Paying the Piper - Restoring the Body in Ubud - Yoga and Massage

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After several months tramping through South America and Europe and committing numerous sins of gluttony, from the pasta, wine and cheese to the steak and Quilmes, I admit that I gorged over the past few months. The start of our stay in Bali began to rectify the problem, with smaller portions, less drinking, and massages. Ubud, in the center of Bali took it one step forward and allowed me to heal my body and repent for the damage done during the glutinous tour of the western world. Ubud is known for three things, rice terraces, massage, and yoga. Sign me up.

Healing the Body

First, massage. We made the most of the cheap and pretty decent massage and spa offerings in Ubud. I am too cheap to pay for massages in the US, at an average of $1 per minute. I wanted to take advantage of the value while in Asia before we return home. We started with a simple foot massage, which was about $5 and was decent. It was also Eric’s first massage by a possibly transgendered person - long pretty hair, deep voice, strong hands, big feet, and excess facial hair. We were not too sure about that one, but Eric was okay with it.

For our next massage, we were given a recommendation for a place called Venezia on Monkey Forest Road. For our first treatment, we went all out. I had an almost two hour package with a Balinese massage, a milk scrub, a milk body mask, and a milk bath. Eric ordered the flower bath massage with some sort of herbal scrub and mask and a flower scented bath (supposedly good for the ph level of the skin). They put us in a open air room with two massage beds, two showers, and one large tub, with a somewhat obscured view of the rice paddies outside. After the massage they lubed each of us with a scrub, and we were told to take a shower. I glanced at Eric settling into his large tub with red and pink flower petals. After the transgendered massage the day before, and the flower petals the second day, it is a good thing that Eric is secure in his masculinity. Most men would not walk down that path. It was a nice relaxing way to settle into Ubud. We returned to Venezia a few more times for fabulous ninety minute massages. We felt like it was all a steal. The massage, scrub, and bath combo cost $15 each and the ninety minute massage cost $12. I was in heaven. It also worked out well because our hotel’s shower had a lot to be desired, so we were bringing shampoo and accessories to shower at the spa instead. The hotel must have thought we were strange when they came into the room day after day and we never used our shower or towels.

Improving the Body, Mind, and Soul

During our first breakfast at the hotel we met a new friend, Kate, most recently of Wicker Park Chicago. It’s a small world. We started chatting when she introduced herself as a solo traveler and also mentioned she was heading to Singapore. We had to provide our restaurant recommendations (you remember, Din Tai Fung! Thanks again Laura). By the end of breakfast, she mentioned she was on the way to yoga down the street. I told her I had never tried yoga before (other than one class about eight years ago, which I do not think really counts). She invited me to join her, Eric told me to go, and I became hooked. In the end, I took six classes in six days at Yoga Barn, an open air pagoda overlooking the rice fields with the sounds of the jungle surrounding. I tried relaxing yin yoga, a restorative yoga, pilates, and learned classical hatha yoga. The most interesting, though, was the Tibetan Bowl Meditation.

I had some introduction to meditation and relaxation techniques in some of the other classes, but this one was certainly unique. Kate told me about the idea behind it; she had heard from a friend from the Yoga Barn. We all figured when we would get to experience a class like this and for only $6 a person, all three of us went along (Eric too). The class started after dark, so loaded up with bug lotion, we lay on a yoga mat with about 25 other people in the room, in a circle, with our heads facing the teacher. He was a little bit more granola than I generally care for, with long flowing top and pants, and massive dreadlocks. He put a sheet on the floor and started to unpack all of his tools, several gold bowls of varying sizes. He lit incense. He told us to relax and explained the process in one of the most annoyingly calm voices I have ever heard. He played soothing music and the lights were dimmed to almost dark. Then, he came around the group placing scented oil on our foreheads and rubbing it in a circular motion. Forget icy hot or Vick’s Vapor Rub, this stuff opened up the nostrils. I tried to focus on relaxing, but I found myself more interested in trying to figure out what the instructor was going to do next. After the oil application, he went around the room several times with different sized bowls, making noises over each head and down through the ears. It was like someone who makes music by rubbing their finger over a glass filled with water. I could hear the bell sound as he circled the room and came closer, and when he was over me I could hear the sound clearly over my head and to my left and right ear. It sounded like the hearing tests when I was a child. It was all very interesting and I would love for it to have worked. Maybe if I went again and knew what to expect I could spend more time relaxing and meditating than wondering what he would be doing next. I did not feel bad, though, because despite the instruction that we could stay as long as needed to complete the meditation, Kate, Eric, and I all rose at the same time to exit the class. Apparently, sometimes people fall asleep for an hour or more and the instructor will stick around until they wake up. Don’t break the meditation. It was unique, I will give them that.

Culinary Exploits in Ubud

Indian food. It is our go to food when we tire of local cuisine. If Indian is available, we will try to eat it. As much as we were not tired of Indonesian, the Indian restaurant was very close to our hotel and we ate there for our first meal and for several after that. This included an all you can eat buffet with Kate and a Canadian from the hotel, Mike. I became addicted to their masala dosa (fried thin bread stuffed with potatoes and onions with a side of curry sauce for dipping) and the sweet lassi, a sweet, chilled, yogurt drink. The buffet was nice too, with all the butter chicken and nan I could handle. It also rained pretty hard while there, which made the experience even better - I love a tropical rain.

Ubud is laid out pretty simply, with four main roads intersecting in a square pattern in the center. The roads are loaded with various restaurants, hotels and cottages, spas, and shopping. The small village of Ubud was set in the rice terraces of the center of the island and was home to the wood carving industry of the town. Ubud started as a bohemian artsy enclave. Over the years, and possibly decades, some of the shops retained some of the boutique nature, with shops for art, wood carving, yoga wear, and adorable dresses and accessories. The rest of the shops catered towards those looking for cheap knick knacks. At the north west of the village is a large two story market with every level of crap one would like to purchase (we bought a little of it too). Currently, Ubud has experienced suburban sprawl, Bali style, and has started to incorporate some of the other local villages. In the end, most of the restaurants are very touristy and outside of Indian we ate several meals at our hotel, mostly out of laziness, with Kate. The exception was Ibu Oka.

Ibu Oka is a traditional roast suckling pig restaurant on the north west of town, across from the market. Similar to Warung Babi Guling, near the LeMeridien in Tanah Lot, the suckling pig denotation was a mischaracterization. It was a full sized pig rather than a baby suckling one that was being carved up just off the curb. Unlike Warung Babi Guling, where often we were the only people eating at the restaurant, Ibu Oka was virtually standing room only. We became aware of it through, of course, Anthony Bourdain. It was good. Eric had a special platter similar to what he had before with sliced pork, pork skin, sausage, rice, and more. I chose the meat only platter, which included a plate of tender pork with spicy seasoning and a piece of crispy pork skin. Eric liked Warung more, but I liked the meat at Ibu Oka better. The best thing that came from eating at Ibu Oka was meeting Ernesto and Paola. They are a couple from Mexico who were staying in Bali for three months and we shared a table. It was their last day on the island before returning home. We talked like a group of foodies. Ernesto is a chef at home. It had been awhile since I spoke to someone whose face lit up when talking about food. After speaking with them about a half hour, they invited us to their going away get together that evening.

We arrived that night to meet Ernesto and Paola at Siam Sally, a higher end Thai restaurant. We were joined by a large group of the friends they had met on the island, including a hotel manager, a Canadian entrepreneur from Hong Kong, the owner or manager from Siam Sally, and Ernesto’s uncle from Mexico. It was a good group of people and what I noticed most was that despite having just met us Ernesto and Paola, they were always including us to ensure we were having a good time and to make sure we were trying the different foods. It was a great experience. It just shows you that you never know what will happen when you share a table with strangers at a restaurant.

Poop Coffee

Don’t think yet that we were becoming complacent about eating strange foods as we near the end of our trip. A few days before arriving in Ubud a friend on Facebook, Madhu, asked the generic question, has anyone tried poop coffee? A lengthy virtual conversation ensued, with another friend, Megan, piping in that she tried it in Sumatra. It has always intrigued me and when we arrived at our hotel in Ubud and we saw the advertisement for Kopi Luwak, or Civet Coffee, we had to try it. The story goes that the civet, a somewhat cute looking animal from the rodent family, has a highly tuned sense of smell. It eats coffee beans, but is discerning and only eats the best beans. He does not digest the beans, and they pass through his system. They are “farmed” on their way out, and processed into coffee. In the end (pun intended) they supposedly create one fine cup of coffee, and an expensive one at that. It was a $6 cup of coffee in Indonesia and someone was telling us they saw it at home (I can’t remember if that was US or Europe) for $14 a cup. We splurged to try the poop coffee. It was good. It had no odor or taste of the waste product that was for sure. It looked like normal coffee and tasted less bitter, almost smooth. I don’t know if I would pay $6, or better $14, for the novelty of it in the future, but I am glad I tried it once. I was pretty jittery for the next few hours though, particularly as I became hungry for lunch, so maybe it was stronger than I thought. Poop coffee. Thanks to Madhu and Megan for the reminder of the delicacy.

Overall I loved the feel of Ubud, regardless of the “urban” sprawl. There was something relaxing about it. Possibly it was all of the fruit shakes, massage, and yoga but part of it was the feel of the surrounding rice fields. I felt calm and at peace. I was slightly perturbed to have to leave back to the hustle and bustle of the beach area of Legian, but regardless we were on our way.

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Photos

Daily Offering
These Hindu offerings are all over Bali, and are left daily, or several times a day.

The Pond
Surrounded by the rice fields.

Road to Yoga
Getting into a peaceful mindset for yoga.

Kate and Me at Indian Buffet
My new yoga friend.

Ibu Oka
Another round of roasted pig

Paola, Ernesto, and Us at the Going Away Dinner
Great people with great character!