Beautiful Bali

Time for another throwback to such a magical destination, Bali. Bali is well known with many people, for it's partying, surfing, Ketut Liyer (the guy from Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts, who reads her hand), and many more things this beautiful island has to offer.

I first had a Melbourne Auckland trip before I went on my own Bali adventure for 7/8 days. The flight from Melbourne was about 14 hours before I got back to Dubai, then I had around 3 hours to get to the airport. Since, there are many delays I already packed my bags in my suitcase with me. All I needed was a backpack and a handbag, some people might be surprised by my light packing, but it's possible I can tell you that. So after my 14 hour flight I went to take another 9 hour flight to Bali, as you can imagine I was feeling pretty tired once I got to Bali. But once I got to Bali it was all worth it. The first 3 nights I stayed in a beautiful resort in the area called Ubud, it was absolutely stunning, and every morning I could do yoga, which I did of course ! I also gave myself a really nice massage and a hot bath along the river, never been to a more peaceful place (or expensive). The first 2 days I could not be bothered of doing anything else then yoga, reading a book and tanning by the pool, so I did, because the only person I had to think about was myself. At night I walked to the centre of Ubud to watch the little souvenir markets and some temples. Couldn't buy anything really, because I only carried hand luggage, I know very clever of myself if I may say so. Good way to NOT go shopping. The last day in Ubud I did a morning walk before I got picked up by a private driver called Made, he would show me around. First we went to see the rice plantages, a water temple where I did some sort of ritual in freezing cold water where I had to put my head underneath the water, basically just did wat everybody else did before me, knowing I don't speak or read any Indonesian language.

Then the best of all, Ketut Liyer. The old Ketut is about 104 years old and probably only 1 tooth left, so I went to his son, also called Ketut. I was a bit nervous as well, because you don't know what he is about to tell you, could be anything!! I am a believer of those things, in comparison to some others. Before he took my hand he told me that my eyebrows and eyes are in balance, which is a good sign, since this brings you positivity towards other people as well, saying I am very positive in live. Then he told me that I had a good body, he did not have to read my hand to see that haha. Further he told me that I will live a long life, social person, that my friends come to me for advice, and that I will get married one day. He literally told me that, if I keep myself healthy by going to the gym and eat healthy I will find, and I quote, a handsome husband. CAN I GET A WHOOP WHOOP! haha just kidding, but I was pleased to hear this of course. Oh and I get 2 children, so we will see in the future if he was right or not. Anyway I was happy I went, so interesting these things.

That day it was a Sunday, and my friend Jessica told me, you have to go to Single Fin on a Sunday, it's a big party there! So of course I went, so many Australians, and most of them were there to surf, super cool. The place itself was insanely beautiful, it was build on a cliff and I saw one of the most amazing sunsets. I met so many nice people that night, got to my hotel in Seminyak around 2am. The part I thought I lost my creditcard the next day is another story, a story for another blog. I stayed in Seminyak for around 3 nights and 4 days, because I booked myself some surf lessons. I know how to snowboard so I was hoping it would be kinda the same, and it was. I could stand up from the first time, and I loved it! It's such a nice feeling going over the waves, the part you have to paddle back is less nice, but worth the 10 seconds on the board ! I ended up doing 2 classes on 2 days, I couldn't do anything on the third day because I could not lift my arms because of all the paddling, I'am not the strongest either, so I just chilled on the beach, which was amazing and relaxing as well.

When I was in Ubud I found out that friends of me and my family were also on Bali, a dutch family which I hadn't seen for around 5/6 years I guess. I went to meet them one night to go for dinner and drinks. So funny, on the other side of the world and you meet friends from back home! Such a small world we live in. It was so nice to see them and catch up. My holiday was so nice and relaxed, just what I needed. The way back to Dubai went quick because I slept most of the flight. It was so peaceful in Bali that I was a very 'zen' person when I got back. Bali is definitely worth going to, such a nice destination, beautiful landscapes, friendly people, not expensive at all, and there is so much to do ! Go BALI !

Flying is pretty demanding for your body so sometimes you just need to listen to it, need to know when to stop going and take a break from everything, thats what I needed and did. I listened to my body. Charging the battery. Sometimes I just keep going, I learnt to listen more to my body then before, otherwise it will tell you itself.

Crazy March...

Where to begin with my march month. I was still on reserve (which means you don't have any flights until you are on standby and somebody else calls sick for a flight, then you have to take their position). It was just a few more flights till we were going on holiday to AUSTRIAAAA! But just before that I had 2 pretty though flights, Cairo and Dhaka. I was ready to go away for a week, laugh all day and be with friends and don't think about anything else. Well we managed to do that. We left dubai with 4, Alex, Wouter, Courtney and I. All from Dubai. I met wouter around a year ago on my Johannesburg flight and since then we stayed in touch and are friends ever since. Alex and Courtney I know through Wouter, he lives in the same building as them. We then flew to Munich first where we met Kay, Courtney best friend from the UK. From Munich we hired a car to drive down to Flachau in Austria. The first challenge we had was the car and all the suitcases, it was like playing tetris in real life. With 5 people and 5 suitcases (mine was the smallest and only hand luggage, pretty proud of myself here, haha), but in the end we manages, even though Wouter and Alex both had a suitcase on their lapes and Wouter even had one between his legs. It took us only 2.5 hours to drive to Flachau, with a little Macdonalds stop. Once we got to Flachau, we went to rent the gear right away so we could start early the next day!! I heard great stories from my dad and brothers who went to Flachau before me, that there was a bar called 'Hofstadl', where instead of taking the stairs down you can go down with the slide ! That convinced all us of us, we went there 4 nights in a row and had the best time! There were so many dutch people as well, so it was really easy for me just to speak dutch all the time. The second day we got up and then the 4 of them booked a private lesson with a ski instructor, to get back to the basics. I went snowboarding by myself for a few hours, it was just the best feeling in the world, going over the slopes snowboarding, breathing in the fresh air. The next three days we had the most beautiful wintersport weather you can imagine, bright blue sky! Snowboarding every day, straight from the slopes to the bar for a drink and a dance. It was just amazing, we had so much fun ! Took the slide down every time of course ! But then the drama happend, HOW to get back to Dubai ? Flights from Munich were all full and even overbooked, every single day. So we had to come up with a plan B, or even a plan C. We drove to Munich in the early morning, and Kay took the flight back to Manchester, then we took the last seats, and two jumpseats with Lufthansa down to Rome, to fly with Emirates from Rome back to Dubai. Best part was that Alex and I could sit in the cockpit from Munich to Rome, which was amazing to fly over the mountains down to Italy.

Once back to Dubai I had an Amsterdam flight, where I had a lovely dinner with my family, chilled on the couch with the cat, saw my gran in the morning and then it was already time to head back to the sandpit to clean my room before my best friend would come over for 5/6 days!!! Nikie, my friend as long as I can remember came over in Dubai. And how much fun we had. We went to the beach, we had a boat party, went out, went to the Dubai World Cup (will talk about this in a minute), did a desert safari, went to the waterpark and we even managed to go for dinner and drinks. I even had the pleasure to fly her back to Amsterdam. The best day, in my eyes, was the Dubai World Cup. It is the only horse races in the world where they can win the most price money, in a country where gambling is not allowed, which is crazy! So every year, it is the last race of the season. Everybody is dressed up, wears a fascinator, heels, everything! The girls first came over to my apartment to have a cheeky wine and have some food. So there we were, all dressed up, and you know what we ate, 4 massive pizzas haha! The day was just perfect, the weather was nice, and we had an amazing group, super dutch! To make a long story short, we drank too much champagne, ended up at an afterparty in the Burj Khalifa and had about 200 photos if not more, such a nice day. We will be talking about it for a long time!!! The next day Nikie and I did the desert safari, going with a car through the sand dunes, have dinner in the desert and watch a belly dancer, I counted it was my 5th time, but it's different every time ! That night we were so tired so we went to bed early, cause the next day we went to the waterpark, Wild Wadi, which was good fun, and later my friend Koen came with his nephew. That night we went for dinner with Sarah and the other girls, it was one of Sarah's last nights in Dubai. Can't believe she's out of Dubai now, still feels she can walk through that door any time!

Drinking champagne, because we are such ladies !