Wednesday, Day 4 of the retreat would be a special day. It would be a day of exploration, a day of learning about the customs, culture and cuisine of the locals. And when I say local I mean the more representative people of the island, not the affluent owners of hotels and tourist businesses.
Generally speaking it can be hard to establish this form of contact, but I was lucky enough to have met Wayan, a fellow yoga instructor during my visit in 2020 – four years ago. I had lost contact with him, but I knew where he taught in the center of Denpasar. I made the search for Wayan the central part of our exploration. We would look for sites, restaurants nearby to round off this immersion into non-tourist Bali.
Our day started with a sumptuous breakfast at Kashantee Village and yoga in the morning.
Rejuvenated with yoga, Irene and Luba went for a stroll and shopping along the narrow street near our lodge. They found it extremely challenging when the pavement would disappear and sometimes when the road would be flooded. They reached one such section and they told me a local gentleman lay a big stone on the ground for them to cross the water. They were surely on an adventure.
I, on the other hand took it easy and worked a bit on my blog and things of that nature.
At about 3 pm we left for the area where I suspected we would find Wayan teaching his 5 pm yoga class. I found a local lunch spot in the area with good reviews and so we went there first for a late lunch, It was a nondescript little place called “Bubur Ayam Pak Lik”. There were a few set items to choose from. We chose a few curries, white rice and what looked like a porridge with chicken.
Adam I learned meant chicken. The porridge was my favorite! And the other items were good too – nice and simple, flavorful but not too spicy. The bill came to 65,000 IDR which is about $4 USD. Wow! Also the young ladies helping there could’t believe a few foreigners had chosen to eat here so they took pictures and videos of us. We were – in a way – celebrities 😁.
After lunch we tried to cross the wide road to get to Niti Mandala Park. No one was stopping for us at the zebra crossing, but finally a local Balinese gentleman who was crossing helped us. You just have to be a bit assertive sometimes, but at the same time you have to read the reaction of oncoming traffic – did they slow down?, etc…
The park is immense and there are joggers, cyclists, soccer players and lots of other people. It is also home to a monument called “Paerjuan Rakyat”, a monumental tower in Balinese architecture – almost looking like a temple. Of course we got distracted, taking pictures and mixing with the locals. We had a bit of a hard time finding Wayan, but after asking some locals we found the yoga group! In 2020 there were about 80 students at this yoga session. Today there were about 20. That’s why I had a hard time spotting them.
We joined yoga at the right time. They were just starting and we enjoyed a beginner Hatha Yoga class. It’s interesting to note the differences and similarities in style between classes taught here and back home. Irene and Luba both enjoyed the experience and it was good to be reconnected with Wayan.
After yoga we called a “Grab” (their version of Uber) back to our lodging. What a great day we had and two yoga classes to boot!
Thursday Day 5, I woke up a bit earlier than normal and since I could’t go back to sleep I went for a walk along the beach in the morning. I loved seeing the reflection of the clouds in the water, left after the waves receded. After that we had yoga at 7:30 am and breakfast at 8:30 am.We then headed to the beach together.
I still hadn’t swam in the ocean! I had been a bit busy and hadn’t had the opportunity for a beach day and so I really wanted to relax. We had a good time getting in the water. The waves were a bit strong, so I immersed myself completely but swimming would have been challenging. Plus there was a warning sign cautioning us about the strong waves.
After a quick shower I headed to Benin Spa for another treatment. It was oh so good! And after that I went to lunch at Bali Boozy and had a delicious fish sandwich.
Feeling refreshed after the massage Luba, Irene and I headed to Ku De Ta, a nice beach club with a great view and we were hoping to get a nice sunset there. It would take us 35 minutes in a taxi and 31 minutes walking along the beach. We opted to walk. There was a cool breeze and people were out frolicking with the waves, children building sand castles and dogs playing with each other. It really was a lovely walk.
Once at Ku De Ta, we miraculously got the best seating by the pool overlooking the ocean. We had a few nice cocktails and caught a beautiful sunset. We decided to stay there for dinner and got a really nice table in the patio. We took a grab back and this time it only took 15 minutes.
Day 5 of the Bali Yoga Retreat was complete! We were exactly at the halfway point. Five more days of yoga, fun and more await!
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