The Adventures of a Solo Ginger

Today we begin the long trek back home. We have spent the past two days gradually slowing down; pausing more to just take in the calming energy of this mystical land. It oddly feels like more than two weeks has passed; certainly a good feeling reassuring us that we achieved what we set out to find; disconnection from the chaos of life and a reconnection with ourselves. I’m not sure what comes next but falling back into routine doesn’t seem right. This has been a beginning, certainly to an Aman hotel addiction but it’s a beginning to something more; I’m just not sure exactly what that is and where it will take me. Until next time my friends!!

Borobudur Temple - Central Java

I have long since realized that not always in life does your hard work pay off. Often great effort can go unrewarded; I’ve been on the receiving end of this far too many times. But here in this land so rich with spirituality and enlightenment I suppose I had hoped things would align as we set forth in motion to make this journey something much more than a vacation. So you can understand our disappointment rising at the ungodly hour of 4 am to make our way to Borobudur temple to see what we thought would be sunrise. Turns out that only works out well when there isn’t 100% cloud cover. We basically got up early to witness the sky turn from dark to light. Fairly certain we could have accomplished this from the room looking out over our terrace from the comfort of our beds.

Nonetheless the temple wasn’t too crowded (likely because most others had read the morning forecast and opted out of such a ridiculous endeavour) and we were able to wander with our guide Udin. It’s an impressive UNESCO world heritage site and in fact the largest Buddhist temple in the world; that may in part be from the massive steps that lead to the top platform. Seriously it’s not clear to me what giants these steps were designed for, each one coming up to about mid-calf. Ms. M and myself felt like 90 year old women descending these staircases; guiding each other down, death grip in one hand, clinging to the stone wall with the other. Certainly some, if not a lot, of this was made worse by the fact that we were both still attempting to recover from our previous morning trek into the hillside.

Yet, despite the lack of sunrise and the intense morning cardio, the exploration of the site with our guide was truly unique and worth the early rise just to have the temple mostly to ourselves... looking ever so like Buddhists in our fashionable temple wear; not bad for an early morning wake up call.

Menorah Hill Hike

I have no idea what has come over me but I feel unbelievably tired since arriving to Java. I am constantly nodding off in our drives through villages, my eyes unable to stay open for more than a passing glimpse of life outside the perimeter of the exquisite Amanjiwo. Yesterday was no exception to my Java fatigue and taking a morning hike through the Menorah Hills did not help as we climbed the hill, situated 600 m above the valley. One probably should be invigorated by such a climb and inspired by the surrounding natural beauty of jungle; I on the other hand was yawning the whole way up!

It’s a steep climb, the majority on a paved narrow road that was put in three years ago. But don’t be fooled it was still incredibly difficult and VERY steep; like we’re talking some serious hamstring work on the way up. Then again I’m clearly not an expert climber, maybe this is normal. One thing is for sure; after this hike, I have confirmed I have no interest in venturing up any mountains ever in my life.

Along the way our guide pointed out all sorts of plants growing in mixed harmony along the hillside. Teak, acacia and mahogany trees, green and black bamboo, cocoa, coffee, clove and goji berry trees and of course palm trees littered throughout. Climbing ‘upstairs’ (as our guide referred to it) we came across a small village. The people still working on the land and harvesting the various natural products. We climbed further to the top and were rewarded with a fantastic view of the valley with Amanjiwo set to the left overlooking it all.

Ms. M had an interesting encounter on the way down with one older lady who was walking barefoot uphill with a massive basket of wood on her back. Ms. M, always drawn to beautiful jewelry was intrigued by the old lady’s ring and just wanted to take a look; Ms. M thinking it might be made of bone. The old lady instantly snapped her hand away but then pointed to Ms. M’s moonstone ring. Ever the sharer, Ms. M offered the old lady to try it on and that’s when our guide stepped in and stopped her. Right there, on the hill, Ms. M nearly lost her ring to the old lady in exchange for that ring she was so intrigued by. Turned out the old lady’s ring was plastic and from a bag of chips!! The old lady was so irritated with our guide for stopping Ms. M, it was a comical end to our exhausting hike.

Act III. Amanjiwo.

A Day in the Life of a Balinese Woman @ Bali Asli in Gelumpang Village

As many of you know I’ve done my fair share of cooking classes and food tours while in Paris and most certainly I’ve enjoyed each one of them immensely. Today however was something all together different; a vibrant mix of history, culture, spirituality, friendship and of course food. Not only that it was just Ms. M and myself in today’s class which only added to the exclusivity of the experience; and in turn, as per any of our adventures, led to the day extending well past the intended schedule.

It was an early start with our driver arriving at 7:15 am to take us on the long and winding drive towards the Amlapura market. It’s there where we met Penny, the owner and head chef of Bali Asli; originally from Australia but for the past 12 years has been listening to her inner voice to make her vision of Bali Asli come to fruition. I suppose I should step back and explain the entire concept; Bali Asli Restaurant serves authentic Balinese food, using methods of cooking and ingredients that have been used for hundreds of years by the Balinese. Penny organizes various cooking classes to experience different elements of authentic Balinese food culture. Our day was to learn about the day in the life of a Balinese woman which starts with an early morning trek to the market. Penny was fantastic and incredibly knowledgeable about all of the food we were seeing and her passion for sharing that knowledge was abundantly clear. We spent almost an hour exploring the various food stalls, which interestingly are owned mostly by women. Our red and blond ombré brown hair clearly a stark contrast from the rest of the crowd instantly drew interested eyes our way. As we stopped at various stalls the women would smile widely and say “cantik” which translates to beautiful.

We then drove a short distance to Bali Asli and were blown away by the beauty of the restaurant design. Every element, down to the coconut shell menus, has been thought out with such care and purpose. The absolute stunner however, was the view, the entire side of the restaurant opening up onto a terrace that looks out towards Mount Agung, an active volcano. This mountain is very special to the Balinese and the offerings that are prepared all begin with laying a marigold flower on the side of the offering that faces closest to the mountain.

We started the class with tea and sweets and then learned how to make several offerings which require dexterous hands to easily and quickly pin the palm leaf. Every day the Balinese will make 40 of these to offer to the gods; obviously with practice you become faster because one took us at least 10 minutes, I couldn’t imagine having to make 40. Penny then lead us through a traditional blessing ceremony at the small temple she has on the property.

The next several hours were spent cooking our lunch using traditional techniques. We started with a bumbu Bali which is a flavourful paste made with chillies, shallots, ginger, turmeric, galangal and palm sugar. We then used this paste in a number of the dishes we prepared which included chicken sate with peanut sauce, banana leaf wrapped fish, and a fiddle head salad. It was an experience and despite working so hard to prepare our food we barely conjured up an appetite. Thankfully Penny’s staff packaged our leftovers in cute banana leaf packages for our enjoyment later.

What an eclectic mix of a day and surprisingly an exhausting one. Originally we were to start our morning with a hike into the surrounding hills followed by a cultural tour of East Bali. Unfortunately, but in what later turned out to be a happy mistake, the hotel hadn’t realized we were scheduled for a full day of exploring and didn’t have a guide for our hike. We instead suggested yoga in the afternoon would be an acceptable alternative. And let’s be honest here, the morning was already humid with scattered rains, I don’t think either Ms. M or myself would have been terribly happy sweating our asses up a hill just to get a good view. Yes, we bought hiking shoes, specifically for this trip, but I’m perfectly ok not using them... ever!

We began the day in the small village of Tenganan where locals still make beautiful textiles and various crafts by hand. This is one of only three places in the world where they make the double ikat textile; all of it done by hand; from the preparing of the natural dyes, to the weaving; all of it taking days to produce just one piece. The cost however was well outside of our price limit, with some pieces going for well over $3000!!!

Luckily however, mere moments after admiring these textiles and realizing we would not be taking one home, Ms. M was drawn to the shelves overflowing with more antique Buddha’s. Having spent her evenings here researching the various attributes of Buddha statues produced throughout different time periods she has become slightly obsessed. It should then come as no surprise that we walked out of this tiny village with two more to add to her collection!

Thirty minutes from Tenangan is Tirta Gangga water palace. A beautiful garden area filled with numerous pools, fountains, statues and not to be forgotten; tourists, by the droves, looking for the perfect selfie pose. Awful. The first pool you see upon entering has octagonal stones arranged in rows leading towards the main fountain. This was the queue to get up close to the fountain and capture that perfect picture. It was insanity and somewhat disappointing to see how little people care to experience an environment with their senses but rather the lens of their phone. We were not interested in parading like the tourists and were happy to be guided through the area with our gracious driver from Amankila.

Our afternoon was spent in a private yoga session down by the Amankila beach. Our instructor; Eka Sukma was unbelievable. To be honest, when we arrived we did think he was somewhat off his rocker. He sat cross legged and kept frantically clapping his hands and laughing hysterically after everything we said. Oh Boy we thought. But then we got into it, we sat there with him; laughing and clapping; all of this with purpose; it’s part of hatha yoga and this belly laugh is the warm up. AND according to Eka, one minute of laughing is equivalent to ten minutes of jogging... aghhh I’ll take that any day. As you can see from our faces, in the picture taken on top of the hill, overlooking the valley and just ten minutes after completing our class, the effects of the laughing can still be seen proudly on display in our expressions. For those that know me, you will know well, I never smile in photos and most certainly do not show my teeth and yet so easily I was able to and with no insecurities after this one hour of the most amazing yoga experience.

Amankila - A Day at the Beach/ Pool

Initially we were worried. The morning started with rain, a lot of rain, and today was intended to be entirely a day at leisure. Nonetheless it was a good excuse to take our time getting ready; especially considering the past few mornings we have had to hustle to get to our planned activity.

Luckily the rain settled after our leisurely breakfast. We then spent late morning down by the beach club... by ourselves. Needless to say we took the opportunity to conduct another ridiculous photo shoot in the long pool. In hindsight, at least for me, this was not the brightest of ideas. The sun reflecting hard against the water’s surface caused the UV rays to penetrate deep into my skin. And yes, being a Ginger I should have known better, and before you scold me, I did have waterproof sunblock on but apparently I should have reapplied sooner! Thankfully the staff here are amazingly attentive and kind and provided me with a tray of aloe that they cut from the garden. Seriously, the service here is outstanding.

The beach was again quiet this morning. The black sand glistening like diamonds in the sun. It was so cool to walk along the beach with the waves crashing into our ankles. The sand’s surface moved like a soft pillow as we walked, so unlike most beaches we’ve been to in the Caribbean where the sand is compressed into a dense hard surface.