518. Top 5 Things I love this week:
We went on our first overseas trip as a family to Nusa Lembongan which is an island to the east of Bali! We arrived home this week and here are a few reflections (well 5, to be exact) of what I loved the most!
1. The three of us on the one motorbike riding all over the island, then crossing a big yellow bridge to the next island. We were all laughing so much the whole time and we were so full of joy and freedom. I kept kissing the back of Eadie's head (who was sandwiched between Brett and I) because I kept thinking how much this will be such a core memory for our family.
2. Expanding Eadie's bubble and exposing her to other ways of living. With the motorbike we were able to go to remote parts of the island and see families who had made their houses out of palm fronds and had the biggest smiles on their faces. She also met little kids selling shell bracelets and flower hair clips at dinner time. This feels so important with her age group always wanting the latest things.
3. I loved opening our villa's glass sliding doors every morning at 7am and being hit with the thick Balinese air. It was 29 degrees every day, 24 hours a day. I couldn't get enough of the smell of incense, the smokiness of Indo curries and satay sticks burning on char grills on the street, lemongrass body wash in our shower, Gudangs (clove cigarettes) and citronella mozzie spray.
4. Meeting a beautiful old Balinese man named Ketut and buying a wooden jewellery box that he had made. Eadie and I sat on little stools, sweating profusely, while he polished it up for me so I could get it through customs. I've wanted a special jewellery box for so long. I hope Eadie remembers this day once the box becomes hers.
5. Watermelon juice, fresh coconuts, mango and dragon fruit smoothies. Nothing better when you're on a hot, tropical island. Did they ferment my little tummy? Yes. Were they delicious? Also yes.
Emma the Naturopath xx
PS. I feel like I could write at least a Top 10 from Bali but I think it's also important to talk about the hard things too. We see the Instagram post with a dozen postcard-worthy pics but we don't see the challenging times like the long waits standing in line to check in at the airport or treacherous boat transits or the sore belly from being a coeliac in a country that uses soy sauce in literally everything. I like to try and keep things pretty real around here!
We are home again now and loving and appreciating how good we have it here in Australia!
I hope you have a beautiful week