we rode carefree through the lush green Balinese countryside. Now we have both been involved with moped accidents before, and so are keenly aware of the dangers of this mode of transport.

We took no chances as we headed out East; riding conservatively and with the maximum permissible thinking space between ourselves and the other road (ab)users, we plodded along steadily. We took a halfway break in the small town of Gianyar, for ice cold Fanta, and then rode onwards; quite happy on our day off.

The road is in fact the main artery that connects the Balinese capital of Denpasar and the ferryport for Lombok. As you would imagine, it hums and reverberates to the pounding of a regular heavy stream of laden lorries, and passenger vehicles. But as we stretched away from Denpasar the traffic thins, and the fumes clear a little to reveal a startlingly beautiful road, lined with rice paddies and colourful Hindu temples. We enter something of a trancelike state mesmerised by the procession of rural Bali life marching before our eyes.

A grey uniformed gentlemen strides out from the side of the road to shatter our tranquil state - suddenly bringing us back into the real world. His firmly raised palm instructs us to pull to the side of the road, and we soon realise that we have been collared by the long arm of the law. What can we possibly have done wrong though? We're minding our own business, riding carefully, on a perfectly legal machine....'Speaking Indonesian mister' the moustached officer barks at me. Shortly followed by an instruction to show my papers. Hmmmm. Now which papers might these be. I had happily taken the keys from Andrew this morning, been for a quick spin around the block to acquaint myself with the controls and then we were off. Papers was something that hadn't even entered my mind. A hurried flick through my tatty 7-11 wallet revealed that my UK driving license was certainly not with me here - probably safely stowed in the bottom of one of my panniers back at the hotel in case of emergency - oh sugar!

'Just come here with me my friends', the policemen ushers us across the road and into the shade of his thatched roof roadside stake out. 'Now, you know in Indonesia this is a very serious matter', his voice taking a stern tone with the two of us. 'Already these people are coming to present themselves in the justice this week for no papers'; we took this to mean that the generous sheaf of yellow tickets that he was gingerly waving in our direction was his recent tally of victims who would be required to face the music in the local court. As we looked at each other, I wondered to myself whether this really could be true. But the officer wasn't hanging around. He turned his page to find a new ticket and poised his pen ready to write. This had almost the effect that he was looking for as I became quite agitated. I certainly didn't want him to commit pen to paper. All our softly, softly, 'poor ignorant tourist' tactics had fallen on deaf ears; better pursue a new tack. But before I could get my words out, Officer Miegoreng had already begun his next lines 'Of course you give me some money, so I not write this ticket. The Police Force in Indonesia very, very poor'. This had now gone too far - and his blatent invitation to a bribe was the perfect opening for our way out of this. 'Do you know' I began, so nearly uttering the infamous words (who I am?). 'Do you know that we have Cycled and Sea Kayaked from England'. My hands waving about wildly trying to add weight to my explanation. 'We have travelled for 400 days, for 23 000 kilometres - duapulo tiga ribu kilometer, sepedar dan sampan - umpat ratus hari' etc. etc.'....and in two days time we are holding a press conference at Novotel Bali.' I went on to explain that we would shortly be appearing on Indonesian National TV on their English language programme 'Balivision' talking about our wonderful time in Indonesia. Officer Miegoreng's face broke out into a smile 'Ah-ha' he paused a moment to gather his thoughts, his devious mind churning through his options.

'Of course, I don't want to make trouble for you....so how about if you just give me something nice from "Made in England", like present for me!'. Clearly he was now on the backfoot, and so we went in for the kill. Officer Miegoreng, would get nothing from us! 'Now, Sir, we really would not like to make trouble for you. It would be such a shame if we had to explain to all these people', I began pulling out as many business cards from my wallet as I could - showing him the Bali Post, TVRI, Bali Echo, 'that we had money taken from us by a dishonest Policeman Officer Miegoreng, at the roadside here in Bali'.

Shortly afterwards we were making our way back across the road to our moped. Our money and our possessions all still intact, and with a feeling that the expedition had helped us through. The faintest hint of a grin across our faces we went on our way, pleased that this bully had not got his way with us.

As it happens we found no joy in our search for the support boat at Padangbai - but we did have a great ride through Bali's paddy fields!