23/4/18 - Day 85

Lara; I overnighted in KL airport, stayed in their Capsule hotel which was similar to the Cube Bed Station is in Semporna. It was much more comfortable though and there was space to store stuff. I slept ok until 5 and then dozed until it started getting noisy at 7.30. Got up and used a shower cube and then made my way through the airport searching for breakfast (obviously dressing first!). I had my first decaf coffee since George Town (my third in 3 months!) and then checked in for my flight to Indonesia. The flight leaves a bit late but I eventually land around 3 and am met by my lovely driver, Blue, who takes me from the airport to Ubud. En route I mention that there was no food left on the plane (that I would consider eating anyway) and be very kindly stopped and got us some soup. Finally arrive at the lovely Villa where Lou and I will be staying and check in. I unpack and go for a bit of an explore as Lou doesn’t arrive until tomorrow. On my way back to the Villa I almost trip on a poisonous snake, fortunately it’s not moving too quickly. Try and get a reasonably early night as have booked to go on a cycling trip tomorrow.

24/4/18 - Day 86

Slept really well, I get up and sort a few things out and then breakfast has been delivered by the lovely caretaker, Pia. She makes home made bread which I have to try, totally delicious. My cycle guide calls me to say he’s close by so I head off to meet him. There are two ladies already on board, mother and daughter who are both Chinese. We then pick up a Canadian called Kate and a Koren lady, Jyena. We have a brilliant day, the cycling is easy (mainly downhill) we do loads of stops to see different things and take photos. We go to a coffee producer, we stop off at a village and take tea with an elder and Nyoman, who runs the tour, gives us loads of insight into the cultural side of life here, it’s so fascinating. I also love the look of Ubud and can’t wait to explore with Lou when she arrives. The tour ends at a really lovely restaurant overlooking a rice field so we enjoy a fab lunch and get dropped off around 4.30. I’ve got a Yoga Nidra class booked at 6 so I just have time to do some washing, grab a shower and off I go to the Nidra class which is at Intuitive Flow, lovely class, super relaxed and either I left my body at one point or I fell asleep 😉. Head back to our Villa and wait for Lou to arrive, her flight doesn’t land until 10ish so it’s going to be a late one.

25/4/18 - Day 87

Lou gets in around 11.15 and we’re up chatting until 2. We get up around 6.30 and we’re at the Yoga class at Intuitive Flow at 7, a nice vinyasa class (with Anu). Back to our Villa for a lovely breakfast and some chill out time by the pool. In the afternoon we do some Yin yoga by our pool (although the people in the main house don’t appear to be overly thrilled but they are checking out this afternoon anyway). We then take a stroll to Yellow Flower Cafe, I have a delicious dish called ‘Island Bowl’ where everything is served in half a coconut shell. Back to our Villa to attempt to watch a movie but find that both Amazon and Netflix are blocked. Resort to watching ‘Enlighten Up’ on YouTube.

26/4/18 - Day 88

After our morning class (which we weren’t overly thrilled by) we have a nice leisurely breakfast and then decide to hit the shops, or a small patch of the vast amount of shops, in Ubud. We both pick out a few things that we might go back for, we stop off at the Lotus Cafe to admire the view along with a fresh coconut and then we head back to our lovely villa and get ourselves together for the 4pm Yin class. After the class, we both have a facial booked. The facial is wonderful, it’s at a small saloon (Sidduhya Aya) near the yoga studio and we have a male therapist, he knows how how give a great facial! Lou meets me afterwards, both of us are glowing and we order food from Yellow Flower to take back to the Villa.

27/4/18 - Day 89

More of the same, yoga although this time we do our own class at the Villa in the morning, then breakfast and then some relaxation time by the pool. In the afternoon we do a yin yoga class with Anu at the studio and it’s excellent. As the food is so good from Yellow Flower we get another takeaway. It’s actually really nice being able to dine in. We chat and put the world to rights...

28/4/18 - Day 90

Today we’re leaving for Nusa Lembongan but before we head to the studio and do a final yoga class at 7am which is given by a native Indonesian, it’s a lovely class, nice slow vinyasa flow, although he’s hard to understand he refers to Mother Earth and Father Sky and insists that we smile a lot but it’s different and great at the same time. Back at the Villa we attempt to pack and as we have both purchased a few things it’s a challenge. We’re picked up by our taxi driver called Blue, who drives us to Sanur where we’re meeting our boat. The boat leaves at 1 but due to low tide, all of the passengers are offloaded gradually onto a smaller boat, along with the luggage. We eventually make it to our hotel Puri Kirana at around 3.30.

29/4/18 to 6/5/18 - Day 91 - Day 97

Lou and I on our Yin Yoga training course with Caroline from Serenity Yoga, I’m writing a whole separate journal about this so I won’t go into detail here, lovely start to the course though.