So there goes the second week. It feels like we have been here much longer. Perhaps I am finally starting to relax? Most of the week was spent on Gili Air doing the AcroYoga retreat, which was more of a yoga retreat with some additional AcroYoga classes, eating local food, me being driven around on the back of the bicycle, doing some video blogging (what??), watching questionable films on Netflix, a lot of relaxing and laying in the sun accompanied by some bonding time with the bf.

Last time I checked in was tuesday, aka, New Years Eve. Now I can definitely say that it was a success. Spending it on Gili Air was sort of a last minute decision as we previously wanted more of a party and Gili Trawangan was our obvious choice due to it’s night life reputation. When I actually think of it, there was nothing necessarily extraordinary about the new year, but I guess it rarely is. For me it was more about stepping into the new decade in a clean, fresh way. We enjoyed the island, the fireworks, had a long chat on the beach a little dance and a short walk in the tropical rain to our pretty little bungalow. It’s a first time I stayed at ta place with the outdoor bathroom. Interesting experience. Quite liked it.

Wednesday. Aka the 1st of January. Started with breakfast in bed. After months of rushing out of bed for work that was such a nice moment. I realised that I just missed staying in bed and being cosy. Also the choice of breakfast was pancakes, which is already an indulgence for Keto me as it is. Soon after we headed to the AcroYoga retreat place. The place is called “Slow villas” and it is actually just a really nice accommodation which also helps you to book into various classes around the island making it into the “retreat”. We were under the impression that everything will be under the same roof – it wasn’t, but it also didn’t really bother us. We settled in, I had an awesome New Years nap and as the tropical storm was about to begin we set off to our first yoga class. It was quite fun navigating the little roads of the island with the paper map in hand (we deliberately left our technology at home) while the storm was picking up. By the time we got to the class we were absolutely soaking wet. The class was slow and very much focused on stretching. Good way to ease in. Although I was pretty cold after it due to being soaking wet. We went to a vegan restaurant for dinner. I was still planning to cheat on my keto and with that in mind overate on everything what’s good for the planet, but not so good for me. 

Thursday. Started with the morning yoga. Different teacher, same place. Breakfast at our villa and a lot of lounging around the pool. Villas here are very private with a tall bamboo fence surrounding it, so you can literally walk around naked if you want. And.. hmm yea, so we did.. While I was tanning my Snow White bottom, the bf was sorting out our additional AcroYoga classes. As it turned out our AcroYoga retreat had only one AcroYoga class intended, so we wanted to arrange more. Long story short at an extra cost we managed to land 3 extra classes with the private instructor starting on Friday.

Friday. First real AcroYoga attempts and it felt really good. The instructor was awesome and all the doubts of having to pay extra and arrangement hassle was put at ease – she was that good. I suppose it helped that both of us were already pretty physically able, so it felt that we took away a lot from our first two classes. We had one in the morning and one in the evening. I filmed the evening one for the future reference as we actually did a little flow. It was really fun and doing it with the partner you know and trust made it that more special. Also had my first balinese massage! Not sure if I dear to say it, but I think I liked it more than Thai. Will definitely have to explore this area a bit more.

Saturday. I was really feeling my muscles and all the other places the bfs feet had to dig into to keep me up. I know it sounds a bit weird and maybe a tad wrong, but as the instructor delicately put it – the initiation of the flyer is when she or he has bruises all around the hips. Yea I can relate to that, no bruises yet, but definitely felt not too far off. In the evening we did a bit of a Twilight movie marathon so the bf is familiar with some trash vampire culture. Also it served as a bit of the distraction for the tooth ache I was getting. At some point I was not even sure what was the source of the pain anymore as I felt it in my throat as well as in my neck which was stiff as a stick. My mom says that I tend to get interesting problems time to time, mainly referring to my kidney stone during the last trip away in summer. But even I considered a possibility of travelling to Bali to get my tooth checked out.

Sunday. Due to the neck and tooth pain I skipped the morning yoga and only watched the bf take part in the last AcroYoga yoga class. (Recorded it too) Luckily the bf brought some ibuprofen and we were able to stay at our “Slow Villa” all the way till our boat from Meno to Gili Trawangan was supposed to depart. Going back to Trawangan felt like going home, even though our mission there as we arrived was literally finding a semi permanent place to live. We did a bit of walking around the island looking at various living options, had a super delicious vegan dinner. The bf is trying to convince me that Keto diet is not a healthy way to be and I should experiment with other things. We shall see how that will play out.

Overall this week did a lot of good for my mental and physical well-being. Neck pain is finally going away and I cannot wait to start practicing Acro again. Looking forward to week 3 and the start of my dive master!

Highlights:

  • AcroYoga! Being active felt good. Also I love doing pilates reformer and doing Acro felt like being on a human reformer. Also the community around it is pretty awesome!
  • Video blogging attempts. See where that goes and how well we can edit stuff together, but for now it was just fun recording something even if it is just for us to remember.
  • Tempeh satay at the local lady in Gili Trawangan was something! 
  • GoPro is pretty awesome. Still figuring out how to utilise that to its full potential.
  • Gili Air and doing yoga retreat sparked some business ideas in our minds. See where that goes.
  • Back on Gili Trawangan checked in at the Turtle beach place for few nights before we find the new home. The owner of that place is a lawyer from Turkey and we had a nice time chatting about various things including setting up business in Indonesia. Yet again let’s see how that plays out.
  • Not many photos this week as I took most of it as a video with the GoPro and yet to figure out how to convert it… 

Cheers with the glass full of stretched out and a bit sore elephant!