Bangkok, Thailand - Part 2

Sunday I got on the Skytrain and went down to the river where I caught a tourist ferry boat and took a bit of a tour. We passed the luxury hotels, Chinatown, some Wats (temples), lots of dilapidated looking buildings and the Memorial Bridge. I got out at the stop for the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo, where the sacred Emerald Buddha is kept.

I first stopped for lunch at The Fishermans Seafood Restaurant, where I had a fantastic seafood curry while overlooking the river. After lunch I went off towards the palace, I walked past hundreds of street vendors, got caught in an afternoon downpour but I eventually made it to the grounds of the Palace and the Wat. The Palace buildings glittered with gold and the gardens had beautifully manicured trees and lawns. It almost felt like being in Disney World - it was so clean!

I went to Wat Phra Kaeo first and I bought some incense, gold leaf, a candle and a lotus blossom. I have never prayed in a Buddhist temple but I sort of watched what the locals were doing and went for it - it is quite a beautiful ritual. One lights the incense and holds the incense, the flower and the unlit candle between your hands in prayer. After you have said your prayer, you take the gold leaf and stick it on one of the Buddhas in the prayer area. The prayer area is outside in an open courtyard or covered by a small roof, it is not in the main temple where these rituals take place for the common people. After saying my prayers I went to look around and saw the famous Emerald Buddha.

I strolled around the palace grounds and eventually made my way to Wat Po to see the famous Reclining Buddha. The Wat is the oldest Buddhist temple in Bangkok and the Buddha is amazing, it has to be way more than 40 feet tall and over 100 feet long and it is covered in gold. In the same room as the Buddha are 108 bronze bowls, you make a donation and get 108 coins to drop in the bowls for good luck. After seeing the Buddha and dropping my coins, I went to the main chapel, left my shoes outside (as one does) and walked in. About 25 monks in saffron robes were praying and chanting along with the lay people. A spectacular experience. After some prayer and repose I went to the massage school attached to the temple and got a foot massage. Quite the treat after all that walking.


I had wanted to see the famous flower market, so I hired a tuk tuk (sort of like a 3 wheeled motorbike contraption) to take me there. I saw dozens and dozens of roses, lotuses, carnations, orchids and a variety of other flowers I don't even know. I felt like the only Westerner for miles.

I decided to be brave and get some food from a street vendor. It was an interesting exchange, I can only say "thank you" in Thai and the cooks English was limited too. So I had her make me anything, somehow we managed to communicate soup to each other. I sat there in the middle of the flower market, among the locals, who were all eyeing this weird woman who had braved their sidewalk. The food arrives and initially it looked like squid but upon closer inspection I came to the realization that it was chopped up intestines with chili and vegetables. Wow - ok so I thought I better try it. And it was spicy, not the spicy of make my eyes water and my nose run, oh no, it went WAY past that. I managed to eat maybe about a third of the dish and then the cook presented me with some sort of a soup with something that looked like liver in it. Yum. I ate some of the broth but could not manage to choke down the liver.

I had always thought I was fairly brave when it comes to food but this experience proved, not so much. Hey, at least I tried it. It was pretty funny actually, all these Thais were watching me to see how much I would actually be able to eat! After downing my bottle of water, I paid up and caught a taxi to the Skytrain station. After the funky food, I had a major desire for something familiar and soothing, like ice cream. So I hopped on the Skytrain and and went to the mall.

I know, I know - for not being a mall person, I'm spending a heck of a lot of time in them. (Actually I'm not, it just seems like it sometimes.) Anyway, I walked around this super mall, I think it was even bigger and posher than Suria in Kuala Lumpur. I never made it to get any ice cream - I hit the internet cafe and got an iced coffee instead. After a long day, I made my way back in the direction of my hotel, stopped for a Pad Thai at The Copper, where they were playing an entire Jack Johnson CD and I could not have been happier.

Ubud, Bali - Part 2

Sheila left back to Seminyak on Thursday and I decided to stay on in Ubud for a few more days. I moved to a new hotel, Artini Cottages 2; Artini reminded me of lots of miniature palaces surrounded by lush gardens filled with white frangipani flowers, hot pink hibiscus trees and purple bougainvillea plants. I had booked a regular room but the staff at Artini
hooked me up with the honeymoon suite at the back of the hotel. A
lovely room with an expansive view of the gardens and cottages.

On Friday I decided to take a jewelery making class. Other than playing with beads and string as a child, I had never really made any jewelry. So I booked a class with the awesome
people at Studio Perak. The other students definitely had some designs in mind and one was quite intense about his work. I, on the other hand, had no design in mind but I eventually got some sort of idea as to what to make. With lots of assistance from my instructor Ketut, I made a ring that I am actually quite pleased with. I am calling it my lesson in going with the flow.

After class I meandered through town, stopped at the crowded market, bargained with a girl for some gorgeous silk batik scarves and made my way to the Lotus Cafe for lunch. I had Mie Goreng, sort of an Indonesian version of Pad Thai.

Lotus Cafe overlooks the back gardens of Pura Saraswati (Temple Saraswati). The temple, despite looking quite ancient, was built at the end of the 19th Century and dedicated to the Goddess Saraswati, the goddess of water, learning and creativity. Her name, Saraswati, literally translates to "the one who flows", kind of cool. After a stroll through the lotus filled garden, it was time for my daily
reflexology session and dinner.

I had dinner at the cafe "Kafe" which is under the yoga studio and met of all things, Swiss tourists (She from Basel and He from Solothurn - just in case anyone was wondering). Anyway so I hear them talking and can not resist piping up and telling them amount Yani,
the Swiss speaking Balinese tour guide. I'm not sure what tripped them
out more, a Swiss speaking Balinese or a Swiss speaking New Yorker/Miamian.

The next day after a yummy breakfast of Balinese coffee and banana pancakes, it was time to head back to the beach.

My ode to banana pancakes, oh how I love thee. Seriously they are AMAZING. I am no big fan of bananas, I appreciate their nutritional value but I have been the victim of potassium overdose in the past (specific people will know what I am talking about, yes you James). Anyway in Bali they make these light, crepe-like pancakes and fill them with a sliced cooked banana. Oh my god, they are SO delicious. I have a whole new appreciation for bananas.

Ubud, Bali - Part 1

After some sad goodbyes on Sunday; Karen, Sheila and I ventured up to Ubud for what else, but of course more spa treatment! When I read about Ubud I knew I wanted to come up here, it is the heart of the artistic community in Bali. Karen found us a boutique hotel and spa called Taman Rahasia. The resort was small and intimate, sort of like a jungle paradise. We booked a crazy six hour package. Karen booked hers over a two day period since she was going back to Hong Kong on Monday but Sheila and I decided to take the six hour session in one shot. It was called "A Day of Sheer Indulgence", one would think that I have had enough indulgence but hell, why not go for a little more? The package included a body scrub, a massage, a soak in a flower petal filled tub, lunch, a facial, a manicure and a pedicure. All for under $75US! Who could resist that?

After our blissful spa experience Karen went back to Hong Kong and Sheila and I went to go look for a place to stay. As lovely as Taman Rahasia was, $90US per night was a little out of our budget for an extended stay. After a couple of attempts at various places we came to Sania's Homestay, where we got a lovely room for $25US per night. Sania's was a small hotel within a family compound, we essentially walked through their outdoor living room and past the family dog and bird every time we walked in or out of the hotel. This hotel felt like we were in a temple with ornate doors and terraces all over. We stayed at Sania's until Thursday doing a lot of hanging out around Ubud.


Sheila believes I have perfected the art of just hanging out. Essentially sitting around in cafes or on terraces chatting about this and that for hours at a time. We took in a couple of yoga classes, one of which was in Japanese! Stephanie you should have been with us! Sheila and I also found a great foot reflexology spot where we luxuriated in having our feet massaged. Heaven. We had some interesting moments at a particular internet cafe, we did some shopping down Jalan Hanoman where lots of men constantly offered transport. I don't know if most of the tourists take taxis in Ubud but we were happy to navigate the broken sidewalks and walk.

In addition to the constant assault of transport drivers, one regularly receives offers to see traditional dance shows. One night Sheila and I went to one of the temples to watch the Kecak performance. Kecak features a large choir of men wearing sarongs and flowers behind their ears (which is not viewed in any way as effeminate in Bali). The men chant "chak-a-chak" and it is remarkable how they layer their voices. In addition to the men chanting, beautiful and graceful Legong dancers also perform. The performance closed with a fire dance, where a mound of old coconuts is drenched in gasoline, lit on fire and a barefoot man in a horse costume kicks the burning coconuts around, much to the annoyance of his keepers. Imagine a child jumping into autumn leaves after his parents finished raking them into a huge pile. Take note that in all of this we were less than 20 feet from the action. Quite amazing we were not subjected to signing waivers and there were no announcements warning us not to try this at home!

Surf Goddess Retreat - Part 3

On Thursday we had a rest from surfing and went on a cultural tour. We met Joachim, who runs a small tour company, at his family's hotel and stables. Quite the gorgeous place where one can arrange for horse rides in the rice paddies or on the beach. Anyway so our tour began in an air conditioned van (a good thing because Bali is very hot!) and we drove to the region of Tabanan. We were graciously welcomed by the King of Tabanan, Rai Girigunadhi, at his 17Th century palace,where we were invited to join him for iced tea, a snack and a chat. Rai Girigunadhi used to work for the national department of tourism. The country of Indonesia is not ruled by the monarchy from a political sense. We sat with the King and heard his fantastic stories about his travels and trips to California and Hawaii.

After our visit with the King, Joachim turned us over to Yani, a charming local Balinese man, who would be our guide for the rest of the day. One of the most amazing things about Yani is that he speaks Swiss German, not formal German, but the dialect I grew up speaking! Here I am traipsing through Bali, speaking Schweizer Deutch with a Balinese dude!! Amazing and hilarious all at the same time.

Yani and our driver took us further into the hills. As it was full moon, we encountered numerous religious celebrations and processions.
The men, women and children were all in their "Sunday best".

After a bit of a drive through the countryside, we stopped for lunch in a forest clearing close to a little village. The farmer, whose land we were on, prepared a most delicious meal of Balinese food for us. It was amazing to be in such a serene place surrounded by such a variety of fauna and flora. My sister has become an expert in the way of tropical fruit, so I snapped about a million pictures of the local agriculture! All the girls know about her proficiency with exotic fruit so the running joke of the day from Sheila was, "Let's call Carmen, I bet she knows what this is!" It was funny! We even had jackfruit for dessert, which Stephanie pointed out, tastes exactly like Juicy Fruit gum!

After a lovely rest in the bale after lunch, we packed back in the van and drove on. We stopped at the top of a most amazing hill with a tremendous view of the volcano and hiked down the hill through the rice paddies. The steepness of the rice paddies is amazing, its unbelievable to think about the millions of farmers around the world who trek up and down hills to cultivate rice. We crossed paths with a random German tourist, some farmers and some cows. We took tons of pictures and had lots of laughs. Yani truly was a great guide with a stellar sense of humor.

At the bottom of the hill we came to a temple. I am not sure which god or goddess the temple was for but it was spectacular. We covered ourselves with sarongs and entered the temple, where it was just us and a priest. After a look around, we were permitted to join Yani and the priest in prayer and received blessings (like I DON'T already have enough!). I definitely want to learn more about Balinese Hinduism, their rituals are so sacred and so beautiful. Indonesia is comprised of many many islands, all of which are mostly Muslim. Bali is the only island in Indonesia that is predominantly Hindu. After our time at the temple we headed back to our villa in Seminyak and were treated to a class of restorative yoga.

The next few days we continued to surf, do yoga and get our daily spa treatments.

I went on this trip to work on my surfing ability and my yoga practice, but I came away with so much more than that. I came away with the experience of a lifetime that I was blessed to share with five fantastic women. I thank them all - Anne for her grace and calm, Stephanie for her unfailing generosity, Kim for her enthusiasm and chats, Sheila for her beautiful, hearty laugh and Karen for her openness and guidance. Many blessings to you all! Also a million blessings to Chelsea, Melinda and Susan for cultivating the sisterhood!