Two on a Scooter and Jatiluwih

After an incredible time in Sydney and Brisbane I travelled back to Bali to not-so-patiently await the arrival of my beloved John. There is still much to be chronicled about my Australian adventure but in an effort to challenge my somewhat perfectionist mind, I'm allowing a bit of unchronological story jumping.

I arrived back in Bali five days before John was due. Five very long days! Eventually I found myself sitting at the airport, waiting for him to arrive. I sat there for nearly an hour and part of me didn't believe that he would ever walk through those sliding doors! Six months blurs one’s ability to believe that certain people exist in the flesh. And then… suddenly… there he was! 

John jumped off the plane and into the sea! My friends Georgina and Shailender drove me to the airport to pick him up.

We spent two wonderful weeks in Ubud; visiting my favourite eating spots, meeting friends, enjoying delicious meals together in my little cottage and having daily classes at my favourite yoga studio, Radiantly Alive. We were treated to a special Balinese dinner with my Balinese family, they also excitedly gave us traditional ceremonial dress to wear. They absolutely adored John. Once or twice he went to collect the laundry and still hadn't returned half an hour later – where could he be? After stomping up the garden path I was met by a laughing Gustut as he explained to me that he had kept John chatting for a very long time and that John had only just been released to pursue his original quest!

One Tuesday morning we packed up our two little backpacks, donned our helmets and set off on the scooter. Off on an adventure! What a wonderful feeling! We were not long out of Ubud before we stopped to snack on peanuts and watch the kite flyers launch their kites over the rice fields. It is both the windy season and the kite season in Bali and it was awesome to be able to count over fifty kites sailing in the blue blue sky over the green of the paddies. 

Our first stop was the rice terraces of Jatiluwih, a UNESCO world heritage site. We took our time to climb up through the misty mountains and valleys to the highlands of the Penebal District. We followed some wooden signs to an organic farm where some lively Balinese children asked us questions in impressive English and showed us what was growing in the thin strip of farm land. After enjoying our picnic lunch we made our way back into the mist towards Jatiluwih. Before committing to accommodation for the night we continued to scoot up and down the hills exploring the area, but after experiencing a very bumpy and potholed road we decided that we better backtrack a bit and return to the small village of Jatiluwih. I can promise you that any bump is felt quite severely after being on the back of a scooter after a couple of hours!

The small warungs and homestays devoted to the tourism of Jatiluwih are set just behind the road that lines the edge of the cliff, as it gently falls downwards to the rice paddy terraces. This place is one of the best spots to witness the clever subak irrigation system, which allows water to be shared by a community and flow from one paddy to the next.

After settling into our accommodation for the night we went for a dusk-time walk. I thought that the view was rather nice and pretty. But, it was only the next morning when we truly experienced the spectacular beauty that Jatiluwih boasts of. The sun was not yet up and the sky had not yet been clouded in the thick mist characteristic of this region. We saw the two spectacular volcanic mountains of Batur and Agung to our left and all the way to the sea straight ahead.

We walked into the rising sun and beyond it. We experienced that precious morning time when things are slowly starting up, where the air around you is pulsing with that special, somewhat energised sunlight of the initial moments of the day. We saw cows having breakfast and farmers making their way to their fields. We reached the shaded entrance of a temple compound. We were the only ones there, and this solitariness, coupled with the feeling of the early morning, made it feel all the more sacred.

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Melbourne Magic

I cannot let the small, subtle, joyful moments of my trip to Melbourne go unrecorded. This blog has always been about capturing those times during travel which would otherwise go unrecorded; a walk through a random park; the soulful chat with a friend and of course a delicious meal enjoyed in an unexpected space.

I arrived in Melbourne in a whirl. I still marvel at the shift of universes that can take place as you hop on a plane and then hop off it a couple of hours later. I woke up on my first Australian morning and I revelled in the chillyness; in the autumn leaves and the comforting ways the trees looked against the pretty creek that ran parallel to the park near my ‘aunt and uncle’ Di and Vince’s home. I spent the day at home acclimatising to a gecko-less and rat-dropping-less existence and took two walks with Melba the dog. I was in heaven. It was wonderful to be bundled up and walking along an orderly path in an orderly park!

After the morning walk I set out my yoga mat on the floor, with the good intention of continuing my Bali practice in this new environment. Melba, however, had different ideas for our post-walk activities and trotted over to me with a ball in her mouth, dropping it at my head during downward-facing-dog. She cocked her head and looked at me expectantly. I sensed that she wanted me to stop this nonsense and engage in a more worthwhile activity of her choosing.

I spent half of my time in Melbourne with Bridgette, one of my best friends. I’ll always enjoy the memories of sitting on her couch in the morning (aka my bed) feasting on dates from the 5kg box she bought and drinking one of her delicious fusions of tea or her blended up version of date milk. I like to think of myself as ‘a walker’, but I was pretty much put to shame by Bridgette and her sister Sarah. We took many a walk through their neighbourhood of St Kilda East, both of them marching two steps ahead and me trailing behind – they assured me that they’d soon get me walking fit!

On one of our long walk adventures we ended up at a beautiful shop called Qi Crystals. I entered the shop and a sense of peace descended upon me. The first room is full of crystals and the second, a delightful array of books dedicated to the many facets of ‘new age’ (ancient) thinking. These kinds of shops can often have a sort of strange energy about them, but this one wasn’t like this. I felt an immense sense of peace and silence, as if, just by being in that space, I was experiencing some sort of healing. They offer you a cosy warm drink and then are perfectly happy for you to spend as long as you need to in their space, reading, browsing, or picking angel cards with your friends.

I was attracted to Melbourne because I knew I would find the home-loving that I was craving. Fortunately for me, my family were quite happy having me lurk about their home for three weeks. There was always a warm dinner to come home to or someone to pick me up from the station if I arrived back late from the city. I loved hopping on the trains and trams and getting places. I spent a fortune on transport but it was totally worth it, and I revelled in the mobility which public transport offered me. Many people who have grown up with the luxury of a working transportation system seem to always find something to complain about; waiting for the train, the expensiveness of the tram, the time it takes to get places. But coming from a country with a limited public transport network means that I will always delight in the way I can get to places all on my own. I loved being on the train and usually I wasn’t quite ready to stop reading and get off when it pulled into Flinder’s Street Station in Melbourne City.

One evening, Bridgette and I met my family at the Moroccan Soup Bar in Fitzroy North. It is not a bar nor did we eat any of its soup (and I'm unconvinced that there is actually any available); instead we went there to enjoy its share-feast, which was absolutely amazing. We started with mint tea followed by flatbreads and a scrumptious array of dips. And just as our tummies were settling into the feeling that dinner was just about done, about six different meals were set before us. I find it difficult to describe food using any other words besides ‘delicious’, ‘scrumptious’ or ‘amazing’ but to put this meal in perspective, Vince, a non-vegetarian (of the extreme variety) was heard to say, “if this is vegetarian food, I could definitely get used to it”. Well there you go.

On the topic of vegetarian food, I thoroughly enjoyed the vegetarian options in Melbourne. I’ve never been to a city where there are vegetarian restaurants that dedicate themselves to only serving gorgeous vegetable-based dishes. As a South African, it's taken me awhile to imagine a meal that has no meat, and so to enjoy such artfully designed animal-friendly food is a real treat. Travelling always introduces you to new people and back during my exchange in Canada I met Justine and we shared an afternoon together in Montreal after my flight to New York was cancelled due to a snow storm (a whole other story which my mother would be enthusiastic to share with you – 'I told you to catch an earlier flight!'). Unfortunately, Justine is currently gallivanting around Central America and so I connected with her friend Luce who took me to the all-vegetarian Vegie Bar in Fitzroy. Once again I was blown away by the options available to us and we eventually narrowed down our choices to a vegan pizza and a falafel dish (I just love falafels). Yum! After dinner we had the obligatory ice-cream which was almost but not quite as big as the monster I consumed in Singapore.

As I look back on my time in Melbourne I find myself still quite enamoured by this gorgeous, culturally vibrant city. I enjoyed wandering the streets, drinking chai lattes, being with loved ones, taste-testing teas at T2 and enjoying the warmth of winter meals. The Emerging Writers Festival I went to was incredible and I left feeling absolutely inspired – with a renewal of vows to my partnership with the written word. This unexpected Aussie blip in my Bali journey proved to be an important part of my soul adventure and with it an unveiling of the next important step in my life.

Melbourne Moments

Melbourne and her Hare Krishnas

I stepped off the train on my first Saturday in Melbourne and felt the excitement of being in this city pulse through me. The energy went directly to my feet as they took me off through the delights of a brand new city. There was a purpose to my day: as I had not expected to step out of the tropics this year, I was very much on a mission to find some warm clothes and boots. The sights and sounds of this city built on my exhilaration, I loved the street theatre taking place around me - the gorgeous music coming from singers, guitarists and other interesting instrumentalists. They called us in, their audiences forming a circle around them before losing interest and moving onto the next bit of entertainment. I watched as a man changed position on his street toilet, or a magician pulled a coin from a little girl’s outstretched hands.

After revelling in my newly purchases boots, I went looking for some lunch. A sign advertising ‘Gopals: vegetarian food for the soul’ caught my eye. I wondered up the stairs to find a gorgeous buffet of food inviting me in. I looked at the price of the feast platter, a bargain by Melbourne’s standards. Five minutes later I was sitting at the window with my feast in front of me, watching the streets outside and the autumn leaves swaying in the shivering breeze. I was delighted to have stumbled upon this gem. I found out that it was a Hare Krishna enterprise, and I did recall the Hare Krishnas as being quite generous folk.

I was right. A few days later I was hunting for the perfect hot chocolate. Another sign caught my eye – the cheapest vegetarian food in town. Hmm… there are three words I love about that sentence. Once again I found myself walking up some stairs and into a toasty chamber within. There was a loud man serving large helpings of food at the end of the room. It looked delicious. Forgetting my hot chocolate search, I paid my money and sat before my meal: curry, rice, pommadoms, and an incredibly sweet looking desert. I chatted away to the Canadian guy next to me, he’s been to both South Africa and Bali and I’d been to Canada. After filling up the all the food I could manage I went to have a look at the vegan dessert option. It had already been cleared away. A girl in a sari saw me poke my nose around the serving station, and she generously offered me some more. Soon I was clutching a take-away container stuffed fill with a vegan version of the dessert (Score!).

That next weekend I experienced the Hare Krishna community. I went to the Saturday night event and joined in with the chanting. After the mini-kirtan there was a speaker whose talk I only caught bits and pieces of, I found my tired mind dreaming of other things as the speaker spoke his truths. I’d like to say that I caught the important bits, but this didn’t help me when he kindly directed a question at me. I sat frozen, having been somewhere completely different, “sorry… I zoned out.” Oops.

After experiencing the delicious dinner at the end of the Kirtan on Saturday night, I convinced Bridgette to join me in visiting the Hare Krishna Ashram the next evening. She agreed heartily, the idea of “Free Feast” as appealing to her as it was for me. We found our way there and arrived during the meditation. A set of wooden prayer beads were given to us as we were invited to join in, the process was explained to us newbies - say the mantra written on the wall and when its done, move onto the next bead. There were 108 beads. By the time we finished the meditation I was four beads ahead of where I was supposed to be, and Bridgette was four behind. Our focus would need to be worked on. After our introduction into Hare Krishna meditation, we joined the queue for the feast, and what a feast it was! Our plates were piled high with rice and curry and then our dessert was plonked onto our plate along with the rest of our food. Bridge and I laughed as the sides of our pudding mingled with the sides of our curry. Nevertheless it was delicious and we both thoroughly enjoyed the experience of sitting cross-legged on the floor with everyone else.

So after the delights of Hare Krishna, would I join their movement? No. But any sort of organised religion doesn’t really appeal to me. I’d rather leave myself open to experience bits and pieces of what inspires the belief and faith of others. Although, I'm certainly appreciative of the way the Hare Krishnas fed me so beautifully during my Melbourne experience! I found each person I met within this society kind, open and loving, with seemingly no intention of converting me - their only concern being to be feed me silly.

Thank you Hare Krishna!

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Pay as You Feel for Deliciousness

I am sitting in the pay-as-you-feel Lentil as Anything restaurant in the Abbortsford Convent in Melbourne. This means that you eat delicious food and then literally pay what you feel the meal is worth or what you have in your pocket at the time. It’s a Saturday afternoon and I have brought myself here to be in the buzz, drink some chai, eat some food and write some blog. It’s a beautiful chilly Melbourne day but we’re all snug and warm in here. The chatter of well-fed people fill my ears, along with the clinking of cutlery and crockery while the business of being a restaurant takes place around us. Musicians take turns at enchanting us with their piano expertise and closing my eyes I could be at any bustling, ‘normal’ restaurant. 

People are lining up along the metal bayonets overflowing with abundant vegetarian food, each person dishing up for themselves. Restaurant volunteers are as busy as anyone in the restaurant industry, and yet they’re not being paid for this – they’re giving up their Saturday afternoon to serve us. I asked one of the waitresses why she volunteers here. She’s a traveller and her only form of income, besides the food she eats here, is busking on Melbourne’s streets. She says she works here nearly every day and enjoys being part of a community with the values which this restaurant celebrates.

Once you have had your fill of delicious food and perhaps ordered a delicious hot drink, you go to the wooden treasure chest up against the wall and slip in however much money you feel you can pay. I love this concept; I love the giving-ness of it. Some would be sceptical of this kind of model working in the long term, but this place is packed every single day, there are four branches in Melbourne and a brand new one recently opened up in Sydney - the next on my list to visit!

Lentil as Anything runs on a model of trust, generosity, kindness and inclusion…without drawing attention to someone’s ability to pay. Lentil started so that people with no money can learn, work, eat, socialise and have fun in our restaurant without compromising their integrity or dignity…At Lentil, we believe in the power of humanity to create stupendous change and that everyone deserves a place at the table. Our food is not free, but you are…                                          Lentils as Anything - Menu

Imagine if there was more space for these kinds of spaces in the world? Imagine if everyone could come and find a place to be safe and cosy and call home, even if just for a little while.

 www.lentilasanything.com

Postscript: After finishing the first draft of this blog post, a guy came and sat opposite me. I felt a strange vibe from him and asked the girls sitting next to me if they would watch my computer while I went to the bathroom. I came back and this guy started to engage me in conversation. It was difficult to understand him, his accent was thick and I also felt as one feels when they’re with someone who is not quite…normal. He started speaking about aliens and anti-viruses and how he doesn't use a home phone. I cut him off, “I'm just busy working here…” I smiled at him in that sickly sweet way you do when you're trying to be nice but not nice at the same time - a part of me thought I should listen to him, who knows what he might have to say. The other obstinate part of me wanted to write my blog in peace, about the inclusion of everyone at this restaurant. He was unimpressed by my desire to ‘work’ and told me so, and I got the feeling that he was telling me that here he was trying to give me something by way of his conversation and I was rebuffing him. Soon he left, I smiled up at him, trying to redeem myself and he smiled sadly before he turned to walk away. I was filled with guilt. Here I was celebrating how this restaurant is so inclusive, and yet not even for ten minutes could I include this man in my life. Another lesson to learn perhaps, hopefully I’ll remember it the next time I am faced with a chatty stranger whom I feel has nothing to say.

The Last Days

It might surprise you to know that I now find myself sitting cuddled up in autumn, in Melbourne, Australia! It seems so strange that this time last week I was waking up on a tropical island, about to take my yoga mat to the beach to greet the morning sun. I do not recommend this, there's just too much sand on the beach. But, I digress. How on earth did I find myself in Australia?

After my wonderful holiday with my parents I sunk into a bit of a travelling dip, the kind that makes you feel desperate for the proximity of loved ones and home. As I mentioned in my last blog, I was most definitely feeling ready to leave Ubud. For me, that funny little town had lost its charm, and suddenly I wanted my days to be about more than just yoga and delicious food. Ubud hadn’t changed, I had – and thank God! I'm pretty sure it’s a gift to feel that one is ready to move away from a more contemplative, relaxed lifestyle to one that has a different kind of purpose. At the beginning of my time in Ubud, all I wanted was to be there, to soak in all that it was. I did that – it was glorious and growth-filled and extremely special. But when you are in a magical place and the feeling of unhappiness starts to settle in, it’s a sure sign that it is time to move on.

But where to next? John has his flight booked and is arriving in Bali on 29 June and so my wanderings cannot take me too far. I think he would be most unimpressed if he were to arrive in Bali without me waiting to greet him! Thailand crossed my mind and I was very ready to jump on the next plane at the end of May (when my Indonesian visa finishes) and wander about there – try out the yoga and the food and the beaches of Thailand. But to be honest, there was something about that which didn’t make me feel excited either. In one of my particularly blah moments, my special friend Georgina, in an effort to help me shift my blahness, searched online for writing courses. It didn’t take her long to stumble upon a writing festival in Melbourne and suddenly I started to feel excited.  A writing festival? How cool! And, I love Melbourne! I have friends and family here and friends and family in Sydney and Brisbane! The thought of being with loved ones and exploring some civilised cities was wildly appealing. And so, within one evening it was decided. Thailand can wait! Off to Australia I go!

Unfortunately it’s not that easy to just up and leave for Australia, especially being South African. Our passport certainly makes for some interesting and expensive bureaucratic adventures. There were forms to be filled out, letters to receive, money to transfer and a visit to the Australian visa agency. I went down to Denpasar to apply for the visa with Georgina and Shailender, and after getting lost and then finding the place and then doing the deed, we visited a friend for breakfast. After breakfast we spent the day doing chores, filled with many mishaps, but ending gloriously with us sitting in a MacDonald’s car park eating delicious French fries and drinking Shailender’s coke because we both assured him that we didn’t want any of our own. The organic, raw foodies of Ubud would have been appalled by our fast food behaviour.

 

It was an interesting time being in Ubud and waiting for my visa. I was quite ready to leave but knew that I had nowhere to go, and I was desperate to really enjoy my last few days of being there. As life always works out perfectly, each day I was there was great and I felt that I was meant to be there – spending time with the people I needed to spend time with. I also spent one morning cleaning and rearranging my little cottage, I knew that I was about to leave it – but I felt a strong desire to shift the energy a bit. Gustut and Jeru helped with the rearrangement and we moved my bed to underneath the window, which meant I had two glorious weeks waking up and opening my windows without getting out of bed. It was so lovely to sit with my tea in bed and watch the morning creep into my little jungle garden – a a little corner of the world which will always have a special place in my heart.

During my wait for my visa a friend of a friend visited me in Ubud. I had only met Sam once while she was doing Peace Corp in South Africa. She was in Indonesia for a wedding in Jakarta and so was visiting Bali for a bit of pre-wedding adventure. After a yoga retreat she came up to Ubud to stay with me. I am sure she was quite comfy on the floor of my little cottage! I entertained her with a few of my best Ubud things to do. We took an afternoon scooter ride through the rice-paddies and then an early evening walk in my favourite morning walk spot. Unfortunately my favourite spot also seems to be the place for the teenagers of Ubud to get their cigarette fix! We visited two of my favourite warungs for dinner: best-indian-dish-ever on Thursday and cheap and delicious sticky-rice the next evening. Of course we had to visit Wayan for a coconut at his coconut stall, and once again he entertained us with his stories and antidotes. We were even joined on the bench by some fellow travellers! It was all quite fun.

 

The next morning I left Sam asleep and creeped out to catch the shuttle which would take Laura and I for our little Gili Islands holiday. In true Bali-style-super-duper organisation, we waited for the shuttle for over an hour, with Laura and I calling each other to exclaim that they still have not come! Eventually we were in the shuttle and then at Padangbai and then on the ferry and off to Gili Air! The term ‘gili’ actually means little island, although when one talks about ‘the gilis’ in Indonesia, one is referring to the three gilis that are grouped close together just off the island of Lombok. The most popular gili island is Gili Trawagan, although it is also the biggest drunken party zone and not somewhere to go unless that’s what you’re going for. My family and I have gone there a few times (not to get drunk and party mind you) and I didn’t really feel inspired to go back. Laura and I chose to go to Gili Air, which is a lovely mixture between absolute doing-nothing island bliss and the option of having delicious dinners and a dose of night-life.

 

We stayed at Bintang Beach, and spent our days eating, reading, swimming in the most gorgeous calm turquoise water, having soul-filling chats and exploring the island. There is absolutely no motorised transport on the island and so all you hear is the clip-clopping of donkeys' hooves and the creaking of wagon wheels. On Monday we went for a snorkelling trip which was really fun. We saw some turtles in the first two stops - amazing! One swam all the way to the surface and popped its little turtle-ly head out the water. Sadly the corral is pretty much dead around the islands, although in the last stop there was a lot more colour and some very awesome looking fish. We had pizza and salad for lunch on Gili Meno. It was really great that we were able to explore a tiny bit of the last of the Gili island trio.

On the ferry back to Bali I was telling Laura how I really wanted to get to Australia soon and was so hoping that my visa would come through so that I could book my flight and vamoose. At this moment I reached into my bag for my phone and a new email had just come through – my visa! HOORAY! I was so excited! After a slightly hair-raising shuttle trip back to Ubud I arrived home and booked my flight to Melbourne. The cheapest one by far was leaving on Thursday afternoon, meaning that I had only one day and one morning left in Ubud. Eek! On Wednesday I spent the morning with Laura and then for dinner with my Balinese family. Just before I left for the Gilis I found a replacement tenant for my little cottage, Syreeta, and she had moved in to try it out while I was away. I was staying at Georgina and Shailender’s place as they are in India at the moment and so it all worked out perfectly. When I was advertising the cottage I mentioned the creatures who inhabit it – really to warn off anybody who was seeking a luxurious garden cottage. However, Syreeta said that she had actually been drawn to the cottage because of the creatures! She also likes particularly hard beds, which means that her and the cottage are a match made in heaven! On Wednesay evening we had a lovely dinner with Gustut and Jeru, it was a ceremony day – Galungan, hence the delicious feast! During Galungan the streets are decorated with penjor, tall decorative bamboo poles with with offerings hanging on the end. 

 

As I packed up my stuff in the cottage and said goodbye to the family, and then to Ubud the next day, it all felt absolutely right. I was really ready to move on. My little cottage, my gorgeous little Bali home, was in the hands of someone who would love it as much as I did. Of course knowing that I’d be back in Ubud with John in a month’s time made it a whole lot easier to leave! I was so excited to come to Australia, to see all my special friends and family and to have a whole new and very different experience. I was very ready to swop my scooter for the train, and my flip-flops for some new boots! 

Parents, Friends and a Jakarta Reunion

My solitary Bali adventure was welcomingly interrupted by the arrival of my darling parents.  As I sit here on my little verandah, I'm still glowing after the time I spent with them.

And this is why:

I scooted down to Nusa Dua early on the Monday morning of their arrival. The ‘villa’ where we were staying granted me an early check-in and I napped the morning away until I was sure I heard the voices of my arriving parents. I ran upstairs to hug them HELLO!

We spent the week lazing by the pool, eating Easter eggs brought from SA especially for me, and generally hanging out together. We had delicious meals at some lovely restaurants as well as just ordering-in from a local restaurant when we didn’t feel like getting out of our swimming cozzies. One day after a beach visit, my mom had a craving for a tuna roll and so we stopped by the supermarket, fetched our supplies and headed home. I drank my tea and ate my sarmie in the pool. How lovely!

Tea in the Pool!

We had sunset drinks on the jetty near the villa, watching the planes fly in and out of Bali while another holiday-day came to an end. Ironically the view was of my favourite bridge – perhaps because I love it so much!

Sunset from the Jetty

After Nusa Dua we all moved up to Ubud. My Balinese family had told me that they wanted to cook a meal for my parents when they came, and so when my parents visited my little cottage a huge feast was laid out on my long wooden table. It was so lovely, they made such an effort to welcome my parents and I know for sure that the food that Jeru cooked is usually only reserved for ceremony days. We had yellow rice, chicken, fish sateys, tempe, peanuts and coconut shavings, small vege omelettes and a plate of veges. Wow. It was a real feast and I think my Balinese family were just as happy for an occasion to eat such delicious food! It was so great to sit and watch my two worlds collide for awhile and have my ‘families’ meet one another. My mom had brought some gifts from South Africa for them and they all went pretty crazy over the marshmallow Easter eggs!

My two families and our feast!

My parents stayed in a gorgeous hotel in Ubud which I obviously made full use of and swanned in and out like I was a paying guest. The glories of luxury after months of rustic living with the roosters and geckos! Early on the Saturday morning I met my dad at the entrance to the hotel for our first ever scooter ride together and then a morning walk in my favourite morning walk spot. I wouldn’t say it was the easiest scooter ride for either of us as the weight was rather unbalanced! As I was going down the hill my dad was so certain I would not be able to break and so pressed against my back in the futile hope that this action would make us break!

He was saying “break break!” I was saying, “stop pressing on meeeeeeee…”

Needless to say we survived the 1 km scooter ride and had an awesome walk. My dad offered to drive us home, which was a little less dodgy than the way there!

The gorgeous hotel!

My dad left on the Saturday, much to our sadness. But, his departure did mean that we could settle into some girly activities. We met Courtney for dinner that night and then had a very slow scooter ride home. My mom was trusting but a little nervous and asked me to slow down when I was going 20km per hour. By the next night she was quite comfortable however, and sat eating an icecream on the back while holding on with only one hand! She seemed to see me as simply an extension of the scooter and pushed and shoved and grabbed at me as she was embarking and disembarking. I had to remind her that I was a person and not something she could use to find her balance!

Transport Bali Style!

We went to have the best-facial-in-the-world with Eagle and then onto sunset dinner at Sari Organik.

Goddess Pampering!

On Monday we met my other new family Shailender and Georgina for breakfast (at our favourite breakfast spot) and then up to the site of their under-construction yoga retreat. It was wonderful to have my mom there to meet the people that I spend so much of my time with. Of course her input into the design and décor for the retreat was much appreciated!

Georgina, Momsie and Me!

And, all to soon it was time to leave Ubud and the beautiful Komeneka Hotel (which I had moved into when my dad left! Comfy bed! Air-conditioner! Breakfast! Pool! ). But all was not lost! My mom and I were off to Jakarta to visit old friends and old haunts. The car trip from the airport settled us back into the Jakarta traffic scene and two hours later we stumbled into our friend Sandy’s home, so glad to be there, at last! We had convinced our friend Christine that she needed to come back to Jakarta while we were there for a visit and it was wonderful to all be together again. Sandy, Christine, my mom and I, sat up until after midnight on Tuesday talking talking talking. I was so exhausted, but the late night was so worth it!

The Pyjama Party Participants

The next day we had our Manyano Angel Day, which my mom initiated back in 2008 in Jakarta. It is an afternoon of inspiration, sharing and spirituality. Usually it is also an afternoon of many cups of tea and delicious food! I had my first ever encounter with the indian dish payasam – AMAZING, it’s a Indian porridge/pudding and is made with sago/tapioca, condensed milk, raisins and cashews. YUM! Our friend Marilyn is also the cheesecake queen and would always make cheesecakes for birthdays and other special occasions. She did not disappoint this time, and I enjoyed my pieces immensely!

The Manyano Angels

My mom’s favourite restaurant in Jakarta is a place called FJs. It is here that they make her favourite meal: chicken gorgonzola risotto (insert drumrolls here). All of us flowed onto dinner at FJs after a gorgeous day of sharing at Manyano. We all left feeling quite satisfied (and yes, I had another piece of cheesecake when I got home!) and my mom said that her meal was everything she had hoped it would be! Mine was pretty damn good too.

Dinner at FJs 

One of the very very special things about staying at Sandy’s house was that I got to see and cuddle my two little dogs, Bella and Falomo. Sandy and her family offered to take our dogs and look after them when we left Jakarta in 2011. These two little bundles of black hair and love really gave me lots of companionship when I lived in Jakarta in 2010. We used to go for neighbourhood walks every night; I walked the dogs and prattled along to the Learn-Spanish-Mp3s while trying to stop them from using the road and immaculately manicured lawns as personal toliet spots. During that gap-year (yes, there have been a few in my life...) having them around made me feel less lonely when I felt so far away from all of my friends. I would love to say that when I saw them at Sandy's they remembered me, but I'm not sure – they were totally excited to see me, but they’re really totally excited to see everyone. They are such happy, loving little creatures. It was good to see them and I feel that I really did say goodbye to them for real this time, knowing that they were happy and loved made me feel much better about not having them close to me!

Bella, Caitlin, Falomo!

On Thursday we moved to our friend Laura’s house, but not before visiting our favourite little salon for pedicures and hair cream baths. I had my fair-share of pampering when my mom was around as on Saturday morning Laura, my mom and I went to have another all-time favourite experience: hot stone reflexology…mmmm….! Laura also took us to watch the school play her daughter, Kyra, was working behind the scenes in - an awesome rendition of The Wizard of Oz!

There were so many things I loved about being back in Jakarta. I saw this bustling, busy city with new eyes. Yes, it is crowded and polluted and the traffic is atrocious, but there is also so much happening and there is an effort to create more green spaces and parks. One of my favourite experiences was going to Skye Bar, a restaurant on the top of a tall sky-scrapper. It was epic! We got there just as the day was officially closing down, and the view of the city was spectacular. After drinks on the rooftop, we moved into the restaurant and had dinner looking out of the enormous glass windows. Pretty flippin’ cool.

City Lights!

All too soon it was time to say goodbye and return to Ubud. We had the best time in Jakarta and most of all it was just so special and fun to be with old friends again. I had a good little cry saying goodbye to my mom, as it had been so nice to be together again. I was not quite ready to return to my solitary life! As the car drove away to take my mom to the international terminal, she opened the ridiculously small aeroplane window of the car and waved manically out the window, squeezing her arms and face through the tiny space. She got the reaction she was going for, as I stopped my crying and laughed at the scene and her smiling face.

My holiday with my parents was marvellous, and it was great to have them there to talk about my next moves and my plans for the next couple of months. I can feel in my bones that my time in Ubud is nearly over. I’ve got to the point where I'm ready to move on, and as I ride my scooter and look around at the bustle of Ubud and the rice-paddies, I feel quite content to be here now – knowing that I’ll soon be somewhere else.

Where to next? I'm not really sure...Watch this space!