Wow. I don't even know where to begin on this incredible vacation! I had four weeks off so I decided to treat myself to Indonesia since I ended up staying in Cambodia back in April (#roughlife). So I spent some time just hanging around Chiang Rai and meandered to Chiang Mai to meet up with some friends and partake in a fantastic wine crawl put on by the city. Met some amazing friends and had a lovely time with the girls. Then I flew out late Sunday night (like midnight) to Bangkok and had to wait around for my flight to Bali and I was in Bali by 11am local time (+1 hour ahead of Thailand) and got a taxi to Ubud, my first destination. Now I originally thought I was getting ripped off and kept checking to see if my bag made it in the taxi van, turns out, this guy is a total sweetheart. Charged me less than the normal price and gave me some snacks and taught me on Indonesian words. He was so sweet and I hate that I was so rude at first, not a good feeling, but relaxed ev
entually. Lack of sleep and an overall feeling of anxiousness was an account to my mood, but I was finally on my holiday and I would enjoy it damn it! So we arrive in Ubud and he finds my hostel (The Happy Mango) and I get all sorted and shower and then head off on foot to find my yoga studio that I will call home for a week. Ubud is super touristy and motorbikes EVERYWHERE. And rather hot, but I welcomed the heat (Chiang Mai was freezing when I left). Explored the rice fields and had my little map and got to my studio, eventually. Realized I hadn't really eaten anything and looked at the next class time and decided on some water then class then dinner then bed immediately. Now I researched this studio before I went to Ubud and have zero regrets - this studio has my heart. Radiantly Alive and I strongly recommend anyone to try it out. Yoga Barn (the popular one) is owned by rich Aussies and just is overall a themepark in my opinion and not so focused on the actual art of yoga. So I signed up for my 7 days of unlimited yoga sessions and went to relax a bit before my first yoga class in quite some time. Showed up, got my mat and did some stretching and was just taken away by the beauty of the studios. Hardwood floors and open windows, beautiful artwork and good smelling incense (non of that hippie BS). So after 90 minutes of complete hell/bliss I knew I found my home. It kicked my butt in the best way possible. I was home. I made my way back to my hostel and showered and went to get some food. Basically had enough energy to eat (hadn't eaten in 14 hours) and laid down and knew it was time for bed. Crawled into the top bunk in my hostel and just crashed. Woke up right before my alarm went off (6:30am) and got ready for my 7:30 am morning class. I already knew that I wasn't cut out for a hostel, not that it was loud, but this holiday was not going to be spent sleeping in bunkbeds. Also, since I wasn't drinking I felt that treating myself was my reward for this haha. So I went online and found a nice bungalow (included breakfast too and had a pool) within walking distance to my yoga studio and the main streets and booked 5 nights there. I still had another night in the hostel so could tough it out then. Now basically my days were consisted of yoga classes from 7:30am-12PM. Break to eat lunch with my new yogi family and then back to my place for a dip in the pool and some sunshine and then back to the studio from 4-7:30PM then would grab dinner with my OMies and laugh and we would eat cake (I dare anyone to go to Ubud and NOT eat everything in sight) and then I could barely stay awake after 9PM. Up at 6:30 and rinse and repeat. It was my heaven. One afternoon my friends and I hopped on motorbikes and went to this beautiful resort to use the pool and have a gorgeous lunch with an insane view of the valleys and my future "house" (mansion). I joked that this would be my only bottle service (Victor and I split a bottle of Kombucha) so it was well worth the money. Anyhow, my belly full and body stretching in all directions from yin and vinyasa yoga, high fly yoga (aerial yoga, I wish I got shots of this, but was too caught up in the moment to bother with a camera), acro yoga (partner yoga), meditation, and salsa dancing. My week in Ubud was complete bliss and met the most amazing people. The most amazing food as well. Lots of smoothies and fruit and cake and salads and burritos and soups and...list goes on for forever. And Indonesian food is delicious as well. Was sad to leave my little family, but knew I would run into them in another part of the world. Oh the travel life. So after 8 days in Ubud I had my taxi to take me to Sanur (port) to get on the slowboat to Nusa Lembongan (another island, Bali doesn't have really clean beaches and too many "bros" for my liking). But here are some photos of Ubud...
^ Playing from blackbird to bat pose - I have video of it and will upload it eventually in a new blog
This is called Throne - case and point. I also have video of getting into this pose, will post it soon!
One of the pools in Ubud - made friends with people from around the world and chilled at the pool before yoga - rough life! :)
Selfie at Bali Buddha, the most amazing cafe (though every place to eat at in Ubud is amazing). This place was across the street from my yoga studio so...I ate here frequently
Breakfast! :)
Waving with my toes to Eli - my friend from Czech Republic - we do toe grabs, it's a thing
selfie outside of my own bungalow in Ubud, have video footage of my place, again on a new blog
^^^^This is called Bird. Weeeeee
After Ubud and being with my new friends, I wanted some down time to resonate the first leg of my travel. I again treated myself to a nice bungalow on the cliffs on Sunset Beach. I got ripped off by the taxi motorbike, but oh well - at least I made it to my oasis. This island is pretty mellow and the place where I stayed was mainly ALL honeymooners or a wedding. There was maybe 30 people total haha. And then there was little me. I had a great time actually. I spent 3 nights in my gorgeous bed covered in flowers and fresh towels and an insanely gorgeous outdoor bathroom. I also got to catch the sunset from my patio. Yup, this is the life :)
heaven with a view
my heaven
My days were spent with a morning run around the island and getting weird looks, breakfast provided for, then a shower and a little walk to the beach to setup camp and read my book. I rented a paddleboard a few times and explored out on the ocean and saw my first sea turtle! Was a cute little guy. Also while out I heard this humming sound and looked up (I was wearing a hat) and there was a DRONE (GoPro attached) HOVERING RIGHT AT ME! And he wouldn't leave me alone! OMG it was so funny, I nearly died laughing. When I told my friends they told me to flash it haha (I didn't mom, but know I'm somewhere on YouTube sorry). Then it flew off to see other things. Hilarious. I got lunch at a small restaurant and then a late snooze and some more reading. Then back to my bungalow for a beautiful shower and a little yoga then set off to explore on foot to find a place to catch the sunset and some food. Found the Beach Club and got my table for 1 and caught beautiful sunsets on my nights there. Eventually I met these two girls that became my life and they were teachers at the international school in Hong Kong and they were on holiday for a week. It was refreshing to actually socialize with someone other than myself (yup I talk to myself) and we decided to get dinner at a different beach - mainly because we saw these three guys go into the restaurant so we decided we should go there too since there were 3 of us. Priorities of course ;) Anyhow we decided that we were just going to spoil ourselves (theme of my trip) so I ordered a whole pizza to myself and they had steaks. We were in heaven. And then of course we had to get dessert because WHY NOT. And a mango juice.
I am doing something right in my life in order to have these types of luxuries. They couldn't believe that I have been on my solo trip without a smartphone or a computer. I have my little kindle and it barely uses WiFi so I can just basically see FB messages, but that's about it. Plus no need to be online, WiFi is slow in Indonesia so can upload photos when back in Thailand (hence the delay of blogging). Okay so on my last morning at my heaven I headed to another part of the island to meet up with Bethel - my
We explored the island a bit to catch dinner on the water and watch the sunset then later heard about a live band so we explored the bar and listened to some good music. I still was doing my detox and it was 9PM and I was falling asleep at dinner. Granted I did eat a pizza then a fruit salad THEN some chocolate brownie with ice cream deliciousness while my friend had onion rings and a beer. CLASSY LADIES :) We love food, it happens. Oh such good laughs, I love my friends. Here are some sunset photos and a picture of me not taking a selfie - proof I'm NOT by myself anymore haha.
<- whoops it happens
Okay so after a couple nights here my friend said let's get to the Gili's so we can actually socialize with people. She's not a big napper and my sloth-like lifestyle is really only for a party of 1, so I said okay and I went on a morning run around the island and we got a boat to Gili T. Now this is where the trip just gets ridiculous and hilarious and the most laughs I could have ever asked for. My photos uploaded all over the place so I'll just give captions to them at the end. In short, this week was so much fun. Met so many great people and I was in heaven with just chillin' on the beaches and drinking smoothies all day and catching the sunsets. I turned the color of an Indonesian (success) and wore a swimsuit all the time, my heaven. I also did some yoga at a dive center and tried not to blush at all the beautiful bodies around me. Seriously, try to go to the Gili's and not gape at someone.
So here are some photographic evidence of the shenanigans that ensued...
Selfie because that's how I roll
View for the day
walked out to catch the sunset with my friend and got caught!
Southern Indo in a nutshell
I love my life!
sneak attack!
SORBET YPIMM OM NOM NOM NOM
selfie waiting for Bethel to get ready #storyofmylife
frog prince -for you Mom!
the whole street was covered with umbrella! and Bethel being Thai
I got woken up from a nap...I averaged about 10-12 hours a day...#notenough
Stef not helping me with my bag
Tan and loving it!
Sunkissed <3
sunset date with Bethel
Love love Indo Selfie shame...I need help
How I "unpack" in 5 seconds streets in Indo
Stef's favorite drink - grosssssssss
We caved to bottle service to watch the sunset with friends - probably one of my favorite nights on the islands
afternoon strolls
sunset view
love love this shot
Ubud
Our homestay provided drinks/breakfast for us - this was given to us on arrival #neverleaving
Our friend Kate being in love...
GVI Teachers hehehe #lawdhavemercy
She claims I'm photogenic - Clearly
So this was around 3:30AM after we got two taxi motorbike drivers to find us food because we realized we didn't have dinner so...better late than never. I meant business.
<--taken at the airport. So close to San Diego! :)
<-- On the plane, please notice the guy in the background. We couldn't stop laughing. There is definitely no shortage of beautiful people in Indonesia ;) *side note: I slept the whole plane ride, some things never change*This holiday has been full of so many laughs, a perfect holiday with my amazing friends. I couldn't have asked for a better holiday.
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