Balinese Healing Sesh

One of the coolest things ever! Miss Rachel Hurst and I have spent 2 days looking for the famous Balinese healer from the book Eat Pray Love. The healer's name is Wayan and she has a small little shop/ house down a secondary road in Ubud, Bali. We each got the "complete package" deal which included a "body reading," "body balancing," a herbal "shower," a massage and a months worth of traditional herbal medicine all for 80ish bucks. Totes worth it! 

We spent a solid 4 hours in her home which consisted of a small kitchen and her healthy and vitamin rich foods, multiple medicine cabinets full of jars of herbs and boxes of pills- all natural, and a couple tables where she did her readings and finally the upstairs where she has 2 massage tables where most of the "balancing" happens. 

First she asks you for your name, where you are from and your birthdate where she then turns away from you with an offering rice plate (full of flowers and an incense stick) and does a small chant, I can only assume to the gods allowing her and helping her to make a reading of our bodies. She then moves her hands around your head, chest and arms where she "reads" your body. From that and reading my palm and hands she found I had low blood pressure, low vitamin E, low calcium, "bad" blood and poor circulation and that weight loss is on my mind. 

Treatment commences! After this reading she makes you swallow random seeds which look like the beads from my many bracelets,  chew on some extremely bitter crunchy leaves from China, more soft and fresh tasting ones from India and then I was given some other leaf as well to improve my memory.  During all this another Balinese woman is rubbing oils on your legs, behind your ears and sticking leaves down the front of your pants- seriously. That's all from the health perspective, then she does a spiritual reading for you as well. From this she reads your life line, luck and brain lines, marriage/relationship lines. Apparently I will live a long life, I have good luck and it is easy for me to find a job, I am smart but have a terrible memory (SO TRUE), and she pin pointed the majority of my relationships by their length in time. Totally crazy! 

Rachel and I shared many of the same ailments but they were also quite personalized so I felt this lady really knows what she's doing. I believe in natural, traditional and holistic forms of medicine which is why I thought this experience was so amazingly interesting and totally one of my favourite experiences of Asia! Gah! 

Ok following her body reading comes your herbal "shower" where a small old Balinese lady take these leaves that have been soaking in warm water and she Scrubs you down. Head, arms, face, chest, back then they dump most of the water all over your head and slap it around a bit. Pretty much the whole time we had NO idea what was happening, why or how, but that was the best part! My skin has been extremely irritated the last week or so (since I started wearing sunscreen!) and acne has been an issue-so they took a focus on that and by the end of the 3/4 hours of my being there my skin looked and felt so much better.  They scrubbed me down with many different herbal, sweet smelling concoctions. 

Off you go to the massage tables after this. Normally this is an exciting and enjoyable activity, nope not this time. I think 90% of the time it was painful as this middle aged Balinese man rubs you down from head to toe. With such strong hands he can grip your skin and pull your muscles every which way and laughs at your discomfort. Guaranteed I will have bruises in my body tomorrow, it even hurt to soap down in the shower this evening because of how hard they work certain parts of your body. The massage tended to focus in my feet, my neck and shoulders and my stomach.  With my feet I am unsure of the reasons  behind that focus but i know your feet are linked to many parts of your body and  that part was quite enjoyable. My neck was uncomfortable for sure where they force your head to face one side and squish your face into the table. They then rub with aggressive force into the muscles in your neck. Finally the stomach work. Wayan spent a tonne of time kneading and rubbing and pushing on my stomach- this was to give me the slimming effect! It wasn't too bad at first but it became painful near the end and to touch my stomach in even the slightest form tonight hurts, bruises are forming! During this treatment she also took a hot glass bottle full of liquid and rolled it over my stomach, the soles of my feet and the nooks of my neck... Maybe to get the blood and circulation flowing? I have no idea haha 

I might add at each point during the treatments there are up to 3 people working on you at once. So  many hands gripping, pulling, wiping stuff on you it's stimulating everything all at once! So despite the discomfort and the pain during the treatments after your neck feels like it can turn on a swivel, you stand straighter, my skin felt phenomenal, and apparently I was much slimmer haha how accurate that was I don't know but I could feel the effects of everything else without a doubt in my mind.  

Tomorrow we go back to get our medicines to cure our ailments and deficiencies.   I also asked for something to help my hair grow stronger and thicker-we'll see what she gives me :) I am excited to see what traditional medicines us girlies get!! Such a unique and cool experience for sure :) 

THE OPEN TOUR

Wow my final days in Vietnam have come to an end... Sad :( For reasons unexplainable to me I have a very soft spot in my heart for Vietnam and all the people I met along the way. In my last 10 days in Vietnam I spent my time travelling south, hitting some cool places.

Hue is the old capital city of Vietnam as it sat in the centre of the nation. Although I only spent a short period there I learned a tonne of history from a pretty cool tour guide named Thanh. I had booked the tour online and it turned out no one else signed up that day so i was lucky enough to get a private tour. In Hue you will find the Forbidden City where the emperor used to live, surrounded by the great walls of the citadel, Tu Duc's Tomb, and of course some more pagodas haha. I think I can take a serious break from pagodas....I've seen enough for now. The tomb was wicked, turns out emperors will often design their tombs while they are still alive and use them as a second palace until they pass. The 3rd emperor was told by a famous and well-known fortune teller of his time that his tomb would be dug up. This bothered the emperor very much and before he passed he gave instructions to bury his tomb almost 21 ft underground rather than the usual 9. This prediction in fact came true when the French invaded the nation. Tomb raiders came and attempted to dig up the emperors tomb in search of jewels and riches but their attempts failed- they couldn't find it. Much later it was discovered to be buried much deeper - cool hey?!

Hoi An- My Retail Therapy stop! 

Still bummed out about leaving Hanoi I set out to spoil myself silly in this spot. I got clothes tailored, I rented a hotel to myself, and I hit the spa - massage and a pedi yes please. Hoi An is known for their abundance of tailor shops and they do line the streets. It was kind of fun picking out designs and picking fabrics, then the fittings. I needed 3 to finalize one of my dresses. its so impressive how quick they can whip these clothes togetherand I think the quality is quite good- we will see how things hold up :) they also made it incredibly easy to send a little package home. This obviously allowed me to buy more stuff! This turned out to be Good and bad haha. Again  It was a quick stop with one night in this quaint little historical town before a night train to my first beach destination- Nha Trang

Nha trang- very busy beach place- not my favourite. I had one full day there and booked a tour of the islands. It was cheap and entertaining and fun to meet some people. I met some great people from the UK and had some incredible conversations. It's such a change meeting and talking with fellow travellers because you each have your own stories, you each have something new to bring to the table and we each share such different perspectives!! At home often I feel conversations are superficial and lack depth or meaning. When you're out travelling though everything is an experience you can't help but participate in substantial conversations- I love it :):) there is always something more to learn

Ooooh Mui Ne my second beach stop. I loved this place almost instantly. It is much quieter than Nha Trang and had a great beach bum feel to it. I could have crashed here for another couple days as well. But with limited time I managed to cram in some serious sun tanning time and an afternoon tour of the sand dunes. The time in the sun gave me a gorgeous little glow to move onto Indonesia with.  Although some parts were a bit more pink than others...ok alot more pink :P haha The Dunes were pretty cool but they covered a very small area. It's an incredible landform and I had never seen anything like it before buuuuuut I think for me to really appreciate it I need to check out the real deserts in the world. These just wouldn't do it justice. It does add another dimension to the Vietnamese landscape- they literally have it all. Mountains, jungle, rice terraces, urban sprawl, cave systems, beaches, desert! It's phenomenal. 

Final stop- Ho Chi Minh City

I don't think I can really say I went to HCMC, I booked in for one night and then was in a tour all day to the Cu Chi tunnels about 65km outside the city. But I did notice the sheer size of this city aaaand I dont know if it would be my cup of tea. But who knows I will reserve my judgements of the place since I didn't experience it enough for myself. 

The tunnels were pretty cool. My guide was an old war vet who had actually fought for the American Navy but was Vietnamese himself. There is lots to share about the tunnels but too much to share all at once here. One thing I must share is that I shot a gun!! At the shooting range at the Cu Chi tunnels I was able to shoot 5 bullets from a Carbine. The sheer volume of a gunshot shook me to my very soul. I felt very uneasy with the power of a gun in my hands- it's such a weapon of destruction. It was cool to try and awesome to say I've done it buuuuuut I have no desire to pick- up any other gun. 

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Leaving Vietnam was sad and I am already planning my return. All the potential bad things I have heard from tourists never happened to me. I never felt I was scammed (well not in excess), I always felt safe and in control and was confronted with nothing but amazingly friendly Vietnamese people. I was over the top so fortunate during my travels it astounds me. Of course I was apprehensive about travelling alone in Vietnam- sounds a bit intimidating doesn't it? But it was more than i could have hoped for. 

Some people find the Vietnamese people "hard" or pushy or often rude. I didnt receive this feeling at all. Sometimes their way of speaking is more abrupt or forward but it's part of the culture, and often I think us westerners are fooled by the language barrier. With less English to explain what they want or need from someone the harder it is to articulate, so they stick with the easy words "You go now" "You pay now" etc. Think how hard it is to learn a new language different from your own and try and communicate with such a variety of other cultures, personalities and dialects of English. It would be extremely tough so I constantly kept my patience to the max and I never once felt frustrated or conned. I received such welcome greetings in EVERY place I was at it was unbelievable. In Nha Trang despite being there for barely 24 hours All the staff knew my name and I felt they were legitimately happy to see me. Such a great feeling. 

My advice for fellow and future travellers is to keep an open mind. Everyone has their own experience, and more often than not it is what you make of it. One person may have loved one place and you may hate it or vice versa. Each experience is different for each individual. When you fill your head with expectations and plans the potential of being let down and disappointed is much greater. When we enter a situation- any situation- with an open mind, patience, and minimize our expectations we are open to so many more possibilities and experiences. Nothing is impossible if you are open to every possibility. 

My next and final lag of my Asian adventure is in Bali, Indonesia! 

Phuong Nha Ke Bang National Park

This trip is going to be a whirlwind moving from place! First stop a national park!! i just made it to Hue this evening. i have a tour booked for tomorrow and my open bus ticket arranged for tuesday morning! i think Canada needs to invent something like this, how aazing would it be to travel across canada easy peasy no problems! Basically with an open bus ticket you choose your start location and which stops you want to make until your final destination. All you need to know is when you want to leave! The bus costs me only 35 bucks to get all the way down to Saigon/HCMC. 

So after my extremely sad departure from Hanoi I went directly to Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park in central Vietnam and spent  2 nights at a "farmstay." When I landed in central Vietnam the pilot welcomed us all to Dong Hoi with a local temperature of 39C. Take a second and imagine that heat plus a blanket of humidity. Yeah it's tough to breath at times haha.

 I planned an amazing tour within the national park where I learned about Victory Road number 2, Vietnam war stats, and visited the largest dry cave in Asia- Paradise Cave. At one point on the tour I was exactly in the centre of Vietnam with the distance to Ho Chi Minh or Hanoi being one and the same- cool hey! I also learned that Victory road 2 was an extremely important supply route during the Vietnam war and was built in a matter of 5 weeks- apparently this was a huge deal! Plus the Americans failed time and time again to block or destroy this route. During the war over 8 million!! tonnes of bombs were dropped with 4million of those landing in southern Vietnam!! another 2-3 in central and northern Vietnam and the rest in Cambodia and Laos. Can you imagine the sheer destruction of that?!? 

The highlight of the tour was definitely Paradise Cave. This is the greatest dry cave in Asia. I could not imagine discovering something like this! Imagine walking along and you see a small opening in the side of the karst mountain- lets poke our head in and "Oi Choi Oi" (oh my god in Vietnamese) this place is hollow! The largest cave in the world was just recently discovered in Vietnam with an internal area of 38 million cubic metres!! I can't even picture it! Currently the government, the military and tour companies are battling to negotiate rights to the cave. Once open- maybe in the next year or so depending how all the red tape falls- they will only let 76 people in a year and it will cost 3000USD a head to go. The tour will be 7 days, 3 for trekking in and out and another 4 to explore and stay in the cave. What an adventure that would be!! 

Our guide was extremely knowledgeable about the war and the mad system of caves that are in Vietnam that are still left undiscovered- the government isn't going to pay for their exploration. He even showed us a location where scientists now believe there may be an even larger cave that spans from Vietnam into Laos and possibly into Cambodia. There is a water exit location where he pointed this out and apparently during mad rain storms the water will change colour- displaying similar behaviour to other "exit" locations close by and in nearby Laos. The sheer cost to explore this potential cave is huge- our guide said he wanted to get James Cameron in there to check it out! Why not right?! Haha

So there is a tonne of stuff to still be discovered in this gorgeous park and some other amazing sounding tours! This place is on my list for when i return to Vietnam. I definitely could have stayed longer than my 2 days but gotta keep it moving!! (Still missing and thinking of my peeps in Hanoi) 

SJ Vietnam

I have realized that in all of my time here I have failed to blog specifically about my amazing organization. They are a youth targeted organization called Solidarites Jeunesse Vietnam (SJV)and are part of multiple international volunteer networks. In all of my time volunteering I feel they are one of the best organized. They have recently partnered with IVHQ and will be receiving a much larger influx of volunteers- I think they may need to expand their family soon! 

They have offices and projects throughout Vietnam with projects supporting youth of all kinds from disabled children to disadvantaged youth. They also create amazing opportunities for local volunteers to join groups of international volunteers. This creates such a great inter-cultural experience for everyone participating with them. This was definitely one of my favourite things about the organization. 

My experience in Hanoi was one I will never forget. It began just the same as many other volunteers who l've met, with total confusion, fear and thoughts of "what the hell am I doing here?" You're in the cab driving towards the SJV office travelling down a narrow and very busy road not understanding a thing. Hanoi, though possessing a very traditional charm, tweaks your fight or flight response upon first glance. 

But once you arrive and meet the AMAZING staff at SJV you will become one of the luckiest people alive. They go above and beyond to take care of you, and will get you anything you need, all you need to do is ask.  If you are as blessed as myself they will become like a family to you. As i write this i am I am sitting in the airport awaiting the beginning of my trip down to southern Vietnam, crying as I leave this family behind not knowing when I will see them again. 

Duc (pronounced more like Duke than Duck, a mistake some made haha) -he is one of the volunteer coordinators and is a phenomenal person and He has become like an older brother. If I ever had a question or needed anything I could ask Duc and he always had an answer for me. He was the first face of SJV I saw and one face I will miss so much. He invited me into that family like no other and I could not be more grateful for the time I spent with him.

Phuc (pronounced like Fook, means happiness) - she is the director of SJV, is beyond selfless and has put her heart and soul into that organization. As I told some of the new volunteers on my last night-"she's kind of a big deal." The dedication she shows to that place is astounding. Despite SJV having no program or placement within their organization to suit the NGO program i wanted she still managed to make it happen for me. I got to participate in multiple aspects of that organization and it has helped guide my future career. 

Mein and Hang are two other great ladies in the organization who work and coordinate with the long term volunteers and PR management. Mein is stuck with all us volunteers in the volunteer apartment and i admire her patience for dealing with new people so often- I mean your home is your place to get away from it all, not so much for her. Hang, bless her heart, is always so concerned and stressed. She reminds me of myself when I first started university, each day I learned she just needed someone to make her smile and just breath for a mini moment. 

Finally ill mention Nam. He was my coordinator- mostly anyway. I was kinda taken care of by the whole staff haha. I'm was special!! 

But Nam was a special individual Haha. From his high pitched giggle, to his guitar jam sessions in the cafe (with a soprano singing voice I might add) , to his party animal personality, created a charm about him. I have such a soft spot for this guy. The other volunteers and I often made the joke that he was just like one of the disabled kids in one of the project centres, sometimes we had to wonder:P This guy was incredibly selfless and extremely sensitive but has a heart of gold. SJV is lucky to have him. 

Oh and Linh!! He was the bartender at the cafe!! He was awesome. He could always put a smile on my face. He spoke very little English but you could catch him singing to himself, or giggling about something silly or even yelling at the tv during a soccer match. Priceless. 

I have been more than fortunate to have met these people and these words don't even begin to describe the charm they possess.  I am going to do EVERYTHING in my power to keep them in my life. I will miss these people like crazy, I have never felt so sad to leave anywhere before...

I am going to try my best to embrace yet another wonderful quote 

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" 

I am struggling with it now... I already miss my Vietnamese family!!! :') 

I remember...

I remember weeks ago on that lengthy  bus ride to Vietnam my feelings of apprehension, worry and fear. I had no idea what to expect upon my arrival or what to expect of the country either. I had not heard great things about the country or the people and heard/read many horror stories from tourists. My experience has been full of every emotion you can think of and has been unforgettable, leading me through various challenges and personal discovery. 

I remember writing in a past blog post,  "I don't feel like this is where I am supposed to be"     Now... I don't want to be anywhere else (I don't even want to travel down to HCMC or move on at all for that matter) . The people I have met in Vietnam have created so many memories for me and the people of my organization have made me feel like family. I care for them very much and I am so SAD thinking in less than 7 days time I will be leaving them behind :( 

This is the hardest thing about travelling- saying goodbye to all the amazing people you meet along the way and wondering if you will ever see them again. We all have good intentions to plan a trip to visit but it's hard and our "normal" lives get in the way. How do you say goodbye knowing or not knowing if its forever? 

It's so interesting to reflect on my frame of mind entering Vietnam and my frame of mind as my volunteering comes to a close. I have found my calling in life-I want to be a Volunteer Coordinator!! I have created some great relationships and I Will be more than sad when I have to move on. This place has truly been my most challenging and my most rewarding. Change only helps you grow and challenges only push you to your limits. I have learned We can do anything when we have no other option and change our frame of mind to one of acceptance and positivity. I chose to embody a resilient attitude and refused to give up. I knew times would be tough on this trip and I chose to define my experience by pushing through.  This is where my greatest personal discovery and growth has come- in Vietnam. 

Did I not call that in a blog post a few weeks ago?!? 

Intercultural Discovery

Intercultural Discovery 

Japan, Vietnam, France, Australia, Scotland, Canada, US- just a few different cultures in one room on our intercultural farewell party for the Japanese this week. My experiences have been endless with different cultures. We have had many laughs from our misunderstandings, we have had struggles with our language barriers but we have learned so much about each other. A small example. I was hugging this little Vietnamese girl and I said "I love hugging you" cause she's so tiny. And she replies with "I like hugging you too because it feels like I'm hugging a bear" .... Hhhmmm ok haha thanks?! Haha but it's a good thing, it means I'm warm and welcoming. in reality I am much bigger than EVERY single Vietnamese  here haha 

My organization in Vietnam has been more than amazing now that I have settled in. Spending time with all these different people has become a dream come true and has given me my calling. I want to become a volunteer coordinator. You will constantly learn, struggle and discover new things not only about others but about yourself as well. I have chosen to extend my time in Hanoi till May 17 before I travel down to Ho Chi Minh City. Despite my struggles in the beginning this experience has only gotten better and better with each day. It has definitely been a place of discovery for myself which has been full of many challenges. 

To share a few stories first I will start with Karaoke night. Asian Karaoke is loud, it's proud and it's wild haha. The Vietnamese were ready to celebrate that night! As the night begins with communal dinner in the large common room with endless food, hot pots and of course a couple kegs of beer. The beers are flowing, the clinking of glasses are followed by calls of cheers and then a finished beer in hand. Songs at the karaoke bar are belted out with no shame with a little dancing show in the middle. We had our own private room for this experience.  

Then some hard work in the sweltering heat of the fisher village in Hanoi this week. As we Drip sweat from every pore of our body we dig and haul dirt to build a little canal/dugout for this famiy's ducks. This is only a taste of what this family must do to maintain their livelihood. We return 2 days later to find it flooded from the overnight rain and feel feelings of disappointment since we could not finish the job. The next job is to paint the walls of the youth centre but with so many bodies- about 12 there is only so much each of us can do so I find myself watching most of the time- the Japanese' ability to paint/draw is much better than mine anyway. 

I have learned there is no way to plan our lives you can only guide them. We  must be flexible and open to the possibilities our life presents us. Rather than stress about the lack of control embrace change and it will lead you to discoveries beyond your imagination. Let go and be free!! 

                                          Xx Live Your life xX