My Recipe for Turning 30: The Unforgettable Balinese Adventure – Part 3

Welcome to part 3 where my recipe for turning 30 is finally complete.

If you missed part 1, please read here

 and if you missed part 2, please click here.

Now for the final ingredients…

The Feel Good

(2 Splashes)

Spa

Something I made a strong priority once I finally landed in Bali was to be touched often and touched welllllll!

Deep tissue, Balinese, Hot stone, Thai, Happy endings – you name it

 I WANTED IT.

For a quarter of the price it is in Australia, having some pampering was a must and I managed to hold out for a total of 9 hours of beauty pampering.

AND HELLO MAMA!

Did it feel amazing!

It mostly consisted of Balinese massages which were….nice….but at the end of the day I just wanted my head rubbed.
I am like a genie, rub my head and I am yours!!!
So I laid there each time just thinking.. head.. do my head.. head.. Screw my arm lady .. HEAD HEAD!!!

FOR GOODNESS SAKE WOMAN JUST RUB MY HEAD!!!!

And they never did 🙁

My friend and I also had a 2 hour “couples” massage, but obviously in a non-sexual way. With candles, rose pedals and music,  it was quite romantic but thank god for these
“Ohh so NOT sexy shower cap panties.”  

 Cause if they don’t scream romance, then I just do not know what does!

Ocean love

Besides a day of surfing with some local boys, which there are no pictures available due to the lack of actual “surfing type movement” that came out of it, a separate day was dedicated to the ocean via snorkelling and swimming.

We took a boat to an island off the island, where our only goal for the whole day was to ….

RELAXXXXXXXXXX.

We spent the afternoon snorkelling and admiring all the little fish that swam so calmly underneath us,  all the while the sun was not so calmly burning off the top 4 layers of my glowing white skin.

Even once everyone was forced to stay in sight and on ground while waiting for the boat, I still found a way to disobey and stay in the water..  just to be THAT person. I was so relaxed, I honestly could of laid there allllllllllllllllllll day…..not a common sentence coming from my mouth unless there is some type of vibrating object involved 🙂

Giving Back 

(9 Tablespoons)

Beach Clean up!

Bali was doing such a great number on me, I felt compelled to try and find ways to give back to the community.

My first attempt was to help clean up their trashed filled beaches, as nothing is more annoying than seeing a beautiful place polluted with McDonald’s wrappers and beer bottles.

My friend from the hotel introduced me to some locals who participated in volunteer clean up every Thursday. Though it was Monday and not Thursday, he was able to work his magic on 3 of them to take me to begin my community service.

We were out there for about an hour in the heat picking up everything and anything. I unfortunately kept getting distracted every few seconds because..

 DOGS.WERE.EVERYWHERE!!

 Dogs were randomly running around from all sides of me no matter where we went.

I would grab one piece of trash and then

BOOM!

10 minutes later…

Boom Boom!

AWWWWWW I CAN’T WORK UNDER THESE CONDITIONS!!!! 

 So yeah…..I did not do so much of a  “beach clean up”  to help the community that day,  but more of  a “give dogs love without hopefully getting  rabies” type of day.

Same thing right?

Plus I discovered.. Community service can be pretty cool when it’s not court ordered 🙂

Orphanage

For the last day of my trip and  my best attempt for giving back to this lovely island, I decided to spend it at a children’s orphanage.

The Jodie O’shea orphanage was founded after the tragic 2002 Bali bombings leaving many children homeless and alone, and now a place where 90 kids can call home.

They had a beautiful fruit and vegetable garden, a reading room bigger than my whole house, and a playroom even bigger. These kids had it good!  I have honestly never seen rooms so tidy in my life, it was as if they actually liked cleaning?

And apparently they did!

I was told that since many of the kids came from nothing, the chore of cleaning and putting things away was no chore at all, but instead something they loved and appreciated to do.

After my tour around, I grabbed my driver and two of the older kids and we headed to wholesale market with a grocery list and my bank account.  

Meatballs, check! Chicken nuggets, check!

One by one we went through the list making sure we got as much as we could before my bank account went dry.

The rest of the day was spent with the girls in the music room, singing and dancing to Taylor Swift, and introducing me to some of their own Balinese songs and dance. 

 Though my heart already poured out for this these kids from the start, after understanding and learning about their stories, my heart had never felt so full.

It was a day filled of smiles, laughter, and endearment.

A day that I will never forget <3

  

Let’s Talk Food

 (3/4 Cups)

The food in Bali was something that made me happy to wake up every morning!

Rice and noodles for days.. literally, FOR DAYS!

There was never a plate of Balinese food I didn’t finish or bite that I didn’t enjoyed. I am surprised  they didn’t have to roll me on to the airplane with noodles falling out of my mouth.

Breakfast

.  

The  “American” Style breakfast was the most interesting mix of food I had ever seen. Being my first trip to Asia, I never experienced this rice for breakfast or noodles.. thing? But I had no complaints! 🙂

My daily breakfast consisted of fried rice, chicken noodle, pancakes, eggs, steamed veggies, bacon and a pastry.

 It was a delicious mix of what I would usually eat after being extremely hungover with whatever leftovers I would found in the fridge. 

Noodles? Eggs? Pancakes? Broccoli? Let’s have it all!

Lunch

One lunch that stood out the most was lunch at Teba Sari in Ubud. I was able to eat the most mouthwatering meal while sitting in a hut overlooking rice fields. I had the rice fields in front of me, the fresh koi pond to my right, and a plate of 100 percent deliciousness in my face.

Hands down the best overall food experience I had while in the country.

Dinner

On the other end of the spectrum, there was the day I ordered a pizza. 

One day we decided to go to the little Italian restaurant by our resort.

It was crowded..wine was flowing..looked legit.

Now when it comes to ordering food, one might say I make people’s life a bit miserable, or as I call, interesting, by creating my own version of whatever is on the menu.

So like usual, I made sure to order my pizza and make it scrumptious!

 I requested  bacon, ham, tomato, artichoke, ham, bell pepper, eggplant and mushroom. 

For when these toppings are all evenly mixed and spread across a pizza together, it is perfection in your mouth.

Strangely, this chef decided to go in a totally different direction.

Because, this is EXACTLY  what I meant?!? 😉

The Enlightenment and Community 

(2 Litres)

The main reason I wanted to go on this trip, was to take a deep dive into my spirituality, learn about cultures, and just be enlightened in ways I have never experienced before.

Yoga Meditation

One of the most memorable mornings/afternoon was on the day we went on a yoga retreat up in Ubud.  Once arriving at the Yoga Barn, the only thing that came to our minds was ..

SINCERITY.

One stand out class we decided to take within our retreat was a mediation ying yoga class.
 Not really knowing exactly what to expect as every instructor or healer works differently, I walked in and laid down ready for anything.
Within minutes of the instructor leading the class into mediation,  it was so odd… as water started uncontrollably leaking from my eyeballs.
She had the ability to get your thoughts where they needed to be, and get you to release everything, just everything that you have been needing to let out.
I felt like a bit of an idiot when I started crying, until the moment I opened my eyes and saw.. 

We all were in it. 

We ended the day with some great yoga stretches and poses and finally with meditation that guided us through deep lessons of community, generosity and compassion.

I never wanted to leave the Yoga Barn, as it was by far the most spiritually cleansing day I had experienced in years.

Embracing Culture

Since I have such a great hobby of making friends with the most random people,  I also create wonderful opportunities for unique experiences.  

Another friend I made that was willing to help out with my curiosity with Balinese culture,  gave me an invite over to his house to have dinner with his family.

I had the honour entering his village and going into his house to watch his wife prepare dinner, while I entertained his kids with my “funny talking”.

He kept apologizing for his kids saying I talked funny, but I just kept ensuring him,

“No no don’t worry, I get that a lot!”

After eating the most appreciated home cooked noodles and mystery meat ever, I asked if he could show me around his village.

I requested to be taken to his Shaman because frankly, I wanted to be blessed!

 I spent 20 minutes with an elderly man 3 house’s down, as he blessed all my belongs and myself in a chant.  This guy could have totally not been a Shaman and just some random old man….and he could have been reciting the lyrics to Britney Spear’s “Hit me baby one more time” for all I know..

But I do know I felt it, even if it was all in my little head.

Temples

Visiting Bali without visiting temples is like going to Disneyland without making out on the Splash Mountain,

It is just not right.

We visited 6 different temple during the trip,  each possessing their own unique and intriguing characteristics.  The best part about visiting the temples was learning and inhaling everything about Hinduism.

And trust me, I fell in love with EVERYTHING!!

The offerings, the statues, the shrines, the temples….

I could honestly could write an entire book on how much learned and loved about the Balinese and Hinduism.

I was enamoured, and couldn’t leave each temple without feeling a bit better about LIFE.

Final Words

Everything I experienced on this trip.. from the moment I found out my flight was cancelled, till the moment I said goodbye to the kids at the orphanage, was the best thing I could have ever asked for…without even realizing,  I was asking for it.

I really think everything came to be for a reason.

I needed my mental breakdown day one -> to go through fear day two ->  to finally be in the optimal mindset or “preparation,” that allowed for all of these ingredients to shine and ultimately make the most divine dish.

I discovered more about culture, about my life, about myself, than I ever thought imaginable.

 I left Bali a more happy, confident, loving, and compassionate woman than I was when I arrived.

An overall enhanced version of myself that no longer feared turning 30…

but instead, someone who discovered just how gratifying accepting 30 can be:)

Thank you all for reading my recipe for turning 30.. what’s your recipe? 🙂

 <3 Michelle