Day 8
Waking up in Ubud is unreal. By now, I have totally leaned into the culture here. I know that the smiles everyone gives me is genuine. I know that the happiness of this hard-working people is core-deep. Living outside of the confines of capitalism has caused the Balinese people to embrace simple pleasures; there is no guilt exchanged for happiness, there is no price to pay for a favor, there are no ulterior motives for kind gestures. They just are - each moment, each step, each smile.
It's impossible not to get sucked into the bliss when this is what you are looking at each day:
Our villa has an amazing outdoor dining area, and my dad has befriended the chef, so we opt to have an amazing French-fusion meal prepared for us there.
Waking up in Ubud is unreal. By now, I have totally leaned into the culture here. I know that the smiles everyone gives me is genuine. I know that the happiness of this hard-working people is core-deep. Living outside of the confines of capitalism has caused the Balinese people to embrace simple pleasures; there is no guilt exchanged for happiness, there is no price to pay for a favor, there are no ulterior motives for kind gestures. They just are - each moment, each step, each smile.
It's impossible not to get sucked into the bliss when this is what you are looking at each day:
We all meet up over breakfast and debate about if we want to go on a 5-hour drive to tour local temples and mountains. The general consensus, as we are staring out from the open-air dining area at this landscape, is no. There is an anti-gravity yoga class being held that morning that I am dying to try, Steph and PJ decide to go white water rafting, and Andrew heads to the glass-encased gym.
I wind up with some heavenly time alone that I spend writing, and eventually grab my book to play around in the hot, warm, and cool "plunges" outside of the gym so I can read, but also take pictures of my book (because #writerlife).
Our villa has an amazing outdoor dining area, and my dad has befriended the chef, so we opt to have an amazing French-fusion meal prepared for us there.
I've officially adopted Ubud as my home: there is almost no way anyone is going to drag me onto a plane away from this place.
Day 8 Waking up in Ubud is unreal. By now, I have totally leaned into the culture here. I know that the smiles everyone gives me is genu...