From the Road: Gili Islands

My traveling lovelies contemplating life and wondering why we would

ever choose be anywhere else but in this moment right here.

Oh blogging community, I apologize.

I've been blogging quite faithfully on my iPhone, but haven't been to find a place with WiFi that I can post the things that I've written. Don't worry, once I get back to mainland Bali, I will be much more diligent. But for now, I am in the Gili Islands, where Elizabeth Gilbert ends her novel Eat, Pray, Love with her Brazilian boyfriend (so far I'm 0 for 1 on the novel writing and 0 for 1 on the Brazilian boyfriend. Of course, if I'd had a non-salt water shower once in the past four days, I might be having more luck on #2).

The Gilis are breathtaking. Absolutely beautiful. Like, I get sort of emotional watching the sunrise and the sunset because it's so clear (and also, there isn't a whole lot else to do. I walked around the whole island of Gili Air in under an hour. So sunrise-watching is actually an activity).

I went diving last night (my first night dive. I was underweight and so I struggled to stay buoyant the whole time. Ugh, not a great diving experience, but you learn something everytime you go, they say). We saw tons of little shrimpies, a box crab, some little sea slugs whose name I can't remember, and beautiful coral colors. It was a full moon, so no bioluminescence, but hopefully, I'll get to see some off of Thailand when I go dive there (if I go dive there. I'm liking this whole no-planning-seeing-where-the-wind-takes-me thing).

We also went diving this morning (my friend Erny and I) and saw TONS of black tipped sharks, swimming sea turtles, and a few pufferfish, parrotfish, angelfish, mini-tiny crabs, eels and LOTS of other things. It was unlike any diving experience I've ever had and now I really know why there are people all over the world who love diving and do it almost every weekend.

Tomorrow I head to Lombok to climb Gunung Rinjani, so that means no blogging for another few days. Will post as soon as I get back to mainland Bali. Hugs, kisses, and adventures to everyone!

Motorbike Madness

*Ready to take off on our daylong motorbike adventure!

(SPOILER ALERT: Everything turns out fine. You can stop worrying now, Mom)

Every person I've spoken to who has traveled to Southeast Asia has touted the necessity of renting a motorbike to see the sites. Despite my lack of a motorcycle license or general knowledge about how to ride a bike by myself, the Balinese man down the road seemed ecstatic to rent me a bike for the day for a cool 50,000 rupiah (about $5). After a brief lesson (like a two minute "this is how you stop" demo) my two companions and I were off in search if Lake Batur, at the base of Gunung Batur, one of Bali's most revered and still active volcanos.




*Misty in the mountains

It took me most of the ride up to get comfortable riding the bike, but once I got the hang of it I started looking around at the scenery. It was so breathtaking. Beautiful mountains that stretched into the ocean with absolutely amazing foliage just popping up everywhere along the road. Flowers that I can't even describe were everywhere, and women selling seeds to Balinese workers along the side of the road. Each time I went around another turn, it was a new scene: little kids running along the road yelling "Hello!", old women with enormous bundles of fruit or leaves balancing on their heads, men climbing trees in their bare feet to chop down coconuts, Balinese grannies on cell phones. Amazing! It was just an experience riding around and seeing it all not behind the windows of a car.

Since we are in the north of Bali, it's not very touristy, which means that the people here aren't terribly used to foreigners as much. So every time I rode past a group of Balinese, they waved and yelled at me, clearly giggling at the crazy white girl on her motorbike. But it's definitely true when they say that the Balinese are more friendly than any other group of people. As we got close to the lake, we couldn't find a way down to the waterside, so a friendly motorist stopped to ask if he could help us. When we told him where we needed to go, he grabbed his bike and led us to a temple on the lake where we all sat and ate lunch together.




His name was Neyoman and we chatted with him for a while as we ate lunch next to the lake.




*Rachel, channeling her inner lake goddess at the edge of Lake Batur

After finishing lunch, we hopped back on our bikes and rode up to the town of Kitamani to check some shopping. We found some cool tshirts that had hilarious sayings on them that someone has clearly
mistranslated from another language (like "I love to you and back. Please go coming to myplace for aparty"). Our final stop was at a cafe on the mountain for some Tamerello juice (a local drink made out of tomatoes) and fried bananas. We took in the beautiful scenery below and sipped on our drinks after a long day riding around on bikes.




Though everything was going perfectly, it's not an adventure until something goes wrong, yea? I may have been a bit giddy and not paying attention and may have missed a turnoff. However, I was in the middle of the group and Elizabeth, who was behind me, luckily followed. After riding about ten minutes and not recognizing a thing. I pulled over and asked two Balinese women where Bondalem was. They immediately started laughing and pointing in the opposite direction. We had only gone about ten minutes out of the way, so we quickly got back on track and reunited with our New Zealand companion, Rachel, who had made friends with a local man and was sitting by the side of the road with a bottle of Coke in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Clearly she wasn't terribly worried about us. We remounted and drove straight back to Shangri-La, only a few minutes late for class at 5pm.

The day was so beautiful and the riding was ace. I'm determined to get my motorcycle license when I get home so
I can bop around on a cute little Vespa wherever I go.

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Hangin' Around In Headstand

One of the poses I've been working on pretty diligently for the past six months is my headstand. After three days of doing it twice a day I've been able to make some fun variations.

First, getting up there:



Then, descending into a pose that I don't know what it's called but I like think of it as upside down center split:




Then floating to a brief stop into this fun middle pose that I like because it feels like dancing:




And then back up into headstand (this was on the way down, I'm normally pretty straight up):





And then smiling because I have insane blood rush to my head and I'm bordering on delerium:





Happy Headstand Wesnesday!

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I'm Talkin' 'Bout Positivity

Look at the beautiful words of inspiration that I'm surrounded by every day.



Right on! I dance no matter WHO'S watching!




It's really true. All you need is love.




Sometimes it really is that simple.

What are the words that inspire you? They can be painted on the walls, but sometimes you have to keep your heart as well as your eyes open to them.

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Wise Words from The Buddha

"Holding anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." -- The Buddha.

Wouldn't it be so freeing if we could just let our anger go sometimes? The next time you get upset at someone for takin your parking space or cutting you off, ask yourself "what lesson is the universe trying to teach me through this situation?"


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The Really Difficult Life Of Super Intense Yoginis

Who said this wasn't a vacation?



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How To Arm Your Home, Balinese Style

I've been tripping over these little flower collections all around campus (I'm refraining from calling it a compound so it seems less cult-y). The women workers put them out in front of the doorways every night and by morning they are strewed everywhere. I finally was reading about Balinese culture and the passage said that in the Hindu religion (Bali is the only Hindu island in Indonesia. The rest are Muslim), in order to protect their houses from evil spirits, they place nature offerings lit with incense in on the ground in the doorway. Check it out:




*Authentic Balinese home security system

They also place these on ledges or high spaces around the doorways to receive a blessing of protection from the gods.

So in case any if you were questioning my
safety here, I'm one hundred percent protected by homemade spirit charms. Also, the burly Balinese security men that roll around campus help a little bit.

And on another note, the sunrise, which I haven't been up for this many times in a row in my whole life. Breathe it in:




Have a good Monday!

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Bondalem Top 5

Today during meditation when I was supposed to be focusing on my breathing I got the idea that I should post the top 5 awesome things about each town I visit. Currently, I'm in the Balinese town of Bondalem, located in the north and very far from any sort of tourist. We haven't left the compound of Shangri-la (man, it's sounding more and more like a cult) but so far there have been some pretty awesome things that I've gotten to experience.

1. Edy.


Edy is the man. He's the guy that takes care of things around Shangri-la. He picked me up from the airport, always asks me how my day is going, tells me the best sunbathing spot on the beach, and doesn't get mad at me when I snap my key off while its in the lock. Twice. Safe to say I would be lying in a ditch without him.

2. Tiny flowers everywhere, even in the shower.


I think these are supposed to be little offerings but they are freaking awesome and every time I pass one it practically begs me to put it behind my ear. So I do.

3. Snakefruit!



One of the things I love about visiting other countries is the fruits and vegetables that we don't gave at home. Indonesia's version of American apples is called snakefruit and is deelish. It tastes like a cross between an apple and a pineapple and the skin is super tough to peel. Also, when you forget about it and leave it for a day on your bureau it curls up and looks like a snakeskin.

4. Stef and Liz.



They put up with my obnoxious questions about Toronto and say "aboot" and "eh". Cuz they're from Canada. I know, right? So cool!

5. Insane scuba diving with my girl Erny!


Erny and I dove today on our day off and we saw an octopus, lots of zebra and pufferfish and all kinds of crazy macro life. Good thing Erny is a rescue diver because if she hadn't tied my Octopus reg to my BCD, I'd currently be lying dead on the ocean floor (not really, Mom).

What are the top 5 in your town?


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My Love Hate Relationship With My Shower

*The instrument of happiness death itself. Don't be fooled by the beautiful Indonesian flowers they have adorned it with. That shiz is just a distraction.

Anyone who has been to a tropical island knows that, while beautiful and serene, you will sweat something fierce while drinking your morning orange juice (or, in my case, water since we've already had the no-refined-sugars-or-anything-else-remotely-tasty discussion). Which in normal circumstances would require a minimum of two daily showers. Given that I had to multitask brushing my teeth and washing my face (not recommended) this morning to get to meditation on time, showering has been cut to once daily.

But after being awake and engaged for 14 straight hours and sweating my face off doing yoga for around four of them and feeling dirty to the point that I can peel
chunks of dirt off my skin during teaching application (that's not a metaphor. Literally, scraping dirt off of my shins) showering is absolutely heavenly. For about 1 minute and 18 seconds.

Yes, apparently the allotted time for hot water round these parts is somewhere shy of 90 seconds. It was confusing at first -
I wasn't sure if I'd stepped on a hose or hit a valve that shut the hot off halfway through lathering up my hair (which led to a lot of non-yoga-appropriate language on my behalf). After the second day, I was in denial, thinking the first day of ice cold body rinsing was a fluke. By day 3, I had learned the inexplicable sadness of feeling the water go from refreshing to disappointing in .078 seconds. It's a feeling somewhat akin to getting the dollar from your grandma's purse and then racing out the front door only to realize the ice cream man has already moved on to the next street over. But today, I've used my super presteeg Georgetown degree and conjured up a solution.



*The showering arsenal.

I approach the shower, multipurpose soap bar from Lush in hand. I turn it on and run back and forth under it just enough to get wet. I slam the shower off while I lather up, then drop the soap bar, turn on the shower and rinse as fast as humanly possible. Unfortunately, this method forces some decision making - do I condition my hair? Can't shave my legs if I condition. And forget about using different soaps for hair and body. All that switching around wastes precious seconds. What about exfoliating? Uh sorry, hypothermia prevention comes way before dead skin elimination in my book.

As you can see, my life is quite complicated now. I must now go to sleep in my bed with silk comforter to wake at 6:30 for tea and meditation. Le sigh.

And finally, I apologize to all males who I have sufficiently skeeved out by this blog post.

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Staying Present

One of the concepts we've been introduced to so far is the idea of staying present. Enjoying every moment of your day without wishing a different moment would happen sooner or wishing to go back to a different moment. Savoring the yumminess of a fresh strawberry rather than wishing you had some whipped
cream to go with it. Instead of dreading work the next day, feeling happy that you are sitting on your couch in your comfortable home on a Sunday evening watching Jersey Shore (hey, even ridiculous guidos can make us happy).

Admittedly, thus concept is nightmarish to me (I want to go scuba diving and mountain climbing and daydreaming about those two things is delicious!). But my "present" is actually pretty amazing so maybe I'll work on focusing on it a little harder. Take a look:




*The view from my room as the sun rises over the water.



*Our lovely practice room where we spend most of our days doing yoga theory, asana practice, and teaching applications.




*Lunchtime Mecca. Where's my bikini?




*Black sand beaches and infinite possibilities.

How do you stay present?


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From the Road - Bali

It's nine pm in Bali right now and I've just finished my second day of Yandara Yoga's teacher training. And I'm absolutely exhausted. We're up at 6:30 for morning asana (pose) practice, do a little chanting and breathing and the like, swallow some organic breakfast( although someone smuggled in this chocolate breakfast cereal and we were like chubby kids at fat camp passing it around while the instructors weren't looking. Nobody told me there would be no carbs allowed for 16 days), go back to yoga teaching theory and assist workshops until lunch, eat as quickly as humanly possible, sprint to the pool (really a glorified outdoor bathtub) for 45 minutes, four more hours of teaching theory and sequencing, an hour for dinner, then two more hours of chanting and other meditative activities.

It was somewhere between the 40th and 50th downward do today that I realized maybe I'm not cut out for this yoga spirituality business. Which obviously makes me want to try harder. Who doesn't love a challenge?

Tomorrow I'm going to post some pictures of the beautiful space, but for now I'll leave you with this picture of the outside of my room. In Indonesia, wearing your shoes in someones home is a sign of disrespect so we are advised to leave our shoes outside of all important or sacred spaces. Maybe it's the budding yoga teacher in me, but I think that's a beautiful metaphor for life:




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From The Road - Hong Kong Int'l

I made it! Touching down into Hong Kong International Airport was enough excitement to last me the rest of my life. Until I saw my breakfast choices:



Oh the irony of traveling 3,000 miles for a Quarter Pounder.

This gives me hope that I may find a Starbucks around here. Three more hours until I leave for Bali!

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Location:Hong Kong Int'l Airport

Keeping in Touch

I've gone to the dark side.

It was all very innocent at first. I needed an MP3 player. An iPod was obviously the only choice to blast Kelly Clarkson during tricep extensions at the gym.

Duh.

And then my college computer broke and Mac was running a really good sale so I couldn't help but grab myself this super cute little MacBook.

I mean, it was on S-A-L-E.

And then I kind of ran six miles in a rainstorm by accident and so then my iPod got all waterlogged and then my phone contract with my carrier was up and then someone told me that iPhones might lead to world peace and saved babies and so then I did the unthinkable.

I bought an iPhone.

And you know what? It's lovely. I seriously love it. I traded in my dinky flip phone and I can't ever go back. It's like driving your grandma's 1987 Caprice Classic for years and all the popular girls make fun of you and so you save up all your ice cream scooping money for the day that you can buy your own car and then you walk into the dealer and roll out in a bright pink Caddy. Bumpin' some Whitesnake just in case everyone from third period math even questioned for a second how cool you were.

Or something like that.

I've also become that awful glued-to-their-cellphone, doesn't-stop-texting, look-up-before-you-run-into-me-or-I'll-intentionally-elbow-you person on the street.

But at least all of my bills are paid.

Anyway, I've also equipped myself with some kicking' apps, including this BlogPress app. It's pretty bomb so far, especially because I'm writing this post on the subway (and trying to dodge the teenagers that are making out in front of me while very adeptly not falling over). I leave New York tomorrow but hopefully this app, among a few others, will help me keep in touch with the two people that actually read this thing.

Tomorrow I'll post a little about the apps that I'm hoping will be super useful, and maybe I'll write a poem about how much I love EMS and their 95 gajillion backpacking gadgets. No big deal that I spent four hours there in the past two days. And I didn't even make it to the sleeping bag section!

What are we feeling about this blogpress app? And how do you guys stay in touch while abroad? IPhone users, any advice about good apps I can download (because I really just want an excuse to have more little boxes on my home screen)?


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Whenever I Ask Myself What The Heck I Am Doing

(From the travel wizards over at SMU Travel Bug)

Doesn't this video just make you want to get up and go?