Upon waking, I felt completely back to full health for the first time in several days. Still, as advised by the doctor, I wanted to give myself more time to recover and be conservative with my health before traveling again. Especially with my next stop being Nepal, where I would embark on a rigorous Himalayan peak summiting trek. I would spend another 4 days on Bali in Ubud, an area highly recommended to me by many friends.
I started my day with a self-care routine of yoga, core strengthening, and meditation. Feeling centered and rejuvenated, I went to The Loft for breakfast and a working session. Afterwards, I returned my rental motorbike, packed my bags, and checked out of the hostel. I grabbed a cab from Uluwatu to Ubud, a 2 hour drive that only cost $27USD. Compared to Uber prices in America, this felt like a steal. My driver was a little agitated upon picking me up, as another car had just hit-and-run sideswiped him while he was waiting for me. Thankfully there wasn’t any damage to his car apart from some of the other car’s paint that would buff out. I will remember how the driver quickly let go of his agitation and made a point to not let it bother him or ruin his day as what has happened, happened. I appreciated his emotional intelligence and ability to shake it off. Having built up a resistance to motion sickness in vehicles after some intense bus rides around Vietnam, I worked for the duration of the two hour car ride.
In Ubud, I checked into Doni House & Villa, where I would stay for the next 4 nights. I met up with my Brazilian friends Giovanna, Lucas, Lais, and Gabriella, and we went to visit a local Monk at Bali Sacred Journey, who offered energy readings, guidance, and holy water ceremonies. He did his reading for me, and told me my strengths were intuition and strong connection to the spiritual. He mentioned I need to spend less time in my head, overthinking things (true), and more time in my body. He advised I continue my dedication to yoga and meditation, to keep my body, mind, and spirit in alignment, and that my purpose is to inspire others. He asked if I would be traveling for long, and then affirmed that traveling is very good for my spirit. All of this may seem broad or unspecific, but it resonated with me. He then asked me about my sleep, which was interesting. Consistent sleep is something that I’ve struggled with off and on for a long time. He told me that juice from papaya leaves are what my body and spirit needs. I’ve never even heard of papaya leaves being something people consume, but I’m on the hunt for it now. After this conversation, he instructed me to burn the paper he used to record my energy reading at the Buddha altar, and then blessed a bottle of holy water and gave me instructions for consuming the water three times daily, with mantra affirmations to recite unique to me. I’ve been keeping up with the practice, and thankfully have been able to get the holy water through airport security to bring it with me on my travels.
After the monk visitation that I was keenly pleased with, we went to a nearby Italian restaurant called Fuzion where I ate a tasty calzone. We enjoyed our meal together, and then Lucas made his departure for the airport to return to Sydney. I rented a new motorbike for getting around Ubud and returned to the homestay. Here I had an evening dip in the pool before calling it a day.