Entries about yoga

Well it was up and atom at 6am for a mug of herbal tea before meditation and yoga at 6.30am. Myself and Lindsey were late again. :D Despite it only saying 6.20am on our clock, everyone was still there ready and waiting before us! SIGHHHH

Meditation today was tres difficile. I can't sit still comfortably in the lotus position for 15 minutes. My back was hurting me, my legs hurt and I just wanted to give up and stretch it out. But I ain't no quitter! It was 15 mins of pure concentration face, then 20 mins of stretching the joints and an hour of yoga. My legs were aching from yesterday and I couldn't really stretch out properly. Nevertheless, we cracked on. It was a beautiful morning as we sat on top of a mountain and looked out at a blue sky, sunshine, hawks in the air and lots of tiny houses in the distance on the mountain opposite us.

After another nom fruity breakfast,

we trekked on. Today was much more challenging as we climbed up stone steps for at least 4 hours before lunch. Some of these steps were up to my knees! It was roasting and I was sweating my head off. My hair was soaked and the sweat was dripping into my eyes and making my face salty. We had a teabreak at about 12 and then trekked on before having lunch at a place that had a plant with broken egg shells hanging on it. :D

After lunch it was more tough trekking but mostly uphill through a lovely gnarly forest, so the ground was a bit softer and easier on the knees! Myself and Lindsey were knackered after another 4 hours of trekking, and only the thunder and threat of a soaking hurried us up to our next lodging place - Snowland Hotel - the nearest hotel to Poon Hill in Ghorepani.

The lodge had a big fire on and we showered and warmed ourselves by it quickly. Then we had our Yoga Nidra, which was awesome - I managed to stay awake and alert for it! :D After dinner it was straight to bed with us, but I couldn't sleep at all. In hindsight, I think I got a touch of Altitude sickness. I had a blinding headache and every time I thought I was just about to fall asleep, I'd wake up struggling to catch my breath. Then I was afraid to go asleep in case I died in my sleep! eerk...

Day 3

So after a night of no kip, we got up at 4am (well the girls giggling next door woke everyone up at 3.30am) and off we trekked to Poon Hill. It was so hard to try and get our legs moving and going uphill at 4am!! But once again, it was so worth it. The sunrise we saw was great! Not as good a view as at Sarongkot the other day but still lovely and magical. Poon Hill was packed with trekkers and we bumped into Jenna again who was walking with a bunch of Egyptian lads.

There was no yoga this morning, just breakfast and onwards. The morning trek was delightful with a fantastic view of the peaks for about half an hour.

Then we ventured into a forest stuffed full of pink rhododendrons (the national flower of Nepal).

Then we trekked down beside a lovely cool stream and back up up up the other side. Today was very tough because the auld legs were aching and I wasn't sure if I could do another flight of steps up after lunch, but just about made it. It started to thunder and rain just as we crossed some stone and fences into our next place of rest for the night - Mountain Discovery Lodge! This lodge was awesome but had no hot showers which I discovered while in the shower. brrrrrrrr..

Later I fell asleep during the Yoga Nidra. DOH! I apparently missed the best one of all. Balls. I only remembered the start and the end of it. I didn't get any sleep the night before though, so that's my excuse. After dinner, we had to leave the dining room as a big bunch of English guys and gals were in there drinking and shouting really loudly. It was redonkulously loud - maybe they were trying to get us to leave. We were too tired to go drinking, and went to Beate's room and had a great auld chat!

Day 4

Next morning we got up at 5.45am to see the Fishtail Mountain in the sunrise. The lodge had an amazing view and we could see the peaks a little bit through the clouds.

We had our tea and then attempted to do yoga while the entire group of English lads and lassies stood outside laughing, chatting and shouting to each other. Me being me, I couldn't concentrate at all - I'm pretty sure that's another sign of failure in the Yoga world, as you're supposed to be able to ignore all outside interference! :D But my head hurt again and the sun was bouncing off my noggin. I felt a bit sorry for myself and had a bit of a moment in my room before heading back out to have breakfast. It was a glorious day and on we trekked through the terraced landscapes til we came to our gaf for the night - Little Paradise!

This lodge was so cute. It had a lovely dining hall, small little bedroom huts, blankets that smelt nice, delicious organic homemade and homegrown food, pet rabbits, chickens, dogs and huge spiders in our bedroom!

We only had a half day's trekking today so we were delighted to be able to wash our clothes, read, snooze, eat again and laze about! Sumit did today's yoga nidra for us and it was so cute - shadow climbing Annapurna 2 and getting showered in stars! awwwww..

Dinner was mushroom soup and a delicious apple, banana and chocolate roll. We were back in bed by 8.30pm and then chasing spiders around the place til 11. How on earth I was supposed to sleep in the room with these MASSIVE spiders was beyond me. (More proof that I am not a humoungous 'hut' type person and do appreciate 4 walls with no holes in them!!)
We had a riot trying to get the JUMPING spiders out of our bedroom and we had to sleep with the light on so we could see any more of these monsters!

Day 5

Got a weird kip due to not moving from my one spider-prevention-sleeping-position - i.e keeping my sheet over my head! :D
I kept waking up and doing a bug patrol too. (I know, I know - grow up Kenny!) We then slept through our morning wake up concert - Sumit playing the singing bowls!
Yoga today with Sumit was very difficult - he had tougher moves and we were all very stiff. It seemed to go on forever, but just behind him were awesome views of the moutain peaks. We were supposed to close our eyes during meditation, but there was no way I was taking my eyes off this sight..

I just pretended to pay attention and gazed at the mountains. The sun was out and the sky was blue and everything was punky brewster. After a mahoosive breakfast and some dawdling around, it was time to leave Little Paradise behind. Just 10 minutes after we trotted away from the hill with Little Paradise perched on top of it, the clouds surrounded it and it was no longer visible to the eye. I wondered aloud if the whole of Little Paradise had been a dream or if we were still in yesterdays yoga nidra!

We saw giant vultures circling above us as we walked and chatted, and soon we were surrounded by lots more lush green mountains and terraced hills. Tons of donkeys carrying heavy loads and wearing lots of jingly bells trundled past us non stop. Today's trek was all downhill and we passed through lots of lovely stone villages with friendly locals and cute kids.

We stopped for stretches and lunch in this lovely flowery joint, then mosied on to Sauyli Bazar - our last night on the trek. (1100m) Today was due to be a 3 hour trekking day, but I think it was more like 5 or 6 hours. It seemed very long and was all downhill steps, so we had the worst wobbly knee syndrome ever when we got down. Trekking is not a walk in the park (he he), it's pretty exhausting! Luckily we have had great weather for most of our trip, narrowly missing huge downpours by a matter of minutes. We've had great scenery to inspire and rejuvenate us, as well as the yoga to stretch us out every day and ease our stiff joints. The meditations helped us relax and calm our minds. I would thoroughly recommend the Yoga trek to those who like to take their time and take in the views!

(Yoga Nidra today contained a wandering 'you' who got in a boat on the lake, looked into the eyes of a fish, and then moved up a mountain to join a Nepali family for a dinner by candlelight.)

After a real dinner by candlelight, it was into bed at 8pm. There was no electricity and bog all to do but read in bed by torchlight. The place outside was pitch black and totally silent. It was very eerie! Myself and Lindsey had our regular evening chats about life and the universe and what not and hit the sack.

So I wasn't sure if I wanted to leave Echo Beach but fate intervened and brought me to Ubud.
An American couple I'd chatted to a few days earlier had said they were going to hire a driver to bring them to Ubud and I could jump in with them.
I hadn't seen them in a few days though so wasn't sure if they were still going, but lo and behold they appeared at 11.30am and off we went. They were a lovely couple, both teachers and great fun to chat to.
The journey to Ubud lasted aggggesss, the driver was the most careful (see slowest) driver I've ever witnessed. I think he was trying to make the journey seem longer so we'd think he was worth the extortionate 300,000 rupiah fee.
Still it was most pleasant and I didn't have to go on my own so yahooo!

As soon as we got out of the car in Ubud, a man said "room?" to me and I said "yes please!"
Off we went to this cute little homestay just off Monkey Forest road. The rooms were gorgeous and I had a lovely cool balcony that overlooked a fabulous yard full of (feckin loud non-stop-crowin) roosters, trees,flowers and motorbikes! There was also a lovely family temple in the yard too, and the man of the house was hard at work painting masterpieces in the yard entrancee.
The price for the room included free tea and coffee and breakfast, and was right in the middle of town. Whoop. Score.
I realise this pic is sideways. Can't fix it. Sorry!

Ubud is a cool place. It's the cultural capital of Bali, and art, singing and dancing are all mightily encouraged and supported here. The streets are full of little galleries, museums, Bali dance stages, cool clothes shops and funky souvenir shops stuffed with awesome lamps made out of coconut shells, glittery mosaic mirrors, little painted elephant candle holders, big willy bottle openers, stubby beer holders, lovely wooden furniture and much more. I wanted everything!
I resisted the urge to splurge and went for a gorgeous lunch - a tuna salad served inside a pineapple. Man it was delicious.

I went to all the nearby temples and the palace, which took all of half an hour, then mosied in and out of the little galleries. Ubud also has loads of cool gross weird statues everywhere. These quickly became my favourite things!

Ubud also features in the book and movie Eat, Pray, Love. I read the book while I was here. It's alright like. A bit ghey but kinda cute.
One man's interpretation of the book below.

Later I met the German girl next door -Katya (I kept calling her Jennifer) who was a grand chick to chat to.

In the morning I had an awesome yoga class at the Yoga barn and met another cool chick called Claire. After yoga, Craig came up to Ubud, once again braving the Bali highways on a moped, (hero), and we went to the Monkey Sanctuary. I don't really like or care about monkeys that much so this sanctuary was spectacularly underwhelming for me. The park was tinchy and the monkeys were jerks. One of them bared his big fangy teeth at Craig and leapt off the bridge straight at him. Craig got the shock of his life and nearly fell off the bridge. It was pretty scary and then pretty fookin funny. (Only cos the monkey missed!) so yeah, monkeys are generally jerks in Asia.

Monkey sanctuary

Later we went to Petulu to see the famous Heron migration. Every night at 6pm, thousands of big white herons fly in to Petulu to roost in a big tree. :D lol. We biked out to Petulu, and sat in a small warung overlooking a swampy rice field, had a beer and watched the birds fly in. They arrived in dribs and drabs and sat on each others' heads in bids to secure the prime roosting spots. The owner of the warung gave us a go of his binoculars so we could assume the role of true bird spotters. I felt like a right nerd, but it was pretty cool to watch them all come in. I was glad we had been advised not to park under that tree though - bird poop central!

Check out this awesome car and its facilities...

Next day I had a shit yoga class with some mentaller of an instructer who was way too antsy to provide a calm yoga environment. I felt extra bad too as I'd brought Katya along (after telling her how good it was yesterday) and it was her first ever yoga class.
We met Claire again at yoga and after a quick breakfast, they agreed to let me bring them on a guided walk near the river and rice fields. (Practise for my new tour guiding career).
Welllllll I don't think we quite made it to where we were supposed to go but we did pass some lovely rice fields, a load of people rafting in the river and we crossed a cool bridge and tons of steps, that we soon had to go back down and over. . We walked for four hours before treating ourselves to a delicious lunch and then met up later for beers and to watch the Lyons v Wallabies match.

The following day mysel and Germany went to the Neka art museum which was cooool and I got a full body massage later which was pretty nifty.

Ubud is awesome and I would go back there again in a jiffy. It's not great to walk around due to re traffic and shit pavements, but that's the same for all of Bali really!