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

Bali Blog - happiness, friend, raw food cafe, plans

I hope you enjoyed yourself on Thursday having a jolly time with friends, family, loved ones, or on your own. The festive period is usually pretty positive for most, but for some it can bring up bad feelings. 

I hope that you're all aware that happiness or joy is our natural state of being and that anything else we may feel is an external influence. Therefore, we choose to be unhappy, sad, angry, frustrated, stressed, etc. Once you understand that you are not the body and it is actually a vehicle then you will understand how you can be happy without external influences affecting you! 

So what's been happening with me? 

Well I'm in raw food, spiritual heaven in terms of location. Ubud has so many raw restaurants and cafes offering raw dishes it's just incredible! There's not even a shortage of fruit here either. I am finally able to say I like the mangoes despite the perfumey taste. My taste buds accept the flavours now. And there's so much yoga, meditation, qi-gong, tai chi, etc that it might take a month to visit one new class everyday. (I've not taken any yet...) 

I have eaten out everyday with the exception of my second day in Ubud because I had a dodgy stomach. It was very easy to stay home that day because of how I felt, but since then I have been moderately OK. I do wonder if I eat out too much but then I think about going to Borneo, Malaysia and Thailand and I think about the lack of raw restaurants and in Thailand lack of good salad options so I'm making the most of it whilst I can! 

I was in Alchemy and someone approached me and asked if I am Braless and bananas... I was a bit surprised at first! It absolutely made my day though and I thought about Joe Best because he had the same thing happen during his trip to Bali. It's an amazing feeling being recognised, like someone actually watches my channel or views my photos other than my family! 

Her name is Beverley and she looks incredible. I must admit I was shocked when she showed me how overweight she was because she is so slim now, her skin was golden brown and she looked healthy. There were no obvious signs that she had ever been overweight and in my opinion this just proves how powerful a vegan diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables can be. 

We didn't have a lot of time together, but the time we had was quality and well spent. I really enjoyed talking about so many things to do with spirituality, our experiences with raw food, the sexiest raw vegans ;) and life in general. She kindly invited me to visit in Sydney (as well as let me use her yoga class card and gift me food and a knife!) so I may very well end up in the land down under soon! 

I hope that this new friendship will be a long lasting one because we just had so many similarities and the conversations were always interesting. Bev said that I have helped influence her through my channel (and through meeting me) and just how I am trying to live life so I find that to be one of the biggest achievements I have made in life. I just want to help others help themselves. 

Today I went to Sunday Dance and it wasn't as good as last week. I didn't feel the music as much. The music is upbeat but the DJ doesn't mix well and some of the songs he plays just seem to stop dead continually throughout so one minute the dance floor is jumping, the next it's still. 

I had a moment where I just stood still and meditated for a few minutes. It was incredible. I felt the floor bouncing, I could feel the vibrations of the speakers, I could feel people moving around me. When I opened my eyes I just started to well up. I have no idea why. 

That leads me to my sleep last night. I slept so well and I needed it. Yesterday I had a terrible headache. I wasn't sure if it was from the sun, looming thunderstorms or raw food. I slept well and woke up refreshed, but I had such a weird dream. I've not looked into it yet but it's stayed with me all day. I think I still have emotional baggage to work through but it's not family related. It's just strange because I don't feel affected by things anymore, but this dream was about something that happened over 15 years ago and I've never given it much thought until now. 

I plan on going to a lot of meditation classes this week and then some yoga, qi-gong and tai chi. So hopefully I'll learn something useful to help work my baggage out! 

I've just extended my stay in this accommodation until 4th January so I need to either find a new accommodation or visit Seminyak for 6 nights before I get the plane to Borneo, as the place I'm staying is now fully booked. 

I hope you've enjoyed reading. There's so much going on, but I'm trying to keep i1t chilled. Oh today is the first day since I got here that I've not had durian! Shock horror! It'll be nice for a break, I'm definitely getting some tomorrow though! I had an avocado instead and it was so creamy, one of the best I've had and is well up there in the leagues with La Palma. 

Love Jennifer x

Travelling Thursday - Bali 1st week

If you don't know then today is my 4th day in Bali. I left Manchester at 8pm on Saturday and arrived in Bali at 8am Monday (12am GMT). It was a long journey with 2 stops. The first at Abu Dhabi, probably my favourite airport so far because of the interior design and the fact that I can buy lots of different types of dates that have been washed and deseeded! The second stop was in Jakarta. This airport is probably my least favourite! However, the flight from Jakarta to Bali was one of the best flights I've ever had because of the beautiful scenery. 

So far I've had 2 nights in Kuta and 1 night in Ubud. I liked Kuta because it has a long beach, a gorgeous raw food restaurant and it is flat! Ubud has many raw restaurants (but so far my first meal here wasn't the best) but it has so many hills... 

I cycled for 2 hours yesterday from Kuta to Ubud and it was definitely a challenge towards the end. About 30 minutes in I needed a wee, but I kept going. I think that could be part of the reason why I had a bad stomach all night. That and the raw food dips that I had the night before and then having slightly overripe jackfruit between papaya for breakfast and lunch. 

There's so much to photograph but when I'm on my bike it is so much harder to stop start, especially as road users here are crazy! So I'm just posting what I can photograph and the rest will just be in my head. 

Bali has some fantastic architecture and art. It seems like Ubud is home to a lot of artists. On the street I'm staying on it appears that every other shop is selling paintings, sculptures or other arty items. It's brilliant for me as I love being around creative people. 

I have had durian every day since I arrived, which has been awesome. So far I've only had good durian. It's great that the quality seems to be consistent and I've purchased them from 3 different places. I would like to go to a durian orchard but I've been told they grow in the North, which is great but I don't fancy cycling there... It's 32km from Kuta to Ubud, which took me 2 hours so I don't want to imagine how long it would take me to cycle to the top of the island. It's about double or triple the distance on the map, but cycling on the road might be even longer due to twists and turns. 

I am pleased to announce that I didn't suffer from jetlag and I'll be posting a video tomorrow about how I avoid it. 

Tomorrow I will go to the market around 6.30am to see if I can get cheap fruit and durian! Check out my Instagram page for all of my photos (it's hard to upload them onto the blog from my tablet). 

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my second week in Bali. 

Jennifer x

Thursday Travel Update

Today is my 5th day back in the UK since my last trip abroad to La Palma, one of the Canary Islands. I have adjusted to the cold weather (and now I'm dreading going to the tropics because I'll just drip with sweat!) and I have got into some very bad sleeping habits. As the sun sets around 4pm and it's really dark by 5pm, the whole house is lit with artificial lighting so I am staying wide awake until 11pm! Very different from being in La Palma in my tree house, but I also have added distractions such as my PC and the TV.

I am flying to Bali on Saturday evening and I will arrive on Monday morning, 9am Bali time. I am looking forward to the heat, but I'm not actually sure if it will be sunny because I heard it's the wet season there right now! Tropical rain always feels better though, so I don't mind getting wet in it.

I need to buy travel insurance, book accommodation for at least the first night and I also heard I'm supposed to have a flight out of Indonesia... so tomorrow I have a lot to do.

I plan on taking a small backpack and my bike, plus food for my journey.

This is the bag I'm taking, not decided if I will take Monkey and Billy again... let me know if you think I should take them with me....

I have been trying to upload daily to YouTube, but I have a feeling that I won't be able to make this commitment in Bali due to my equipment, but I'm sure once I settle I will be more consistent. I will aim to do short videos too.

And on that note, I need to edit my video from yesterday!

Take care and I'll post again next week.

Love

Jennifer x

Travelling Thursday - where I'm at

Hi Craig and anyone else who may be reading! 

So I am going to try to be more active in my writing and I will start by doing 1 post a week. I'm sure once I've got that down and my daily YouTube videos then I may post more. 

Right now I'm in La Palma, one of the Canary Islands. It's said to be the most green, which it is because of the banana plantations! I think this is possibly the best place for fruitarians too, but I've not spent any time on the other islands... 

During my stay I've eaten some of the best fruit in my life; papaya, mango, banana, cherimoya, persimmon, avocado, fig. So so tasty. I enjoy waking up to mangoes and I've embraced the fruitarian way of eating them, which is ripping the skin off and having the juices flow all over me! 

The cherimoyas have been hit and miss, but I think that has more to do with how I stored them. Some of the best cherimoya have been so juicy and creamy. I definitely got my fix! 

My favourite lunch has been persimmons on the beach. I never used to like the beach, but since becoming a raw vegan I have fallen in love with nature, particularly the sand and sea. The contrast of the dark sand and bright orange fruit will always be in my memory as one of the highlights of my stay on La Palma. 

Avocados on this island are seriously hit and miss, in fact I'd say 1 in every 8 avocado is a sensational one. When you find a seller with good avocados you have to bulk buy! For instance, I was buying them on Sunday from the flea market and they were the best ones here so every Sunday I'd buy more. They were creamy, heavy, tasted like no other and we're seriously moreish. I had one yesterday and I wanted more so I went to my local shops and got one from each... Both avocados were rubbish! Wet, light and slightly bland, the complete opposite. Next time I'll learn to savour the best. 

I have noticed a loss of fat here too, even though I'm consuming avocados daily (and yesterday I had 3!). I think it definitely helps being warm because it makes me want to walk, cycle or go for a jog/run. The hills are very steep so the legs are building up muscle daily. I've mainly noticed this fat loss from around my waist, inner thighs and buttocks. I'm waiting for the day I wake up with smaller breasts... It will make buying a bikini more easy.

Oh and that's how I've noticed the weight loss, my clothes have become looser. My bikini top in particular just wants to fall down to my hips so I have to keep the removable strap on all the time! 

I'm actually returning to the UK on Saturday, I have a ferry booked Friday evening to arrive in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and I will stay one night in a hotel. 

My plan is to return home, see family, distribute Christmas gifts and then fly to Bali in the coming week (I'm hoping I get a fairly cheap ticket). 

Today has ended in the most perfect way possible, on the beach with persimmons and then a salad followed by the sun setting into the sea! I asked the higher spirits on my way down in the bus if they could clear the clouds for me so I can see the sun set into the sea and it happened like magic. If you want something hard enough it will happen! 

I will leave this post here. I started it at 6am and finished at 6:45pm!

I am in love with life right now and I hope I can distribute some towards you :) 

Love 

Jennifer xx

Fantabuloso Friday - Into the jungle

I visited an organic fruit farm in La Laguna on the island of La Palma in the Canaries. It is the creation of Martina Rasi-Rüger who gave us the grand tour on Monday 24th November 2014. The tour was given in German, but very kindly translated by the other guests. 

Martina loves her finca very much and I can see by the presentation and practices that she uses. This is one of the few permaculture farms on the island, the other farms being monoculture banana plantations using more water and heavy uses of chemicals to fertilise and control pests. Martina uses very little water in comparison because her soil contains the perfect amounts of nutrients needed to feed the plants, which is all thanks to her organic practices. In terms of pests, she combats the very few that occur using a very potent chilli and water mixture. 

From what I can remember Martina's working hours are Monday to Thursday 9am - 12.30pm (please correct me if I'm wrong), however she is now bound to this island because of the size and demand of her finca. I think the maximum time she can leave is 1 week, but when you visit you'll understand why she has given it her full commitment. 

The atmosphere inside is amazing, the video doesn't do it any justice and I recommend coming to look for yourself. I felt like I was in a jungle in another part of the world. The smells, sounds, birds, butterflies, trees, herbs, flowers, everything tickled my senses. I wanted to photograph everything and to a certain extent I did! I wanted to put it in my pocket and take it all with me, if I had a shrink-o-meter I would have done! 

Martina mainly grows organic bananas and apparently they're the best on this island. I haven't tried one, but hopefully I can soon! I saw papaya, guava, herbs, lettuce, chard, lots of different flowers, nettles and other plants I'm not certain about. 

As you can tell with this description I really had an amazing time visiting this finca, I would love to move the tree house I'm living in to it and live there instead. It gives me an idea about having my own plot of land to grow fruit on, at first I thought it was too much hard work but after reflecting I can see that it is not. Plus I would grow other fruits too. I am excited to start my own finca and I hope that it won't be long before that happens. 

Check out more photos on my Instagram page instagram.com/happyhealthyrawvegan 

OK so I copied and pasted my YouTube video description but they are my words! I am sorry I've abandoned my blog yet again but I'm pretty sure that it hardly gets seen! If you read this give me a hello below and if you miss my posts then say so! I think I prefer to post photos instead of writing as it's quicker and much more fun for me! 

Well I hope you're all well, I just devoured 6 mangoes for breakfast, I only got a slight melon belly afterwards but it wasn't the worst I've had. 

Check my YouTube channel too, I've posted a few videos recently :) 

Love

Jennifer xx

Soulful Sunday - November update

Well hello there. I have been in the Canary Islands since 31st October and I've been making more YouTube videos as opposed to blog posts! This adventure was last minute, like a lot of my previous trips. There's nothing more exciting than booking a flight less than a week before you fly! 

So what's been happening? Well I arrived in Tenerife in the morning and had to catch a ferry at 6.30pm I had lots of time so I found a fruit shop and ate cherimoya and papaya. After arriving in La Palma I stayed the night in a very quaint guest house. Unfortunately my trip has been full of noisy nights and a lack of sleep. My first night was Halloween and that meant lots of partying on behalf of the locals. 

Since arriving in the campsite 9 days ago (which was an adventure in itself!) I have had approximately 2 decent nights sleep. I'm living in a tree house that sways with the wind and makes loud noises when moving and is directly above the communal area so I've been kept awake from people eating late, playing music and drinking. 

I really like the tree house, it's perfect with the exception of noise and swaying, but I am considering asking to be moved because I'm fed up of having broken sleep. Especially as I'm cycling and today I went jogging. I'm physically tired and mentally drained so I need this time to recover and I will NOT sacrifice sunshine just to catch up on sleep. Night time is for sleeping! 

The landscape is beautiful, the weather is good, fruit is amazing and cycling around is brilliant although hard work coming up the hills. 

I am really enjoying this place apart from what I've mentioned. There's papaya, mangoes, bananas, persimmons, bananas and avocados. There's also more fruit and vegetables but the ones listed are my staples. It's the perfect place, with the exception of no durian! 

If you want a great winter getaway I highly recommend La Palma. 

Jennifer x