Paradise - Le Meridien Bali

I have found paradise and it's in Bali.

I woke up on Thursday morning, after countless hours of flying and general traveling, to the sound of birds and frogs and geckos and the smells of frangipani and incense floating through the air. Le Meridien is where I started my journey in Bali. Le Meridien is quite the posh golf resort, which I was able to organize for free due to lots and lots of hotel points from years of travel for work. Quite the bonus.

Anyway, I began a busy schedule of lounging on my balcony, lounging at the pool, lounging over breakfast, well you get the over all picture. The view from my room was quite spectacular and I woke up every morning hearing the waves crashing on the shore. For my surfer friends, the swells looked quite perfect but there was a lot of rock and any attempts at surfing would have resulted in a mangled body instead.

So I decided to discover the spa instead. Over the course of the next four days I was scrubbed with salt and spices, wrapped in seaweed (which was something like being a giant sushi roll), I was bathed in cinnamon, cloves, lemongrass and ginger and was massaged within an inch of my life. Talk about taking the edge off of any travel stress! My brain pretty much dissolved into something akin to oatmeal.

One of the best things I discovered was the "bale". Which is a traditional Balinese structure in which anything from sleeping to cooking is done. Most traditional Balinese homes essentially consist of a compound with various bales. At Le Meridien, the bale is for lounging or getting a massage. Heaven on earth, truly.

I watched some traditional musicians and dancers and at one point took part in one of the Balinese dances, not as easy as it looks and no I don't have any pictures and I hope none of the other hotel guests do either.

After spending lots of time doing nothing at all, Sunday I was off to my surfing and yoga retreat. I will tell you all about it in the next post as I have to hurry back to the villa from the internet cafe for reflexology and massage. Ha ha ha what a life!

Note - thanks very much to everyone who has been reading and sending comments and heartfelt emails. Hope you all enjoy reading about my journey as much as I enjoy telling you all about it.