Bali ~ Part Two

You know you're about to have an amazing week, when you step into your luxury villa, hidden in the heart of Seminyak, and read your week's agenda, laid out on your bed alongside Lemongrass Soap, Coconut and Vanilla Lip Balm and Body Butter. 

"Welcome to Salt! Enjoy your Spa Unwind session of Reflexology & Balinese Head Shoulders session by the pool.

3pm - Afternoon infused water, juice, tea or coffee, ask our butler if you need any help unpacking your bag.

6:15pm - Meditation

7:15pm - Your delicious nutritious dinner, served at Salt's dining table

8:15pm - Salts Movie Night under the stars. Sit back and enjoy Salt's open-air lounge with delicious guilt free movie snacks.

We wish you a beautiful sleep and mimpi manis (sweet dreams)".

You could not wipe the grin off my face!

We were woken daily at 6:30am to get ready for our 7am Yoga session by the pool. I had never tried Yoga before, would I just have to lie there in child's pose while the rest of my retreat buddies excelled in Downward Dog and Cobra? No, because Nicole version 2013 tries new things! I absolutely loved the yoga, something so new that seemed to come quite naturally and quite quickly. 

As this was also a Surfing retreat, Nicole version 2013 also gave this a go. Wearing my sexy bright yellow rash vest - possibly modelled on Big Bird, I hit the waves of Seminyak beach. 

Ok, so I actually slowly and cautiously waded my way out with the help of one of our surf coaches, but I was determined for my Blue Crush moment! After watching the waves for awhile (with no idea what I was meant to be "watching"), I heard someone yell GO! so I paddled, paddled, paddled aaaand jump up! A few successful tries resulted in standing up about twice, not bad for my first go. After that it was wipeout after wipeout. 

A lot of beach water was swallowed. My pants were full of sand. I began to feel less Kate Bosworth and more Bali belly victim, so i picked up my board, after it sufficiently slammed into my shins, and sat on the beach and drank my coconut.

So I gave surfing a go, nice work Nicole v.2013. Then decided I would focus the rest of the week on honing in on my Yoga skills and just generally relaxing. Back at home I have some difficulties relaxing and doing nothing, as I always feel like I should be doing something else, or better using my time. It was so nice to just sit by the pool and read, and know that you had no time restraints, nowhere else to be, and could just enjoy the present moment.

We received daily massages to work out those surfing knots, and my laying by the pool knots. The villa itself was amazing, a very small group of eight of us on the retreat, we were so lucky to have such a great group to enjoy the week with. It only took one day of this retreat, and I felt so much more relaxed and calmer. As it got darker at night, they would light candles around the pool, we would sit and chat about the day, order some tea, no rushing or worrying. Knowing the time became less important, unless it was to keep track of your next massage session.

The food was healthy, organic produce made by the retreat chef. The menu was designed by Pete Evans of My Kitchen Rules fame, and we were also advised that in the next few months the Bondi boys from My Kitchen Rules would be travelling to the retreat to cook up some recipes and ideas for their upcoming cookbook.

Varieties of fresh fish, chicken, tofu and tempeh with red rice or a small salad to accompany. Breakfast was by far the favourite, with amazing suprises like banana crepes, omelettes, fruit and muesli, egg/avocado/tomato breakfast tortilla and breakfast frittata. 

Confession time: There was a lot of spicy food. Would you like some food with your spice?My mouth was on fire. No amount of water or red rice could get that spice out. There may have been a few trips down the alley to the Mini Mart for a Snickers bar. I felt a bit like I was eating contraband at Fat Camp, but man it was worth every bite.

One of my favourite days was a group yacht trip out to Nusa Lembongan where we got our snorkel on, did daring things such as banana boat rides and some stand up paddleboard fun. As I had been enjoying the yoga so much throughout the week, I thought it might be a fun challenge to see if I could try some of these yoga moves on the paddleboard out on the water. It was a little rocky but was amazing. After the hour of paddleboarding my hearbeat was racing, oh hey there stomach muscles, found you again! Some of the best, impromptu fun i've had.

The week went far too quickly, and there were simply just so many amazing moments. One of the hardest parts was saying goodbye to my lovely friend Maddie, who was continuing on to India, to focus on 6 months of travel and a journey of finding her flow. An amazing mexican dinner (Motel Mexicola, which is a must!) and a sneaky frozen margarita, and we parted ways. Those of us with fun things like mortgages headed off to the airport, while our inspiring Mads looked ahead to India.

To summarise this week and pin point favourites, is just so difficult. It was nothing like I expected, but better than I expected. Was it the 24/7 butler service? Maybe. The sunbaking and fruit platters? Maybe. The highly attractive Brazilian retreat manager? Possibly. Or just simply sharing something new with friends and having a great time, and all of the above.

Back in cold, brisk Sydney, I am on a mission to continue the Yoga, and focus more on making myself sit still and relax. Stop the rushing around and multitasking, and just sit in my cosy apartment and relax...and google kittens, because wouldn't it be so cute if I got a kitten? And not remotely turn into a single spinster cat lady AT all...

Terima Kasih for reading

x

Images: My Own