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I do not Eat, Pray or Love
Sep. 28th, 2010 10:18 pmThe weather this morning was amazing. Just as I left for work, the first rumbles of thunder were heard overhead and the rain came gushing down. I quickly swapped into my skull-print wellington boots and headed out into the storm. By the time I got to the station (4 mins) the rain was pelting down and the thunder overhead was AMAZING!!! We must have been under the centre of the storm as the thunder absolutely ripped apart the sky above us. It was all I could do not to jump up and down gleefully on the train platform, but I''m sure someone must have spotted the huge grin. Interestingly, I'm just this minute listening to a lesson on Japanese onomatopoeia and how to describe thunder...
So I booked a holiday to Bali for Christmas. Much as certain people may feel this is a rather rash decision on my part, given my various financial commitments, I need a frelling holiday, somewhere that isn't Japan. I haven't had a holiday since last Christmas, and I haven't left Japan since May 2008, so I'm busting to get away. I want to go somewhere reasonably quiet, in the mountains, and preferably warm. As it happened, it was rather a spur of the moment decision. I was at work mulling over what I wanted to do for the Christmas holiday, when the idea of Bali popped into my head. It has long been on my list of places to go, but I was at a loss for what to do there, as me and beaches don't often go well together. And then it hit me! Yoga!!! There are so many yoga websites I read which have advertisements for overseas yoga retreats, so I googled a few places and eventually found somewhere which people seemed to highly recommend up in the hills of Ubud. It's a week of yoga and meditation, spa treatments and wandering about in the jungle. Most importantly, it's going to be really quiet, especially on the one day when they run a voluntary silence for 24 hours. I'm around for a day and a half after the retreat finishes so I'm planning to go stay in a family compound somewhere in Ubud and check out life when you're not staying in a luxurious hotel room.
As a result, I'm limiting myself to living on 500yen per day, which is entirely doable, as long as I remember my lunch. As it happens, I've not been feeling too hot since the weather changed, so not going out or even doing anything suits me fine.
Now, this book has totally bypassed me before, but I have been made aware of Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love" by Front Row and Women's Hour on Radio 4. The more I hear about it, the more worried I become. According to what I've read, Gilbert went to Bali to "find herself" or whatever, thus sparking a flood of "women of a certain age" (whatever the hell "a certain age" is) heading to Bali to meditate and attempt to find love. Which makes me wonder who I'm going to be on holiday with... I for one, am not a "woman of a certain age", especially as I'm still passing for 26 years old at the oldest estimates from drunken strangers (beer goggles do me wonders). I'm certainly not going to Bali to find love. All I want is some peace and quiet, lots of yoga, and to chill out. And to eat all the vegetarian Indonesian food I can. So, I may have to get a t-shirt made which says: "I do not Eat, Pray or Love". It's a suitably grammatically dubious statement, so could pass for a Japanese creation. Maybe I could sell it...?
This guy is part of a pet shop in Asagaya. The shop is full of cats, dogs, rabbits, a giant tortoise, masturbating monkeys (it's a long story), and has a HUUUUGGGEEE dog who lols and slops about the place. The shop absolutely stinks. I don't know what animal rights laws Japan has in place for such places, but it would be shut down in the UK. This guy stands outside and occasionally responds to the call "Banzai!" by raising his wings and posing. He also loves having his photo taken, as evidenced by the following:
So I booked a holiday to Bali for Christmas. Much as certain people may feel this is a rather rash decision on my part, given my various financial commitments, I need a frelling holiday, somewhere that isn't Japan. I haven't had a holiday since last Christmas, and I haven't left Japan since May 2008, so I'm busting to get away. I want to go somewhere reasonably quiet, in the mountains, and preferably warm. As it happened, it was rather a spur of the moment decision. I was at work mulling over what I wanted to do for the Christmas holiday, when the idea of Bali popped into my head. It has long been on my list of places to go, but I was at a loss for what to do there, as me and beaches don't often go well together. And then it hit me! Yoga!!! There are so many yoga websites I read which have advertisements for overseas yoga retreats, so I googled a few places and eventually found somewhere which people seemed to highly recommend up in the hills of Ubud. It's a week of yoga and meditation, spa treatments and wandering about in the jungle. Most importantly, it's going to be really quiet, especially on the one day when they run a voluntary silence for 24 hours. I'm around for a day and a half after the retreat finishes so I'm planning to go stay in a family compound somewhere in Ubud and check out life when you're not staying in a luxurious hotel room.
As a result, I'm limiting myself to living on 500yen per day, which is entirely doable, as long as I remember my lunch. As it happens, I've not been feeling too hot since the weather changed, so not going out or even doing anything suits me fine.
Now, this book has totally bypassed me before, but I have been made aware of Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love" by Front Row and Women's Hour on Radio 4. The more I hear about it, the more worried I become. According to what I've read, Gilbert went to Bali to "find herself" or whatever, thus sparking a flood of "women of a certain age" (whatever the hell "a certain age" is) heading to Bali to meditate and attempt to find love. Which makes me wonder who I'm going to be on holiday with... I for one, am not a "woman of a certain age", especially as I'm still passing for 26 years old at the oldest estimates from drunken strangers (beer goggles do me wonders). I'm certainly not going to Bali to find love. All I want is some peace and quiet, lots of yoga, and to chill out. And to eat all the vegetarian Indonesian food I can. So, I may have to get a t-shirt made which says: "I do not Eat, Pray or Love". It's a suitably grammatically dubious statement, so could pass for a Japanese creation. Maybe I could sell it...?
* * *
This guy is part of a pet shop in Asagaya. The shop is full of cats, dogs, rabbits, a giant tortoise, masturbating monkeys (it's a long story), and has a HUUUUGGGEEE dog who lols and slops about the place. The shop absolutely stinks. I don't know what animal rights laws Japan has in place for such places, but it would be shut down in the UK. This guy stands outside and occasionally responds to the call "Banzai!" by raising his wings and posing. He also loves having his photo taken, as evidenced by the following:
