bali tonight

It's been a nice couple of days in Singapore. Swimming with the dolphins and hiking in the jungle were definitely the highlights for me. I've also been taking yoga with Leda at her studio, Pure, which has been great.

Last night we ate at a hawker center, which is sort of a gathering of hawker (food) stands, about 30-40 of them, all in this one huge room, with all kinds of food available (Thai, Indian, Malay, Singaporean, Chinese, etc.). Kind of like a food court at the mall, but with way more interesting options.We had laksa, a spicy noodle soup with shrimp paste, tofu, veggies and egg, among other things; roti prata, a really yummy Indian flat bread, cooked with butter and your choice of mutton, chicken or cheese (we did cheese); and chicken rice, a mound of rice served with a side of roasted, breaded chicken, and some chicken broth and various spicy dips. Oh and deep fried vegetables - whoah. For dessert we had this stuff called Ruby Red, a Thai dish made of some kind of water chestnut & gelatin, served over ice with coconut milk. It looked scary to me, but actually tasted pretty good. The hawker stand food is dirt cheap, which is nice, and the hawker center provides an interesting slice of Singaporean life - great people watching too.

Tonight Leda and I will fly to Bali for a week and I'm so excited. I'm ready for some temples and ocean and serenity. Just finished reading "Eat Pray Love" which at least three people urged me to read once they found out I was going to Bali. It's about the spiritual and physical journey of a 30-something single woman, who traveled for a year and spent four months each in Italy, India and Indonesia (specifically, Bali). It was a neat book to read just before I venture off, and gave me some good perspective on things. Parts of the book made me roll my eyes and get impatient, but overall I dug it. It definitely made me want to read some ancient Yoga texts and find ways to really stay more consistently connected to my spirit and my soul. I think that connection is just vital, especially in light of this year, and the spiraling effects of Mom's death that everyone who loved her is experiencing. Jenn and I talked about it in June: grief is a living, breathing entity. To me grief is like this buddy that's kinda with me, on my shoulder, all the time. I don't love him, and hating him takes too much energy, especially because I've realized that I can't shake him. So I guess because I have this little dude with me all the time, it seems all the more vital to stay connected to my soul and my spirit, to be strong and connected and feel what I feel, acknowledge it and embrace it. Things like meditation, yoga, love, happiness, stillness, serenity - they're all taking on new meaning for me. Wow I sound like such a hippy. Ah well - I come by it honestly.

So we fly to Bali tonight (a mere 2 hours away!), and we'll stay at a resort in Nusa Dua, near the beach, for the first five days then head to Ubud for the last two, including my birthday. Beach, then mountains - that sounds about right. Not sure what my computer situation will be there, but I'm going to post (here, to flickr and twitter) as much and as often as possible.