Rishikesh (India): Yoga, vegetarian and cleansing.

10 June - 3 July 2011

People say you love or you hate India but it's definitely a real cultural chock.
The objective of going to India was to practice some yoga and to rest a little bit.

My first night in Delhi was terrible, the worst night I ever had for 10 months. The taxi driver (who was an official taxi from the airport) couldn't find the hotel I booked, he stopped several times to ask for directions and to call my hotel. But someone on the phone told me that my booking was canceled. It was almost 11PM, I was exhausted and not feeling very well so I believed them... It was of course part of their game. So I stayed in the crappy expensive hotel. The next morning the taxi took me to 2 different travel agencies swearing that they were the official tourism information center, again it was not true and so on and so one until I got sick of Delhi and decided to take a private taxi, that cost me 4 times the price I was supposed to pay, to Rishikesh, the world capital of yoga.

The 2 first nights I stayed by myself in a hostel, trying to get used to the dirt, the cows and their shit, the monkeys, the Indian people staring at you and taking pictures of you, the heat (it was about 40 degrees at that time) and the local food... not easy not easy...

Then on the next Monday, I registered for a 3 weeks course at a yoga school. My program included everything, the classes, the food and the accommodation and even 2 ayurvedic massages per week and a rafting trip. It felt really good not to worry about those things for 3 weeks.

But the program was tough.
6AM: Waking up
6.30AM: Herbal tea, nose cleansing (using a neti pot by pouring water into our nostrils) and chanting (prayers in Sanskrit)
7AM - 8.30AM: Yoga class
8.30AM: Breakfast
8.45AM - 10AM: Philosophy class
10.30AM - 11.30AM: Anatomy class
1PM: Lunch
6.30PM - 8PM: Yoga class
8.15PM: Dinner
10PM: Bed time

Sunday was off.
Yoga was not easy for me as I was a beginner. The teacher was a short funny Indian guy who always pushed us to try all kind of crazy poses. My whole body felt sore everyday but I felt really good in my mind and my body.
There were 2 or 3 other persons in my yoga class depending on the week and for the other classes (anatomy and philosophy), we were about 35 people from all over the world. The atmosphere was very relaxed even tough the program was strict.
After 3 weeks of intensive yoga, I still can't do the crazy poses but I'm able to stretch myself much more than I've ever been able to. But above all, I have a better understanding of yoga and its spiritual meaning.
Yoga is definitely part of my daily life as of now.

On the last Friday of the course, we did the body cleansing. It was terrible. The principle is very simple, to drink lots of salty glasses of water and wait until everything is cleaned up from your body.
So we started at 5.30AM with 3 salty glasses of warm water. It was quite disgusting. After half a glass, I already had the feeling that I had to throw up and this feeling stayed every time I was drinking the glasses of water. After drinking, we did some yoga poses for 10-15 min and then we started again with the salty water and the yoga poses. Until our stomach was making weird sounds...
It took me 15 glasses of salty water and 8 times to the bathroom to "clean" my body... I was exhausted after all this.
But it was definitely a to-be-done experience!

To be honest I didn't feel a big difference the next day and my stomach is still causing me lots of troubles, but I'm glad I did it.

After 3 weeks in the yoga school, it was time to come back to the real Indian world. So I decided to travel for a week with Jen, a girl I met at the yoga course.

Next stop: Delhi, Taj Mahal and Rajhastan (India).

Ubud, Yogyakarta and East Java (Indonesia): Vertigo, Lili and volcanoes.

22 May 2011 - 1 June 2011




After spending few days in Singapore visiting my cousin Monique and few weeks in Bangkok visiting my other cousins, Minsan, Tutu and Janry, I came back to Indonesia, to Ubud. After traveling for more than 8 months, I felt that I needed to settle down a bit. The plan was to stay there for 1 month and practice some yoga, rest and think about my next steps.

But as soon as I landed in Bali, I felt weird. I felt dizzy when I was moving my head and everything around me was moving like I was drunk, very drunk, but I wasn't... The second day I could barely walk straight so I decided to go to the doctor who finally told me that I had "Vertigo". All I had to do is to rest, rest and rest. So that's what I did. For days I stayed in my hotel room lying on the bed staring at the window (I was not supposed to move, read, watch TV or have any activity). First, it was a real challenge to stay like that but then i got used to it and this gave me time to think about my trip and my next steps.

I stayed 10 days in Ubud. As soon as I felt better, I decided to leave Indonesia. I realized that the best place to practice yoga and to live the spiritual side of it was not in Indonesia but in the country that created yoga, India. Another country that was absolutely not planned in my trip.



The day before I left Inodnesia, I called my Taiwanese friend Lili who also was in Ubud, to have a last lunch together but that day she didn't answer the phone. Instead, it was her brother who did and gave me the saddest news of my whole trip. My friend Lili passed away 2 days before from a heart attack. Lili was the one I used to meet for every lunch and dinner when I was in Ubud, who showed me all the places with the best food (she was a guide book writer), who was my only friend in Indonesia... This sad news made me realized how life can be short and that more than ever, I will try from now on to enjoy life as much as possible.

After that, I was even more motivated to go to India.















But first I had to apply for my Indian visa in Jakarta so I flew there and stayed for a couple of days. Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is located on the West side of Java Island. It is a big, crowded and aggressive city, I hated it. Instead of waiting for my visa in Jakarta, I decided to take a night train to Yogyakarta, in Central Java. Yogya like the locals call it, is the cultural city of Java. It's also where the biggest existing Buddhist monument is, called Borobudur. Very impressive.














But not as impressive as what I saw the next day. After a long bus ride we arrived near Bromo which is one of the most beautiful sight of all Indonesia. Bromo is an active volcano. To have the best view and to see the sunrise, we had to climb a mountain at 4 o'clock in the morning. It was definitely worth it. After that we climbed on the crater Bromo. That was amazing. To stand at the border of the crater where smoke is coming out is a unique experience. Next to Bromo there was 2 more volcanoes and then nothing, a huge empty flat landscape covered by black sand. It was breathtaking. Definitely one of the highlights of my trip.

The same day I took another night train to go back to Jakarta. But before that, I had 2 hours before catching my train so I decided to take a taxi to visit Surabaya's Chinatown, the most important one in Indonesia. But instead of visiting Chinatown, I spent 1.5h hours in the taxi (the driver took me to some place I don't even know the name) and then back to the station. I refused to pay the driver so we ended up fighting in the train station and then at the police station... It's not everyday that a Chinese girl is yelling in the train station. I finally agreed to pay half the amount to the driver because my train was about to leave and that the police officer wouldn't let me go. I got on the train 5 minutes before the departure swearing that I will not come back to Indonesia before a long long time.

Indonesia is certainly a beautiful country but for me, too many bad memories happened there, unfortunately.

Time to leave and to discover India.

Next step: Rishikesh, Delhi and Rajasthan (India)

Kuta, Ubud & Gili Islands (Indonesia): Yoga, diving and excellent food

3 April - 3 May 2011


After New Zealand, it felt good to be back to South East Asia. Life is much more cheaper, weather is sunny and hot all the time and food is amazing! Enough of Fish and Chips or Meat Pies, finally real delicious food. I just feel like home in Asia...













This was my first time in Indonesia. I arrived in Kuta on Bali Island. Some friends already warned me telling me that I wouldn't like it. And they were so right. Kuta is just full of young Australian tourists whose main purposes are surfing, shopping and partying. Exactly what I was trying to avoid. So as soon as I could, I moved to Ubud, THE spiritual and cultural town. It is the town where Elisabeth Gilbert, from the book Eat Pray and Love spent 4 months in Indonesia trying to find a balance in her life. Well, it wasn't my target first but when I arrived in Ubud, i felt something special about the place.

First I was with 3 other people, 1 guy that I met in New Zealand and 2 girls that I met in the bus on the way to Ubud.
Ubud is where I discovered yoga. I took 2 classes and enjoyed it so much that I promised myself to be back very soon to Ubud and spend more time practicing yoga.

After 4 days visiting temples, practicing yoga, trying all kind of Indonesian food, I decided to leave for few days to East Timor.

















When I came back from East Timor, I went straight to Gili Trawangan in the Gili Islands which are part of Lombok Island, another island of Indonesia. There I met some friends from Belgium. And together we decided to take the basic diving certificate, the PADI. 3 full days of intensive training. It was tough but at the end, we all succeded and were very proud to have the certificate that allows us to dive anywhere in the world. After these 3 intense days, I went to Gili Air, the island just next to Gili Trawangan. It was very quiet and relaxing, exactly what I needed.







But time to go back to Ubud and to yoga! I spent my last week in Indonesia practicing yoga, reading, relaxing and meeting up with friends for lunches and dinners. After 8 months traveling and moving around everyday, it felt just great to stay at one place and have a "normal" life.

I definitely will be back in Indonesia very soon...


Next stops: Singapore and Bangkok (Thailand).

Dili & Atauro (East Timor): war zone and paradise in one country

11 April - 16 April 2011




















East Timor was another country that I didn't plan to visit. But when Steve, a guy that I met in New Zealand and who was also in Indonesia, asked me if I was interested in going with him to East Timor, my answer was simple: Why not?

East Timor is a state located in South East Asia, on the eastern half of the Timor island. The country is officially a war zone. Previously colonized by Portugal (the official language is Portugese and Tetun) and then by Indonesia, it is since 2007, officially independent.

There are only 1500 tourists per year that makes me probably the 435th tourist of the year...

So here we are, Steve and I, in Dili, capital of East Timor. At the airport, we are surrounded by UN soldiers and local soldiers. I have never seen so many soldiers in an airport. First sight is very impressive but later, we realized that there were lots of UN cars in the city... doing nothing...
Apparently, the soldiers are still there until 2012 before going home. By for the moment, I think it's the perfect destination for expats families...

Weather is still very hot and tropical with rains from time to time. The second day, we rented a motorbike and went to a wild ride around the island. It reminded me of Laos, but with even less tourists. The landscapes were wild and green, exactly what I like.















The next day, we, Steve, me and 2 other guys we met at the hostel, decided to move to Atauro, an island on the opposite side of Dili. What we discovered after 3 hours on a fishing boat was amazingly beautiful. I discovered paradise that day. White sand beaches, coconut trees, 5 bungalows on the beach and just the 5 of us...

The guys were gentlemen enough to let me stay in the best room, on the second floor of the bungalow. From my bed, I could see through my large open window, a view of the ocean and nothing else, just like in a dream. The guys also spent long hours sitting on my bed just staring at the ocean...

All we did for 3 days is snorkel, swim, sleep, eat, eat and eat... the food cooked by the owner of the bungalows was delicious, just like I love it... what a surprise!

After 3 days in paradise, it was time to go back to Indonesia, where yoga and healthy life was waiting for me...


Next steps: Bali & Gili Islands (Indonesia).