After four months of backpacking, spending on average no more than three nights in one place, Rich and I were yearning to stay in one place for a while.
Backpacking is not difficult or hard work per se but it does take a lot of organising and effort to accomplish even the simplest of things like travelling, unpacking, packing, shopping, cooking and washing etc in a new place every few days. Rich and I wanted a break from travelling so we booked ourselves a holiday!
We headed to Bali for a couple of weeks of R&R, a destination loved by Kiwi’s and Aussie’s who want a cheap package holiday in the sun.
We found a hotel that was newly refurbished in Kuta, the party town of Bali but one where we could live in hotel luxury for a couple of weeks and recharge our batteries.
We did lots of research before we went and knew there would be loads for us to do in Bali, swimming with turtles, surfing, boat trips and day trips galore. We knew we wouldn’t get bored there.
Our journey from Auckland to Bali took us via Sydney. After spending three and a half hours on the flight to Sydney followed by six and a half hours on the flight to Bali Rich and I were exhausted when we arrived at our hotel.
Seeing the newly furnished room, with a bathroom that we didn’t have to share (what luxury) and access to the pool right outside our terrace our smiles beamed from ear to ear. This wasn’t backpacking, we knew it and we didn’t care. We were on holiday!!
All our thoughts about doing trips and sightseeing went out the window once we started relaxing by the hotel pool in the sunshine. The idea of doing lots of excursions seemed to go against our initial desire to rest up after all!
So except for one day out in Ubud, Rich and I enjoyed the peace and quiet of our hotel for twelve days and stayed away from the craziness of Kuta’s main streets, only venturing out for food in the evening.
With six glorious days of sunshine and six which were either cloudy or filled with torrential monsoon like rain showers, we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday. In summary most of it involved the pool, food and drink. We couldn’t have been happier!
Before we left the UK on our backpacking adventure I knew there was one thing I wanted to do on our travels and that was de-stress, feel happy in just being and to be really connected to the world we live. I have found true contentment with the simple life of backpacking before and I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to feel that again.
The constant buzz of being on the go at work is the norm for most people making a living (and is one that we will return to once our travels are complete) but there are times when it can consume you, making you feel off balance so to speak. Being stressed is part of life at times and I wanted to learn how to manage it better myself and be able to help others manage it too.
Having the time to do this whilst travelling has led me down the path of Reiki and I studied this with Reiki Master Cat Wheeler in Bali. The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words, Rei which means God’s Wisdom and Ki which is life force energy.
Reiki treats the whole person including the physical, emotional and spiritual beings and can have many beneficial effects like relaxation, feelings of peace, security and wellbeing.
I know it’s not for everyone and many people will think it is mumbo jumbo (a phrase Rich has called it himself) but I’ve really found solace in Reiki. I honestly believe there is a connection between the scientific world we know (measurable energy) and the spiritual world (whether that be religious or not) that we just can’t explain fully yet.
For me, Reiki is an exciting way of using the physical body and spiritual practise together for the benefit of feeling good and all round wellbeing in the here and now.
I’ve been practising Reiki on Rich and whilst he has no spiritual belief he has admitted to feeling the benefit of being relaxed, rested and calm afterwards. You don’t need to believe in Reiki for it to work so I’d urge anyone to give it a try, just like I did.
While I was doing one of the days of my Reiki practitioner course in Ubud, Rich explored the town on his own, spending most of his time with animals of the monkey variety at Monkey Forest.
He said there were hundreds of monkeys and he certainly took photos of a lot of them, as well as enjoying a delicious lunch and exploring the streets of Ubud! Rich also had a great day out albeit very different to mine.
To maintain a balance of exercise along with all of our eating and drinking in Bali, we either swam seven hundred and fifty metres a day or ran six kilometres first thing in the morning.
On our early morning runs we got to see Kuta without the mass of tourists and had the chance to experience some of their culture. Shop owners taking the greatest of pride to clean the street in front of their stalls, picking up the litter of party goers from the night before who thought nothing of littering the streets where people live and work.
We saw the rituals of people placing Canang Sari on the pavements outside their shops and homes. These are daily offerings of thanks and peace, the offering being more about the time and effort taken to prepare them than the contents of the offering itself. We saw these offerings everywhere.
Throughout the town there are religious stone sculptures and shrines. Bali’s main faith is Hindu and their faith is on display everywhere you go. It was beautiful to see in its abundance though never feeling like it was being forced upon us.
As our hotel was newly refurbished, they held a blessing ceremony on one of the days we were there and made offerings to welcome prosperity and health to the hotel. It was a private ceremony so we didn’t see a huge amount however we did see the colourful plaques lined up outside the front of the hotel that were created for the occasion.
I’m sure there’s much more to Bali than we discovered. The island is full of natural beauty if you go beyond the chaos of the tourism industry antics, even we could see that.
Bali gave us everything we needed and that was all that we could ask for. We left feeling refreshed, revived and ready to take on the world again.
Lambs on the loose 