Borneo Blog :: Mari-Mari Cultural Village

Saturday 

Today I was invited to visit Mari-Mari Cultural Village with my new friend Desmond. Let me tell you about his name. He was the only boy at school with a non English name, so his friends told him to choose one. He chose Desmond because of a Beatles song that was popular at the time. Now if that's not destiny then I don't know what is. (I was born in Liverpool, home of the Beatles...) 

Des was picking me up at 4pm so I had the morning and early afternoon to laze around and take it easy. I went to the coconut stand and had one of the biggest coconuts I think I've ever seen (the previous day I had the biggest I've ever seen lol) and it was really sweet, but nothing beats the one I had at the beach so far that tasted like milkybar. 

I was sure I wanted tarap, so I got one from the market. I should have known that when it dripped on me in the market it was not a good one. Nevertheless I bought it. When I opened it the pods were purple and some had gone pink, gooey and rancid. So determined to get a good tarap I went back to ask for a better one or my money back. I ended up getting half my money back because the woman who sold it to me was only looking after the stall. Fair enough, I'm glad I got something back. 

So I didn't get one after that. 

Des picked me up early and we went walked around a park. He showed me where he does Tai Chi. It was a beautiful park. 

Then we went to the Brahma Kumaris centre that teaches Raja Yoga, which was interesting and I hope I taught them something about eating clean with my raw vegan lifestyle! 

After our visit we headed to the Cultural village. It was beautiful, a stream, bamboo buildings, trees, so much greenery. It got dark soon after we arrived so the photographs and videos will be quite dark. Stay tuned. There were many tasters, all non vegan of course but at the end after watching a dancing show with music you get to eat a buffet meal. Fortunately Des speaks many languages so he was able to pre order a raw vegan meal especially for me. I had watermelon, papaya, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber and then shredded salad. It was so good! 

On the way back (by motorcycle of course) I felt so chilled out, almost in a meditative state. I had my eyes closed for the majority of the journey allowing my senses and body to feel everything, from the wind in my hair, to the vibrations from the foot pedals on my feet through to my legs. Wow. This was probably the best journey I've ever had. I kept repeating the question "who am I?" and the sensations became stronger. Incredible. 

Perfect day. 

Borneo Blog :: short and sweet

Today I'm very tired after a sleepless night. The dorm was filled with 4 snorers last night so I ended up having a midnight durian feast and then felt tired enough by 2am to sleep, although I did need to listen to some meditation music in order to mask the sound of the snoring.

Needless to say I had a very late morning, I got up just before 11am and have a very chilled out day. I spent about 1.5 hours at the coconut stall eating a young coconut and a sprouted coconut, then I ate papaya! 

I watched The Wedding Ringer at 3:15pm, which was funny. I love going to the cinema to watch films and as I've mentioned before, to just forget I'm in a foreign country where people stare at me because I'm Western. I don't like being the minority, this is the only downside to travelling outside Europe. 

So before I sign off for the night I hope you take the time to watch my video of the adventure I had with my new friend. This was the best day of my travels so far and I hope I've made a friend for life! 

My amazing motorcycle tour

Borneo Blog :: bicycle, proposition, chill

This morning I didn't get up until after 10am! This is the latest I've been up in a long time because I didn't get to bed until after 11pm last night after my fabulous adventure.

After being put to shame last night by a 70 year old lady who does 100 push ups, pull ups, inverted head stretches and shooting some hoops every day, I felt it necessary to go for a jog to the coconut stand (and because my bike was still getting serviced). It's no more than 3km (and that's being generous) so it was no where near the intensity of that older lady! But we must start somewhere. I do admit I am lazy and if I want to be athletic looking I need to put some effort in. 

Sport has always been my weakness. I just like to sit around all day. 

So this afternoon I picked up my bicycle from the shop. I only had 111 ringgit with me, not thinking I'd need anymore than that, it's Asia and bike stuff is normally cheap. Well it cost 113 to have my bike serviced with parts replaced, but thankfully he let me off by 3 ringgit. It's shiny again so I put a sticker on it. I'm pretty sure it's a transformers sticker, now Barney is a transformer :) 

I have pretty much chilled all day and most of my time has been spent eating. From the coconut to yellow watermelon to champedak to bananas to salad to coconut meat and finally butterfruit. Seriously as soon as I finished breakfast around 12 I started eating lunch! I am shocked by how late I got up, it's so unlike me. I went to the cinema and checked the times too. I want to watch The Wedding Ringer tomorrow. It starts at 11:50 am, a good time to be indoors. 

The highlight of my day has been a proposition I received from a man who was staying in this hostel (if you follow my Instagram he's the one who asked if I am pregnant lol). He's asked me to come to China and live in his house for free and in return teach his 2 children English for a few hours. Such an amazing offer. Right now it's cold there so I won't be going any time soon. I'm going to think about it though but it does depend on my budget. I need a visa so that has to be factored in as well as flight costs. 

Things are looking positive for my future though :) 

Borneo Blog :: possibly the best day of my travels so far...

Wow, what a day. I've seen more of Borneo today than I have over the last 17 days! It all started earlier this morning. I had my bikini on ready to go to the islands but I wanted to pick up my t-shirts from the print shop before hand so I started walking over. I hadn't realised it was 9:30am and I'm pretty sure the shop didn't open till 10am so I was summing up whether I should just sit outside and wait or have a coconut instead. 

The coconut won because I didn't have one for breakfast and it's a good job I went else I would not have met Des, aka Chew. He's a 52 year old Malay from Kuala Lumpur and let me tell you I was so shocked when he said he is 52! He looks at least 10 years younger in my opinion. He loved that comment so bought my coconut for me! 

What a man he is. Well travelled, knowledgeable in raja yoga, tai chi and vegetarianism (his mother is 90 and is a thriving vegetarian!). I don't think he is vegetarian though,but when he was with me he only ate fruit and salad (with mayo but still no meat). He is married and has a son, but not biological (this man has some great stories!) 

So we talked for a long time in the morning and instead of going to the islands I'd agreed to meet him back at the coco place at 2pm so he could show me some waterfalls and watch the sunset high in the mountain on his motorcycle. Well of course when someone mentions motorcycle I'm in. I get such a thrill from riding motorcycles, although this was not the case as a child, I was frightened of my uncles bikes. 

Well I was early and had another coconut whilst I waited. I ended up having a conversation with an American stay at home dad. It's crazy how many people I've spoke to recently, my dream definition was right! 

I'm going to cut it short because I need to research the place names and it's way past my bed time so here goes, 8 hours condensed into a few sentences. 

We went up to the mountains, it was gorgeous, so many trees. The buildings looked very Americanised in my opinion. The river was stunning. The first waterfall was lovely but I got attacked by mosquitoes. We ate durian and then left. Onto the second waterfall. I got such a numb bottom on the bike so I started doing butt clenches to try to build up my muscle and natural padding! The second waterfall was also amazing but we didn't stay long. We ascended a really steep hill for the views of KK at sunset. 

When we got to the top there was cloud cover everywhere. We were in a restaurant and had ordered some fruit juice and salads. The juice was delicious by the way, pineapple, orange, celery and apple. I suggested that we both close our eyes and imagined the cloud moving away so that we could see the sun and KK below. After 2 minutes or so I say enough and within 10 minutes the clouds started clearing! We had some amazing views of the city but unfortunately the clouds covered the sunset. I was so amazed that it worked and it solidified my belief that what we think has a lot of power. 

After the food we head back down. Des showed me many places, the tour wasn't over. We went up another steep hill closer to the city, he took me to his shop and showed me his house and then we watched a water fountain show. 

I have had one of the best days of my life. I saw my first firefly and fell in love all over again with motorcycles, KK and the generosity of a stranger. 

I am so blessed to have met Des and I appreciate everything he did for me today. I think he was sent to me to show me that not all men are a waste of space! 

Borneo Blog :: meditation

Today started off well, I went on the bike to collect more sprouted coconuts, drank a coconut at the coconut stall and then combined the meat with papaya, which was super sweet and then I had the sprout around 10:30am.

I took my bike to the bike shop for a service, but it's not going to be ready till Thursday. After that I went to the cinema. I figured it was too hot and sunny to be out at midday so I just went. I ended up watching The Boy Next Door with Jennifer Lopez. She's the only reason I saw it and I reckon this is her worst film. It was such a bad storyline and the ending was so ridiculous. I didn't review Into the Woods (from what I can remember) well that film was better, but I thought they should have let the film end after 1 hour or so. Happily ever after suited me lol

Well let's get back to my day. Prior to this I was at the hostel and I received an email from Ronnie aka Fruity Ronster. He's also a fruit eater/801010er and I subscribed to his newsletter so I often relieve very long emails from him (this reminds me I need to set up a website and get a newsletter going to personally spam you hehe). I always enjoy reading what Ronnie has to say and I always relate. This time was spooky. He had written about forgiveness, how he had forgiven himself for how he handled a relationship and I have been thinking about my previous relationships recently and how I need to forgive myself, synchronicity. His email definitely helped. 

Once I finished reading I sent a reply and then I looked on YouTube for a meditation video. There's so many, but I decided 30 minutes was the right time for me. I was crying within minutes. It was such a powerful guided meditation and exactly what I needed. 

Check it out here. 

I have lost track recently, forgotten what's important and what I want to do on my journey. La Palma was just perfect, I meditated daily, gave myself so much love, I appreciated every day, said my prayers every day and I had the best time. But it's amazing how 2 months can change everything. I need to get back on track and I think this email from Ronnie was the sign telling me to do so. I aim to get back to daily meditations, prayers and gratitude and work on my spiritual growth. 

Often I get distracted or become side tracked, sometimes I recognise immediately but most of the time it takes a while to notice. It's important that I forgive myself for this. Forgiving is hard but empowering. I have to learn in order to grow. 

I recommend that you start meditating, whether it's 5 minutes or 1 hour. It's important to learn how to do this. Personally I prefer to lie down flat on the bed, close my eyes, put my headphones in and ether listen to a guided meditation or a meditation for the chakras. Sometimes I like to do it before I eat, sometimes after. Find the time that suits you and be consistent. It gets easier with practice. 

Let me know if you need any suggestions regarding meditation. 

Peace and love 💟

Borneo Blog :: coconut sprout!

Wahoo today I finally had a coconut sprout. I heard about this when I left Thailand in July 2014, I had watched a video by Sweet Natural Living on YouTube and was so amazed that you could eat a sprouted coconut (truthfully I had never even pondered the idea that coconuts sprout, but obviously they do so new trees can grow!) 

I took some video footage but that won't be up on YouTube for a few days. For now check out the pictures. Oh and I didn't take one before the guy smashed into it! 

So the story of where I got the coconut from is like this, I cycled to the wetlands centre about 5km away (up some hills and then down again with some AMAZING scenery) but it was shut. I didn't realise it's closed on Mondays. I decided instead of going back and sitting in the hostel I would stay out in the bike and try to find fruit to forage. Desperate to fulfil this goal and being surrounded by lots of different trees I thought there must be something to pick. 

I cycled around another 2km and found this large lot with coconut palms and banana plants. I looked on the ground and there they were, many coconuts. Some had massive holes in them and the land didn't look like it belonged to anyone in particular so I walked over to the sprouted coconuts, picked 2 up and took them back to my bike. I decided to only take 1 in case they were no good and I had stuff in my basket already. 

When I had finished cycling and taking in the scenery I went to the coconut stand and asked them to cut it open for me. They're so friendly and kind and did it without hesitation. At this point there's a large group of people drinking coconuts and they're pretty much intrigued to see what's happening so there's a lot of attention on my coconut! 

I was sooooo happy when he revealed the spongy interior, the locals here think I'm crazy for asking if I can eat coconuts that have sprouted. If they can understand me they laugh and say "no, no, no its for planting". Well actually it's very common for raw foodists to eat coconut sprouts so I'm right and you're wrong on this one! 

Well this is how it tasted, the outer part was crispy and the inner part was very moist. It was slightly sweet and had a very subtle flavour. I was following the directions as suggested on YouTube to wipe the spongy bit on the oily meat and wow it was incredible. 

Honestly it's flavour was very subtle unlike a durian, but I'm actually appreciating that more than durian. I think I may have lost my appetite for durian because of all of the better tasting fruits like tarap, rollinia, etc and because it can be quite potent and unsettling in my stomach. I tried to Google the nutrition of coconut sprout but I've not found anything yet.  I'm mainly interested in the fat intake. I think I'd rather eat a coconut sprout than durian but I should be careful about the fat intake! 

If you've ever tried coconut sprout what did you think? Do you know the nutritional components of this tasty meal? Do you want to try one now I've (possibly) introduced you to it? 

Let me know your thoughts. 

Check out my YouTube video I posted today about ciku (so many different spellings, chiku, chikoo) 

Borneo Blog :: snoring and Sunday Market

I almost forgot that I need to blog tonight. I'm feeling a bit out of it due to a lack of sleep last night. There's a very overweight (probably classed as morbidly obese) Malay man staying here for work and for the first time he slept in the same room as me. He snored all night and it was so disturbing. I ended up getting out of bed after 1:30am and headed to the kitchen to watch videos. 

I saw that there were people setting up their stalls for the Sunday market around 2 am, that's just way too early! I went back to bed around 4:30am and I seriously hoped I'd sleep, but his snoring was so loud and consistent that I ended up listening to a smooth jazz radio station and falling in and out of sleep. 

What I (re)learned from this experience is that I dislike people who snore, I love the saxophone (it's got a really sexy sound) and I prefer my own room with no one else in it! Right now I could not see myself in a relationship with anyone sharing the same bed or the same room! I much prefer to sleep alone at all times. 

Sunday is my favourite day because of the market right outside the door! So for breakfast I just walked outside, found a coconut seller and then had a look around before deciding what to eat. 

I bought 2 huge bunches of red bananas for 5 ringgit each (under £1) both with 15 fat bananas on, a large tarap for 5 ringgit (this was my breakfast as well as 2 red bananas that broke off in transit), I got 1.5kg of rollinia (sweet heavens my favourite), 3 coconuts, jicama, cucumbers and a butter fruit. I ended up topping up my vegetables and some papaya from Central Market. I spent about 50 ringgit and I'm sorted for a few days! 

Having spoke to people in the market about where the fruit comes from the 2 main places are Ranau and Tenom so I definitely need to explore these places. 

I will keep you updated, but for now I'm leaving it here. I have to floss and brush my teeth (a chore and a bore). 

Goodnight! 

Borneo Blog :: morning thoughts and watermelons

I believe that your thoughts become your reality and the fact that I've given a bit too much thought to my recent loneliness has consequented in more loneliness! 

This morning I woke up and actually had thoughts of going to my neighbours bed to snuggle up to him just because I was missing the warmth of another person. I don't actually know his origin but my guesses are either Chinese or Japanese. We haven't really said more than hello to each other and so this thought of snuggling up to a stranger surprised me. I think I just liked the fantasy aspect of it in a non sexual way. 

In case you don't know I'm staying in a mixed dorm room. I will be here until 1st February and then I'm planning a few days in Ranau (durian central). So far I've been OK sharing dorms because despite my early bed time of 9pm I generally don't get woken up unless someone starts snoring really loudly (and they have the past 2 nights). I also find that I fall asleep more easily when I cuddle the extra pillow! 

Since 1 or 2 years ago I've been interested in investing in a body pillow, this allows you to sleep comfortably and is better than snuggling with a real person (heat for 1, bones for 2 and sweat for 3!). However, sometimes the cost can be extortionate so what I used to do at home was to use the extra pillows that were lying around the house (my dad has an obsession with buying lots of multiple products so there's always at least 5 of some item) and place them in a line on the bed under the covers. I found that my knees were more comfortable as well as my breasts! 

Moving on, I've been having a watermelon and coconut day today. In total I've had 2 coconuts, 2 red watermelon (4.5kg gross) and 2 yellow watermelon (5kg gross). I imagine I ate between 1500-2000 calories but the last watermelon didn't hit my stomach well and I've been experiencing paid for the last 10 minutes. I generally feel OK but I've experienced light headedness, swollen legs and a spaced out feeling today. 

I have walked about 5km in total and rested for the majority of the day. I think an early night is called for.

I've been looking into Gabriel Cousens this evening and whether his higher fat diet really does increase the connection to spirituality. I love fruit and how it feels in my system but I've read and been told that our brains need fat. Plus I've been thinking about Bali a lot today too with the gourmet raw and I'm wondering if I should go and try to live on it for a few weeks to see what differences I feel. There's just too much information out there I just don't know what to think anymore! 

And on that note I'm leaving this post here. My head is all over the place and I just need to rest. 

Much love xx

Borneo Blog :: I'm a loner with an uncontrollable durian addiction

Today I didn't have a coconut, I just went straight for the watermelon for breakfast after drinking 1 litre of filtered water. (This is one of the reasons I'm staying at this hostel, because I don't have to buy plastic bottles filled with water! It also makes washing fruit and veg so much cheaper!) After having an incredibly sweet and juicy watermelon yesterday I realised today that the watermelons I have been getting have been mediocre. The one I ate for breakfast had a powdery texture and it wasn't very sweet. I was quite disappointed so the one I bought for tomorrow is a lot smaller and I'm hoping this will be good. 

I've had a very poor day in terms of food combining and tomorrow I expect issues... For example, I ate that watermelon and felt hungry within 1 hour (it was 3.5kg in total so should have been 1000 cals). So I ate a bag of ciku's and one had maggots in it so I was super conscious about eating the rest. One was still under ripe and it stuck to the roof of my mouth, which was most unpleasant. I brushed my mouth with the toothbrush and it stuck to my toothbrush! It's a good job I already bought a spare brush. 

So I cycled to Dongonggon again for the tamu and had a coconut. It wasn't exactly sweet, it was sort of salty and savoury but I drank it and ate the flesh (hard and fatty mmm). Then I walked around the market, bought a tarap for 2 ringgit and ate it for lunch (sooooo good) and that was shortly followed by an incredible durian! Oh my it was the best durian I've had here, it was so yellow almost orange and it tasted like a creamy fruit cocktail mix! Just before I left I bought a different durian and a package of jackfruit. The jackfruit was definitely not ripe... 

Mmm tarap

The super fruity durian

When I got back to my hostel I ended up eating the durian, but then I wanted something crunchy so I snacked on organic sunflower seeds! Urgh what is going on with me and fat recently? 

I went to the market to get a coconut and watermelon for tomorrow and I ended up buying pineapple. It was the sweetest I've had possibly ever, but I ended up putting it in my salad and it burnt my tongue and spoilt my salad. My salad was little gem lettuce, cucumber, carrot and jicama noodles with tomatoes and celery. Bad combination in hindsight! I suppose what makes it even worse is that I smacked on more sunflower seeds. I think I'm trying to "emotional" eat but I'm not emotional. Strange. 

Here's that salad! 

So my poops haven't been as regular today and that's why I say tomorrow I'll have problems. I imagine pain, so I'm already prepared to do a watermelon and coconut water cleanse. I will try avoid eating the coconut flesh, but it will be hard! 

I must tell you about my dream. I dreamt that my mum won the lottery so I Googled it and it suggests that means I'll get more friends/social interactions. Strange but true. I saw a lady I met last week at the tamu and she gave me her number to meet up, then I've had numerous guys talking to me and one asked me out last night (I declined). I'm having a hard time keeping in touch with my current friends so I don't know how I'd be able to have more lol apologies if you're waiting for me to reply to an email or Skype with you! I know I have all the time in the world especially not having a job but this has always been my weakness. Oh and the loner part of my title relates to how I feel when I meet people, if they're not fruity they have a hard time understanding me so I still feel very much alone! 

Well I have reached the conclusion that I have a durian addiction because of what I ate today, yesterday and then on previous days. It's like as soon as I say I'm not going to eat it I automatically go into binge mode. I think this highlights some underlying issues I still need to address regarding food and my mentality towards it. 

Whilst I sit and ponder this I hope you enjoy the rest of your day :) 

On a side note but semi related, I keep thinking about my ex boyfriends and I wonder if they watch my YouTube videos, read my blog, see my Instagram, etc. I think there's underlying issues in this area too. I think part of me needs to go through a process of closure once and for all. I've been a terrible girlfriend in the past and I just need to take the time to process it, forgive myself and move on. And if you are one of my ex boyfriends then know that I am working through my issues and I know I have been unreasonable to you (all of you!) and I do think about some of the good times we had :) life is strange. 

Silly picture...

Borneo Blog :: locals, coconuts and durian

This morning I went out on my bicycle first thing to buy a coconut. It is my current routine to do 10 minutes of oil pulling, whilst I stretch and brush my teeth, drink about 1 litre of filtered water followed by a coconut water and meat and then a whole 3.5kg watermelon for breakfast. 

This sets me up to cleanse my colon, pee clear and rehydrate after a long sleep. I stopped drinking in the middle of the night because it disturbed my sleep and I was told that our mouths contain so much bacteria in the morning that we should do oil pulling without having a drink. So that's what I do. 

I love getting young coconuts that are slightly maturing inside, so the meat is a bit harder and whiter. I find the slimey meat to be just that, too slimey so I opt for the higher fat option. 

I sat in the place where I bought the coconut and drank it with my reusable glass affirmation straw. I bought this in Bali and I love it. The message says "I love who I am and all that I do". Perfect. After I finished I went to the sea front and sat down to eat my watermelon. 

As I was taking some selfies, a local young man walked past. He saw me taking pictures and decided he would come back to ask if he can have a photo too. "Sure" I said. I thought he would just take one but no he climbed over the ledge where I sat, put his arm around me and took a selfie with me. To him this meant it gave him full access to my personal life and his leading question was "so are you single? What is your name?"

There's something that's been grating on me over the last few weeks and that is that the men here all seem to assume that because I'm alone, beautiful and generally always smiling that it gives them a right to hit on me, that I want a boyfriend and that it's OK to ask really personal questions. Well it's not OK, I don't want a boyfriend and I would prefer my own privacy. 

Fair enough I am travelling in their country and yes I do appreciate friendly conversation, but as I found out in Turkey many years ago Muslim men and women cannot be friends, so if you are talking to a Muslim man they generally want something. I have been patient, I have been friendly, but when it's the first question someone asks I will not stand for it. He interrupted my peace so I told him that I would like to eat my breakfast in peace. Thankfully he respected my wishes and left. 

Now I'm not so vain to think I'm the desire of all men, but it certainly feels like it here. To them I'm classed as exotic! I haven't seen many single Western women walking around, but that doesn't mean that I am here to get a husband. I had exactly the same problem in Turkey. People in Bali left me alone for the most part and in Thailand I don't recall having this problem. That's why I enjoyed being in the cinema yesterday, I blended in because it was pitch black! The attention was no longer on me because I'm white, female, blonde and cute! 

Moving on, I decided that the durian here was actually pants, I haven't really been enjoying it, mainly because it costs more than I want to pay so I've been buying the cheaper packaged fruit. Well after my second Ionic Detox Foot Therapy I went to the guy with the cheap packaged durian. I took about 5-10 minutes just looking at the fruit because he has piles of durian stacked on the road, 3-4 fruit for 10 ringgit. This fruit looks really old so I sniff a few, no smell and decide that I don't want to get them in case they sucked! 

I then started opening his 5 ringgit packaged durian and decide it looks a bit battered, so I just asked if I could buy one from his baskets (where he's replenishing the old ones from). He also sells fresh durian too for 12 ringgit /kg but I don't want that. The one I picked was mediocre, nothing to write home about. Then one of the guys picks out a small one and it is the sweetest and creamiest durian I've had since Bali. Oh sweet heavens you answered my prayers! Then I got the taste for more and so I got another durian and it too was so creamy. I wanted it to last forever... The best thing about eating durian is the leftovers on your fingers. I licked them clean hahaha

So now I'm sat on my bed writing this blog, feeling super full from 3 durian and day dreaming about how good is tasted. So much for giving up durian... I might go back tomorrow. 

*passes out from durian coma*

Borneo Blog :: jungle durian and cinema

Yesterday it was suggested to me that if I want to really experience life here I should work for a day. I contemplated that and thought about the fruit and vegetable market. I wouldn't mind spending a day in the life of a fruit seller. Well right now I'm not looking at doing it anytime soon, but it was a great suggestion. 

What actually happened today was a day in the life of KK's entertainment. 

Firstly, I slept till 7am, longer than normal because I over did it by running and cycling yesterday. I woke up with a slight sore throat and feeling like I needed to rest, so I drank almost 1 litre of water in bed before getting up and had coconut water, flesh and then a 3.5kg watermelon for breakfast (this is my routine here). 

I did the usual upload of YouTube video, checking emails, Instagram, etc and I moved rooms in the hostel. (3rd time!) at 11:30 I went out to the market for lunch. I bought loads of bananas for 3 ringgit and then I ended up buying champedak for tomorrow and some packaged jungle durian! 

I didn't photograph the durian but it was so pale it was almost white. 

I sat along the harbour where the night market is and enjoyed the views of the islands and boats. That's when a local man (always a man) came over to interrogate me. It's always about being a single female. Thankfully he was working and got distracted by a group of people so I escaped after finishing my big bag of bananas (I gave him some too, I am friendly but I wish they'd leave me alone). 

So I was going to a new mall. It looks shiny and still being built, but I thought it must have a cinema. I walked around and it was just so empty. I don't see why they would open it up when the majority of the units are empty. Feeling like it was a waste of time I decided to go to the shops opposite. I found a place to get some t-shirt printing done and then I discovered the super mall, Central Plaza I think it's called. 

8 floors up and there's entertainment central. So this is how the locals unwind. Karaoke booths are everywhere, arcade games dominate the floor and a 20 lane bowling alley (I'm pretty sure it was 20) entices you in with special offers (for 15 ringgit I can play 3 games, that's under £1 for a game!). 

Hallelujah. A cinema! I have been wanting to watch a film in a cinema for months. I actually hadn't planned on watching a film today but it was as if the universe had planned it for me, so I ended up buying a ticket to watch Into the Woods. 

The cinema is 5 ringgit on Wednesdays and it's ladies day on Monday so that's 5 ringgit too. I sat in a swanky theatre for less than £1 and saw an amazing film! Oh and I also took my fruit in with me, so I ate the durian and stunk out the room with the champedak hahaha. The film is a must see. It's a wonderful musical and Meryl Streep is phenomenal, such a beautiful witch and her costume was to die for. If I were a witch I'd want to look like her with blue hair! Oh and Johnny Depp was a sexy fox.

So after the cinema I wanted to go home. I looked outside and it was raining like there was a flood from the sky... It's still raining and it's been over 2 hours! I think it started when I got into the film around 2:30pm and the clouds are still covering the sky now. Needless to say I got soaked, but I loved it. There's nothing better than tropical rain. It's times like this that make me feel most alive and most human. 

I prepared my salad when I got home and now I'm sat in bed writing this. All that's left to do is floss, brush teeth, compile my YouTube video for tomorrow and sleep! So on that note I'm ending this post here. 

Thanks for reading and I wish you all a good morning/afternoon/night. 

Borneo Blog :: heaty and cooling foods

I first heard about this when I was in Thailand stuffing my face with durian at the World Durian Festival in Chanthaburi. The locals would tell me that I needed to eat mangosteen after durian because durian is a "heaty" food whereas mangosteen is cooling. 

I disregarded this information as pish tosh thinking it's an old wives tale and I'm Western so it doesn't affect me. Well it turns out that when you let something important slip through your mind it comes back at some point. 

Yesterday I had my first ever "Ionic Detox Foot Therapy" session in KK plaza shopping centre, at 15 ringgit or 10 ringgit to be a lifetime member plus 13 ringgit a session (and after 5 sessions you get 1 free, essentially the membership is free if you pay for 5 sessions anyway) it's a bargain. Apparently it retails at $40-$60 in Australia! 

So you stick your feet in a foot spa that releases ions that go through the 2000 pores in your feet, into your system to your organs, which apparently releases the toxins and free radicals. The water changes colour, depending on your health you may get bubbles and floating residue. 

As you can see the water in mine went slightly orange, lots of dark bubbles and many floating bits. I went into this without any research. I believed everything I read and everything what I was told. When I got home I did some research and a lot of it was negative saying the colour change is from the device (probably true) and it's all about scamming you out of money. I paid tuppence so I disagree with the last comment. 

I was told my cholesterol was normal, my liver function is good (because I sleep from 9pm till 5/6am so my body has enough time to repair itself over night) but my kidneys are a concern, I'm not drinking enough water and my body is very heaty. 

It was back, that heatiness. I decided that it must be significant. I have noticed a lot during my stay in Borneo that when I eat durian I get really hot and I sweat more. It makes sense. Plus she was right about the water intake. I had been listening to other raw foodists talk about water consumption, someone I was living with said we don't need to drink much, then the guys I stayed with in La Palma also said they don't drink as much anymore, so I reduced my intake from 5l a day to 1.5-2l max. This resulted in a lot less peeing (on 5l a day I was peeing 1-2 times an hour, sometimes 3 and I would get up at night to pee). 

I have been researching these cooling and heaty foods, it's the balance of yin and yang in Chinese medicine. It's very interesting and I'm assuming that as I'm in a very hot country my food intake should be predominantly cooling. So if I have durian I need to eat a cooling food after or drink coconut water! Or simply not eat durian... Yeah right! 

I still need to do some more research and perhaps compile a list of the foods I am likely to eat. 

I am going back to have more Ionic Detox Therapy (buy 5 get 1 free right!) so I'm hoping to implement a new meal plan and see whether my toxicity improves! 

Have you ever tried this type of therapy? Are you interested? Do you think it's a money making scam or is there some truth in it? Let me know your thoughts :) 

Borneo Blog :: a new adventure

I arrived at Kota Kinabalu airport around 5.30pm on Saturday 10th January 2015. It took about 20 minutes to get through passport control so this meant when I got through to baggage reclaim my bike was sat waiting for me. 

Eager to eat durian I wanted to get out of the airport as soon as I could, so I rushed to find the ATM machine and waited patiently for the man to finish using it. This took at least 5 minutes and at the end of his multiple transactions the machine just shut down. He cleaned it out. 

"I have no money" was my first thought. Panic struck and I was wondering how the heck I'd get a taxi with no money! A young couple were in the same boat and then they mentioned the exchange booth (so silly of me to forget about that!) and I remembered I had £25 in my purse, so I quickly changed my money, paid for a large taxi and made my way outside. 

The taxi was pimped out to the max. It was covered in (hopefully faux) leather with diamontes and had 2 chandeliers hanging in the back. Awesome! I tried to have a conversation about durian with the driver but his English wasn't very good so most of the journey was silent with the barely audible radio playing in the background. (Animals by Maroon 5 was the song I mainly remember) 

When I arrived I left the bike in the box, put my bags in the locker and set off on my durian hunt. I found it quite easily, but was disappointed with the price. It's more than I was spending in Bali and more than what I've paid in Thailand. Still cheaper than getting it in the UK though! The seed to flesh ratio was against me and I was left day dreaming about the Bali-Bangkok durian I had in Ubud. Nowadays I daydream about Monthong. That durian has an awesome flesh to seed ratio and is so sweet and creamy. It has to be my favourite durian variety so far. 

On the way back to the hostel I found a shopping centre and bought a 7kg watermelon for 5 ringgit. Unfortunately this was a 1 time deal. Watermelon goes for 2 ringgit/kg and the girls who sold it to me were inexperienced! 

In the morning I woke up feeling awful because I ate too much and it didn't sit well in my stomach. But after half of the watermelon I felt refreshed. 

Sunday is a market day on Gaya Street, right outside my hostel so I had a brilliant morning looking at the fruits and vegetables. I had been doing some research and was able to spot tarap and champedak so I bought one each. Both are awesome fruits, tarap is less messy because there's no latex on the skin or fruit. 

Check out my YouTube videos of me eating tarap and champedak. 

Bali Blog :: YouTube Vlogs of my time in Bali

Be sure to check out my YouTube channel for a playlist of my Bali Vlogs. You'll see me eat lots of durian, cycle, eat at raw food restaurants, play in the sea, visit markets and enjoy the beauty of the natural landscapes.

Bali Blog :: Taksu Spa

I am sat in the restaurant of Taksu Spa and the views are just incredible! The trees are so tall they cover the sky, they're all so green I feel like I'm in a jungle and there's running water both inside (a stone wall waterfall) and outside (the river). I am so relaxed here and it feels so right. 

I just had the raw lasagne and wow it was both a masterpiece and an incredibly tasty dish. I actually took the time to savour this dish, chewing slowly, closing my eyes and just tasting all of the flavours. My mouth is covered in the remains and I do not want to wash it down with anything. I really wanted to grab the plate and lick it, but Taksu is slightly more up market so I just used my finger to get the remaining sauce instead! 

I can see avocados on a tree that must be over 30 feet tall. I don't know how they harvest them, but I assume in a storm you'd want to be wearing a helmet to avoid being smashed in the head with one! Just looking at the tree is causing me to smile uncontrollably and then I almost had a laughing fit. This place just brings out that inner joy within me. I am so glad I came here tonight. My instinct was right :) 

I actually ordered a second meal, zucchini pasta with marinara sauce and this tastes just as incredible. The flavours are strong and I can tell there's olives in the dressing (something I'm not a fan of, but in this sauce it is OK). I am trying to go slow but Italian food has always been my favourite so I usually inhale it! 

Bali Blog :: Sunday dance

It's my last Sunday in Bali, so I just couldn't miss the Sunday dance session at the Yoga Barn. This is THE place to be if you want to dance like a t**t and not give a f**k what anybody thinks. As much as I like a good party, I can't help but be so insecure about dancing in the daylight... It means people can see what I'm doing! 

I still cannot help but find the atmosphere and certain people pretentious. I don't know whether it's because it attracts Western people happy to spend a lot of money there, the lack of love for newbies or perhaps I just have a problem! Let me explain the lack of love for newbies comment. There's definitely cliques and circles of friends, whether that's from people living in Ubud or people coming here together. I see lots of hugging, smiling, laughing, but I never got any of that directed at me. One love for all? Where are my hugs?! 

So anyway. I did a Rainbow cleanse, developed by Chris Kendell aka The Raw Advantage and his girlfriend Miss Naturally Astley. I didn't complete it though. Basically it's a combination of raw food and yoga. I only really participated in the raw food bit (I did do some reading on the chakras, meditation and yoga poses though). You start with red, I chose watermelon, and you eat that one fruit all day from start to finish. You move onto orange on the second day, I had mangoes. Yellow, green, blue, indigo and white/brown are the following colours. 

I felt awesome on watermelon and mangoes, but yesterday I had bananas and it didn't go to well. I had to ask for a blender, which thankfully the homestay owners had and I made a few smoothies. I think the problem was the quality of bananas. I also craved greens, so I ended up in Alchemy having a salad, miso soup and coconut water. 

I don't feel ready to leave Bali, but there have been a few times over the last 2 weeks where I felt fed up and wanted to go! It's funny how things work. 

I hope you had a wonderful start to the year. 

Love Jennifer x