Ubud-Yoga Retreat-July 2014-C

We had driven through Ubud before on my surf retreat to visit the rice terraces and I had thought the city looked a little too hectic.  Steph from S. Africa had given me a hotel recommendation that ended up being SO amazing.  The place is stunning and everyone is so nice.  I had my phone on rice for a couple of days so I am really hoping to get pictures in Ubud.  This place is full of such beautiful things.  There are huge kites flying all over the sky-not like kites you see in America, these are more like car size and fly VERY high.  If you are on a hill you can catch a view of the rice terraces sprawling out from the city and between the shops there are amazing temples, hotels and spas that are amazingly decorated.  Since I am back from a Muslim island to a Hindu island, the smells and offerings are everywhere as well as Buddhist decor.  This place is made for yogis and hippies, there are natural products, locally made jewelry and clothes, vegan/raw/organic restaurants everywhere.  Yoga and spas are found on every street and everyone is chilled out and friendly.  I love it here and cant wait to check into my retreat tonight.  I have not wanted to shop throughout the whole trip, but here, the art/jewelry/clothes/oils are so tempting.  I could go crazy!!!I hope, hope, hope that my phone works and I can get photos!!!

My birthday "cake"!  They added mint and pineapple for me!!

Those are flower petals in the middle!

After finishing the detox

First food-Papaya!!!

I keep wanting to write about this retreat but I am having trouble putting words to it.  The whole property is a celebration and expression of life.  There is such a wonderful vibe here.  I am going to start with a list of my experiences and then add more narrative later...
The mornings begin with kefir shots and relaxing yoga.
During the day we have wheat grass shots, herbal tea, coconut water and two amazing green juices.
I have had massage treatments, exfoliating scrubs, acupuncture.
We have learned and used herbs, ayurveda (tongue scraping-ugh), PH testing, pranayama, traditional chinese medicine.

We have had sound therapy, energy healing, chakra balancing, meditations, yoga nidra.

In our group we do journaling, circle sharing (thanks Boettcher and Yoga Teacher Training for making me a pro-circle sharer).

Our amazing Detox Leader and Herbalist have put together an amazingly well rounded and super supported detox to let our digestive system rest and heal.  Our leader looks like Natalie Portman and has a crazy cool background.

My room is simple and peaceful and has the sound of running water from a stream outside.  There are four yoga studios on the compound and there is always songs, chanting or random yells coming from them!

My favorite parts have been the additional yoga classes I have taken (I have never laughed so much as in the yoga class with Les Levanthal, who is amazing).  AND, my goodness, I cant describe the Ecstatic dancing.  There was one Friday night and one on SUnday.  It is this sweaty, filthy, animalistic, loud, pulsing freedom of expression.  There are ball dancers, hoop dancers, people rolling on the floor, people who dont stop jumping, people making out, just everything you could imagine.  The music is wonderful and fills the entire compound.

Today is my last day.  We had our first food yesterday starting with a papaya.  We ate it very slow and got super full.  We then had a celebratory salad (I know, salads arent that celebratory to me either :( 

This morning I had a huge fruit plate and some chickpeas.  Im going to keep with the no dairy, soda, and wheat for a month to see how I feel.  Im sure I will have meat before too long, but as of now, I am not craving it.   

Before my flights I took an amazing power yoga class in the open air, am going to have something deliciaious for lunch, do some shopping and I am going to get a body scrub, massage, and pedicure-bliss before the hours of transit :)

I have four flights in the next 2.5 days:  Bali to Java, Java to Japan, Japan to New York, and then finally NYC to Denver arriving in Denver at 7pm on the 31st.  I am super excited to get back and start this next school year and get back to my yoga class (I miss you guys!).  I may come back to Indonesia in the future, there is so much more to explore and I have had such a wonderful time.

With Love!!!!

Gili T-July2014-C

Gili Air was kind of couple-y so I headed on the local boat to Gili T which is supposed to be much more lively.  I had another Dutch guy on the boat and we decided to find a hotel together.  (Un)fortunately, he had this idea that we could find an amazing, but cheap place on the other side of the island and we ended up walking around the whole island (2 hours) with our backpacks on, just to end up where we had started.  We finally found a home stay that I ended up staying at, but he went to another just down the road.  I met up with the two Aussies from Lembongan and we made plans for the  night.  THey had had a misadventure the night before so they were wary about going out, but Gili T is known for its nightlife so I wanted to head out.  We started at the open night market which is a crazy hectic place where all the raw food is layed out, you pick what you want and then they cook it on a BBQ.  I ordered some safe skewers (I did try fresh red snapper) and rice.  We then went to bar where a band was playing.  They were pretty good playing Bob Marley to Foo Fighters.  People were definitely there to party.  We met some Brazilian guys who quickly got too rowdy for us.  We briefly saw the Norwegians, and the Dutch guy, but the place was so hectic and loud you really couldnt keep track of anyone!  After seeing a bunch of girls fall of tables and drop their drinks everywhere we moved on to a silent party.  You see everyone dancing but hear no music because everyone is dancing with headphones on.  The funny thing about this place was the fact that there were two DJs on two channels so half of the bar was dancing to more pop music while the other half was dancing to hip hop.  I loved dancing at this place-no shoes, on the beach with great music.

I planned on staying on Gili T until I headed back to Bali but I was talked into going back to Gili Air and there are just more day activities there.

We rode the boat back, I got my bed back at the crazy hostel and we set out to snorkel and SUP.  The snorkeling was very nice again-such a variety of fish.
The Aussie girls and I got the SUPBoards  and started messing around.  Becky did gymnastics and was willing to play around with tricks on the board.  We did headstands, backbends and some ridiculous jump turns.  I can not wait to SUP again.  This was especially nice because the water was so clear, you could see the sand, coral, and fish underneath you as you are paddling along.

We are going to get a lounge area tonight and relax as it is my last night on the islands and I head to UBUD tomorrow!

We found a great lounge area on the beach and settled in to try some local flavors and relax to enjoy the sunset.  I caused some trouble by flying a paper airplane to the guys at the table next to us.  One thought I had sent it directly to him...oops.  We were unimpressed by the local shakes that we had gotten, which really disappointed me because I was really looking forward to them :(  My so sweet south African friend joined us for a bit as we ate.  Then we headed to the bar where the paper airplane guys were as well as others from the local dive shop.  I didnt want to call it a night since it was my last night on the islands but i headed home to the hostel where I found a friend from before and Im sure we drove the others crazy as we whispered between the beds.
On the boat back to Bali, we stopped back by Gili T and I found a part of the island that I hadnt paid attention to before because I was with the Dutch guy looking for a hostel-the adventure part.  There were SUPs, kayaks, and a really beautiful beach.  The rest of the island is kind of gritty or really exclusive but I liked this little area and wish I had noticed it before.  Since I didnt have my camera, I asked a very handsome German to take some pictures and email them to me-we'll see if I get them!

The day was especially beautiful and I was super disappointed to leave.  I could def. have stayed a couple of more days on Lembongan, Gili T and Gili Air.

Gili air-July2014-C

Yay, after for days of trekking I'm on a beach in paradise.  I scheduled a scuba for tomorrow, ate a great meal (after pretty decent, but still camp food), and snorkeled all around.  The beach here is gorgeous and I saw a ton of different types of fish while  snorkeling.  The coral its not that nice unfortunately, but less than ten minutes in, a huge turtle swam under me, came up for air and swam beside me.  I was squealing so much, the guy next to me started laughing. 
I'm going to try to kayak, sup,, and scuba tomorrow before I head to gili t!

 

I got up ready for kayaking and totally excited.  The weather was perfect and the sea looked calm.  I was determined to go around the island.  I didnt see any other kayakers, but there were a lot of boats out that I could have flagged down.  I did the east side of the island no problem.  THere were these amazing schools of little silver fish that would all jump out of the water and the birds would get them from above and larger fish would get them from below.  It was amazing to see.  Turning the corner to the north there were a couple of reef breaking waves, but I went through them fine and I was feeling a little bit cocky.  I continued on the north and the waves were now coming parallel to me, so  for every big one, i had to turn the kayak.  I was still going on pretty well and then I saw the north east corner.  There were so many waves breaking in so many places.  I started to get a little nervous, but I really thought I could just round the corner and be fine...no, I got my ass handed to me.  Igot hit with so many waves, just dumping water all over me.  So I beached my boat, turned around, walked it a bit and then got back in.  I had to go against the current until I got back on the east side of the island where it was really calm.  I was exhausted AND my phone got wet even in a plastic bag in the "dry area".  Hopefully this is not the end of the pictures for my trip:( 

I rested for the afternoon and then went scuba diving in the afternoon.  We went to Turtle Heaven and saw so many turtles and fish.  It was so full of sea life.  The coral was ok, but the turtles were the real draw, there were swimming turtles and sleeping turtles.  I loved this big daddy one that was sleeping in this tiny corner of coral pretending like there were ten or so divers staring at him.  People really kept their distance on this dive which I totally appreciated.  I dove with just the divemaster and on other girl.  There were a ton of people doing their certifications though.  We also saw an octopus.

On the dive boat I met the sweetest girl from S Africa that I went to dinner with, its amazing how much you can enjoy a person that you just met!  Also, I had switched from my HORRIBLE "hotel" to a brand new hostel on the island.  I shared a room with 6 others and it was such a typical hostel feel-very easy to meet others.  THere was a guy from Longmont in the bed next to me and another from the Netherlands that joined  Steph (S Africa) and I for drinks.  If I go back to Gili Air I might stay there again.

BUT...I left the next day to head to GIli T...

Nusa lembongan-June2014-C

***photo disclaimer-my phone camera is horrible so if I'm with others, we share our pictures. So if some pictures look awesome (like most of the retreat photos) they were probably taken by someone I was with. Today, after saying good bye to all my fellow retreaters, I got picked up to go to a fast boat (Scoot) to Lembongan. I bought a round trip ticket from Bali to Lmbgn to Lombok and then back to Bali for about one hundred dollars including all the hotel pickups. The boat ride was about 30 min and the sea had huge rolling waves. It was very fun, but I imagine it could make someone very sick! The island is GORGEOUS so far and I've only seen a bit of it. After taking some pictures, I found the Exotic hotel and booked a room for two nights. I then got to business. I had two huge problems. My card wasnt working in the ATM and my phone wasn't holding a charge. I would be fine without a phone, except I don't have another camera and I would have to spend more time in internet cafes, which are getting rarer now that there its free wifi everywhere. My hotel owner took me to the ”electronics store” aka someone's house via motorbike. The owner got a charger for me ($8) and I used the phone to call my bank. The problem ended up being that the ATM didn't take visa which was of course all I had. So, the store owner took me to a money changer (on motor bike again!) which thankfully takes anything for a hefty fee. Both problems solved AND I now have ridden a motor bike 6 times in crazy Balinese streets. I freak out less each time, by the end I'll be ready to drive my own with 2 adults, 2 kids, a dog and a basket on my head like the locals do!!! There is a lot to do on this island and I only have a day and a half, so I'm trying to go to bed early to get up and do all of the following: Hike to mushroom beach for sunrise Scuba and see a mola mola kayak the mangrove forest Cross the suspension bridge to ceningan Cliff jump at the blue lagoon AND full moon party at blue corner beach club-super moon!! Wish me luck!

So I did the hike to mushroom beach, but I was a little late for sunrise. The beach was not that spectacular but the hike was very interesting. All the school children were going to school on their motor bikes, and I would guess there were kids as young as 10 driving. There is not a lot of traffic here, but there is some and the roads are crazy. Totally crazy to see. The scuba boats were full unfortunately so I decided to have my hotel call a kayaking place. I got to ride another motor bike to Lembongan water sports and meet some sweet Australian girls there. They were doing a kayak/lunch/snorkel package and I decided to join. The snorkeling was good, there were some decent fish, but nothing like Caribbean. The kayaking was chaos!!! No one else in my group had been in a kayak and we were going through narrow mangrove trails against the current. The girls were exhausted, the coupler with us were fighting and the pair of guys weren't talking to each other. Totally made me appreciate the rhythm Heidi and I have even more. Everyone else was struggling hard fighting over control and paddling not in sync. Then, to top it off, the guide tried to get us to go through these boats to get to the beach but the current was so strong that the couple typed over spilling all their stuff in the water, including their thankfully water proof camera. Out took about twenty minutes but the guide did find it. Super sweet guy but no clue how to read a group. I then walked around the island to get to the suspension bridge to cross to cenigan (sp?) The tide was out and there were these massive sea weed gardens between the islands. I kept walking around C and realized there were no other tourists. I did make it to the cliff diving point-which was stunning!-but it was way too dangerous at that time of day. It took a lot longer to get to the jumping point than I thought so now I was worried about making it home in the dark, so, my new favorite thing to do itswave down the next local and ask if he's going my way and if I can jump on the back of his bike. About 5 minutes walking I found a guy who took me all the way to the suspension bridge. Probably saving me 30 minutes. The roads on C are barely roads covered in potholes, chickens, cows, old people walking etc, so I was more nervous than I had been, but after I made a weird screaming sound when we flee down the hill, he assured me that he has been driving since the age of ten and he's seventeen now-I couldn't believe that actually made me feel better! I crossed the bridge and met up with an Aussie surfer when I picked up some water. He was walking off his Bali belly and we walked the next hour together back to my hotel. THEN we joined with a French guy (its so easy to meet people) and we all made plans to meet up tonight, where the Aussie girls and I had decided to go, to dance under the full moon. The full moon party was such fun dancing. Fireworks, rain, fire dancers, hippies, a pretty good dj....I met up with the Aussie girls and the Aussie guy from before, and while looking for the French guy, I met two Norwegians. One became fast friends with one of the girls I was with and I spent most of the night with the other. At the end I caught a ride home on a motor bike and after being shamelessly propositioned by the driver I realized that my keys were not in my purse :( I caught another motorbike back out to the party and was lucky enough to be able to stay with the Norwegians-such a waste of my nice room :(. I got into my room in the morning to the 4 continuous hours of loud speaker singing prayer, slept, and now I'm pdf to Lombok.

Ubud Rice Terraces-July 14-C

Bali Surf Retreat-July 14-C

I really could not have asked for a better evening.  I was greeted with fresh watermelon juice, a fruit plate, a foot message and a necklace of flowers that smelled heavenly. The setting of the retreat is amazing. Very calming. There are nine of us on the retreat, me, 5 Aussie girls, 1 Aussie guy and a couple from new Zealand. Each day we have yoga, meditation, breakfast, surfing, lunch, massages or spa treatment and then dinner. The yoga instructor is amazing. He is everything I could have hooted for, spiritual, highly trained in India, intense (teaching style) and gorgeous (!) The yoga and meditation sessions in the morning have been so nice. The food here is delicious but sometimes difficult for me. Today I ate squid which is very far out of my comfort zone. The surf has been so good and so hard. I get up consistently and catch my own ” waves” on the white, but sometimes I cheat and go to my knees first, so know I am focused on breaking this habit. The current was so strong today and I would walk as hard as I could and go no where, so I'm exhausted and I have rash burn in various places all over my body. I love it though and I can't wait to try in other places. We have two free nights so one the first one, a group of us went to Potatohead Beach Resort. There was a huge line to get in to see the sunset, but we got in on time and ordered some drinks and food. The atmosphere was amazing, they had an infinity pool overlooking the beach and lounge seating.

Breakfast

Our crazy room!

Sitting in the lounge seating at Potatohead

Tonight I got to play around teaching some yoga and inversions to my group. They were my Guinea pigs for some things i've wanted to try in my class. We had fun messing around and had a hilarious dinner, its such a fun group of people! My roommate and I giggle all night, I couldn't have asked for a better person to share my space with:

At Potatohead

Sitting in the lounge seating at Potatohead

Infinity pool

Infinity pool

Our yoga studio

Yoga studio

Pool on the complex