Hi loves!
Recently, I went on a solo trip to Bali for three weeks
to disconnect from distractions and reconnect with myself.
I wanted to give myself time and space to do yoga, meditate, and heal,
and see how it feels to work and live abroad,
which was always a part of my dream life.
This was my first time solo traveling,
and I'll be honest, I was nervous.
Little did I know that I'd meet so many friends here, old and new,
nor did I know about the emotional breakthroughs
and revelations I'd have about myself.
But first, let's go back to the beginning.
Hey, my loves.
So it's only my second day in Bali
and I already feel like I have so much to talk about.
The travel getting here took 24 hours.
I went on a plane to Taiwan and stopped for a layover for five hours,
and then another plane to Bali.
And even the plane ride itself, I met a couple people on the planes
that gave me more signs from the universe that I am protected,
I'm guided, and I'm on the right path.
On the way here, I sat next to this old Asian man.
And I feel like old Asian people have a certain smell –
and I don't know if it's just me,
but there's a smell and it reminds me of my grandpa.
It reminds me of how my grandpa used to smell like.
It kind of reminded me that he's still here protecting me,
guiding me, taking -- I guess watching over.
And on the second plane ride to Bali,
I sat next to a guy who was originally from Bali.
He was in the US, working on a cruise ship.
So he was working for seven months,
and then he finally was on his way home for a two-month vacation.
And number one: I was nervous about coming here,
because it's a completely new place.
I've never been here before.
There's always that little bit of jitters and fear
when you're traveling somewhere new, especially if you're going solo.
So, sitting next to someone who is originally from Bali, reminded me that,
“Okay, this place is new to me, but this place is home to this guy.
And this guy is now my friend,
and any place that is my friend's home is somewhere that I am welcome.”
So it was a sign that I am welcomed where I'm going,
and everything's going to be okay.
Secondly, just talking to him about his lifestyle and his job –
for seven months straight, he was working seven days a week with no days off.
He only had maybe one or two hour break to see LA
and then he would have to come back to the ship and keep working.
So seven months of nonstop work.
Plus, he talked about how he only got two to three hours of sleep a night,
and sometimes he would get just 30 minutes of sleep a night, which is crazy.
He was so exhausted and he was just excited to go home and see his family.
And I was like, “What's the first thing that you're going to do when you get home?”
And he was like, “Sleep! Happiness is simple, you know?"
And I thought that was such a beautiful thing to say.
So, so beautiful for me to hear that happiness is simple.
Just comparing my life to his,
I feel so blessed and I'm happy that he gets to go home and rest.
And it's just crazy.
I don't know, I guess it was humbling to hear
and it was a reminder that I'm just, I'm so blessed.
I'm lucky to live the life that I live.
So, a funny and very wild thing that happened yesterday was:
I went to check out this yoga studio.
It's this yoga center in Bali called the Yoga Barn.
And I specifically came to Ubud to do yoga.
So I booked an Airbnb close by so that I would do yoga every single day.
When I was at the yoga place, I bumped into an old college friend.
And the crazy thing is: A couple of days ago,
I was talking to my girlfriends and I mentioned this guy's name.
I was like, “Oh, I've heard this guy from college is traveling the world.
He's doing this, blah, blah blah.”
And I didn't contact him or anything.
I haven't talked to him in years and I bumped into him at the yoga studio,
and to me that was a huge sign, because that is so strange.
Out of all the places he could've been traveling,
all the places that I could've went,
we just happened to sign up for the same class at that yoga studio.
It was a breathwork class.
And it was just so bizarre that, on my first day in Bali, I met a friend.
So now I have a friend that I know is living here,
and maybe it's because I kept telling myself,
"I have a friend here, I have a friend here. I'm not alone. I'm okay.”
And I actually met an old friend.
So I feel a lot safer.
I feel more at peace and comfortable here
just after knowing that I have many friends here now.
It's crazy and definitely like –
I do believe the universe is working,
and it brought us together for a purpose or some sort of reason.
Later that day I walked over to the monkey forest,
which was literally 10 minutes from my Airbnb.
Monkeys are so smart, guys.
They'll snatch your things, so you really have to be on guard with them.
The next day I went on a Bali Instagram tour,
which was a guided photo tour where I got paired up
with another girl who was also traveling solo.
I only brought one small camera with me on this trip
because I wanted it to be minimal,
and somehow I accidentally hit the wrong video mode,
so all my video clips from that day look like they were shot with the potato.
Whoops!
But anyway, this would've been really cute B-roll
if it wasn't for the potato quality.
Sigh.
[comments from tour guide]
Right now, here we're walking on the water and it's quite fun.
Anyway, a lot of you asked about who's taking my photos when I'm solo traveling.
It's either my tripod or a tour guide, a new friend, or a stranger that I found nearby.
Good morning.
It is day four.
Yesterday, I spent the whole day doing this Bali Instagram tour,
which was really fun and tiring.
But I got a lot of good pictures in, so it was totally worth it.
I just wanted to pop in and share that:
Yesterday, during my tour of Bali,
I went to this waterfall and on the way walking into the waterfall,
one of the girls walking out recognized me and she was a Lavi Love, a fan.
She was from France, and it just so happened this girl from France
came to Bali and I went to Bali and we met,
and that was just the weirdest thing, to get recognized in another country.
And I took it as another sign,
because I'm having a sign every single day here in Bali.
I mentioned how I bumped into a college friend my first day.
So my college friend mentioned that
he had another friend that was traveling with him in Bali this week.
It's someone that I know of.
I don't think we were really friends in college,
but I know him, and I signed up for another yoga class on my second day of Bali.
And it just so happened that that guy signed up for the same class.
So two times in a row,
I signed up for the same class with someone that I've known before,
and this is all completely unplanned in Bali.
It's just so weird.
And the third day, I had a Lavi Love from France come up to me.
So it's just been interesting and I have been learning a lot.
I've been feeling very expansive here.
I feel more space to think, to breathe,
and I'm just taking a lot of insights down.
I'm journaling a lot, meditating, and I'll share some more later.
But yeah, I just wanted to pop in for that random update.
I signed up for a Balinese cooking class, which so much fun.
I highly recommend doing a cooking class when you travel.
Not only is it a great cultural experience,
you also get to learn about the ingredients that come from the land
and how they use the resources.
I was so inspired by the use of banana leaves and bamboo in Bali.
Everything was so sustainable and natural.
Plus: Indonesian food is just so good.
Hey guys, so it's my fifth day in Bali
and I just came back from my second ecstatic dance night experience.
The first time I went to ecstatic dance was a few days ago.
My friend Tim brought me in, and then today, I went back to another event.
It was actually a cacao ceremony plus ecstatic dance.
Today's the Equinox so they did something special.
Cacao is, you know, the raw form of chocolate
and it's supposed to be a heart opener.
So it was like a ceremony drinking cacao,
and then it was like dancing for a couple hours.
By the way, if you don't know what ecstatic dance is,
it's basically like a spiritual dance party.
You're not allowed to bring your phone,
so no cameras, no photos, no videos,
and they just play, I guess, world music.
It's a wide variety of music, usually no lyrics,
and you just dance however you want.
There is no talking, no conversation.
It's all just body movement and expression.
And the first time I went, I went with two of my friends.
And I was kind of just like feeling it –
it was kinda – I was kind of self conscious.
Then tonight, I went and I just went by myself.
I didn't really know anyone there,
so I felt more free today, and I got the hang of it.
I understand it now, and I had so much fun dancing.
And I love dancing.
If you guys don't know, I used to dance in college and after,
and I haven't had the chance to dance as often now that I'm older.
But to be able to express myself,
and also explore my body in new ways,
learn how to freestyle, and just literally explore
and discover what else I can do, is really fun.
When I was dancing, I was always terrified of freestyling.
I was terrified of just –
I guess it was allowing myself to explore movement and my body,
because I was so – I cared so much about what other people thought of me.
I really cared about judgment from others
and whenever it was freestyle time with your team
or even when we had to choreograph something, I was terrified.
And now I feel like, little by little,
I'm coming out of my shell, and especially –
this experience allowed me to really just lift up the walls
and be myself and express myself fully, because nobody knows me here.
It doesn't matter.
I did meet a few friends from yoga here,
but nobody really knows me and it's really freeing.
I think I realized that I've always been afraid to show the fullest expression of myself.
And you know, I do care.
I grew up caring about what people thought of me.
I cared about judgment.
I didn't want to look weird.
And I think a lot of us have that.
A lot of us grew up with that.
And I think my journey in maturing and becoming wiser,
is learning to be my fullest expression.
And tonight, I realize I let myself explore, I let myself go.
When I felt like dancing all out, I danced all out.
But sometimes I felt like dancing really lazily and I let myself do that.
And when I didn't feel like dancing,
I just sat down and it wasn't about impressing other people.
It wasn't about trying to dance pretty or beautiful or anything like that.
I really listened to my heart and did what I felt in that moment.
All in all, it was really fun,
and I just realized that I'm freaking beautiful.
I know it sounds so weird to say that in video, but that's how I felt.
I felt like my fullest expression is so beautiful
and I'm like, “Why am I trying to hide it?”
I know that when I'm at home with friends,
sometimes I don't feel like dancing full out,
because – my friends don't exactly dance, or they have their own walls.
And when I'm around people with walls,
then you kind of bring up your walls as well,
because you don't want to be the weird one out.
But I noticed from the first night and tonight at ecstatic dance,
I admire the people who are literally going all out, fullest creative expression,
dancing with no care of how they look and they're just really being so raw.
I think it's so cool when guys get animalistic and they're like really into it.
I just admire people who are able to let loose
and be 100% themselves and express themselves fully.
And the fact that I admire that so much means that I want to do that.
I want to be like that too.
So I think I learned that today,
and I realize that I am amazing and I should let myself shine
and explore my full creative expression,
and allow myself to be authentic and vulnerable and open to the world
and not be afraid of judgment from others,
not be afraid of how I appear to others,
and just live my life – just do me.
I guess I'll wrap up this vlog here.
I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse of my time in Ubud.
After this, I'm going to Chengdu for a couple of weeks,
and that's a beach town, so it's a little less spiritual, more beachy,
and I'm planning to work more there.
This week was my healing, spiritual yoga week, and I really had a great time.
So that's it for now, more adventures to come later.
Bye!