PICTURES OF PARADISE

Bali is everything you imagine it to be. It is green, beachy, hot, breezy. There are huts and men with triangle hats on their heads and women with stacks of fruits and baskets on their heads. There are palm trees and rice fields. There are beaches, there are mountains. It is beautiful and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to see it.

Liana, Lucinda and I had a few things in mind for our trip but we did not schedule much in advance. Our first morning here, we were treated to breakfast made by the villa staff. We then decided to participate in a yoga session at a nearby spa resort.

The resort was unlike anything I have ever seen before; I described it as something out of a fairytale book. There were lots of little huts and grass everywhere; little objects like statues stuck out of the ground. There were so many colors of flowers and buildings. The sky was bright with large clouds. It was almost unbelievable.

This is where we had our yoga session

Once we arrived, we were advised that the class was 90 minutes, which was a bit longer than we were expecting. Lucinda, being the yoga goddess that she is, was way more prepared in our eyes, but Liana and I were up for the challenge.

Our instructor was a young, pretty American girl who was not uber thin and inhumanly flexible, which was nice. She also did not yell at us for wiping our sweat during the session. She was kind and spoke gently. She was funny and she made the class fun. After class she told us that she travels the world teaching yoga, which sounds like an ideal career for a single person.

The class was held in a large, open hut with a thatch roof. We climbed narrow, steep steps to the platform and placed our rubbery yoga mats atop the wood floor. I noticed some bugs and worried that they would be a problem throughout the session. I hate bugs but I did not think that flicking them across the platform or killing them would be a very yoga-like thing to do so I did my best to ignore them or move them in a new direction.

As we started warming up, there was no music. Music was not necessary. We listened to the breeze as it came flowing through the open-air structure. The palm leaves and grasses rustled with the wind. Exotic birds were chirping. For a few minutes, some soft hammering could be heard in the distance and the occasional gong would ring in the background. This, to me, was a perfect moment.

After yoga, we came back to the villa, showered and headed off in search of lunch. We ate at a great place called Deus, which was a restaurant attached to a surf/motorcycle shop that sold knick knacks and T-shirts. Through the shop was an art gallery where we quickly learned about the most dangerous thing in the ocean.

Oh yes, Surf-Fu

A man we assumed was the restaurant owner came over to see how we were and how we were enjoying things. A tall, blonde American man, we wondered how he came to own this place and how it all came together. “I think I will open up a restaurant/art gallery/surf shop/motorcycle shop/souvenir shop in Bali.”

After a leisurely lunch and afternoon coffee, we explored a gorgeous part of the island just north of us on the west coast. We took some great photos of the spectacular views and walked through the many street vendor tents. Here are just a few:

We finished the day with a fancy dinner at Hotel Tugu and had some wonderful Indonesian fare. For the price of a burger and fries in Singapore, we were able to enjoy a cocktail, a large plate of food that resembled American portions and dessert. It was a wonderful day and I fully intend to go back for more!