The Delicate Balance between Beers and Yoga while Indonesian Island Hopping

There’s an island off the coast of Bali called Nusa Penida which is normally visited on day trips from Bali but it was recommended to me by enough people to book a hostel for five days. I expected to have some alone time here, it’s a quiet island. I was actually looking forward to some solitude but experienced the exact opposite. It always comes when I’m least expecting it. As soon as I checked in after my ferry I met Tal from Israel who also needed to do laundry and eat lunch so why not go together? Tal just finished his mandatory military service in Israel and is taking a year gap before he goes to Uni. I don’t watch the news much while I’m traveling. I actually get more information about current events through the people I meet rather than news headlines and I think this might be more accurate, considering this era of misinformation. Tal informed me on a lot about what’s going on in his part of the world and I appreciated his perspective. Tal is 22 years old but carries himself as someone much older and wiser. I’m sure you can imagine why. I learned so much from Tal. I’ve met a lot of backpackers who agree that traveling is like university part two. I rented a scooter and Tal and I explored a few beaches. We returned back to our hostel, which will become one of my all time favorites: Nusa Penida Hostel. We met our new roommates: Alix from Switzerland, Matt from the UK, Gulia from Italy and Thomas from France. 

It came up that I teach yoga and they all wanted a hostel yoga class the next morning. It was almost everyone’s first time which is always fun for me. This became our Nusa Penida squad. Alix just finished med school, comes from the French part of Switzerland, she’s extremely outgoing and has a contagious laugh. Matt is full of tattoos, plays in a band, has been a graphic designer and an engineer, is really into any kind of fighting but says proper things like “darling, I have to go to the loo” and “I’d fancy a beer”. Gulia is solo traveling again after a Southeast Asia expedition in 2016. Thomas is a french chef and had many opinions when I ordered pineapple on my pizza. He literally gagged. The six of us rented three scooters and spent a couple of days exploring the island. For some reason they put me in charge of navigation which they eventually regretted. More on this later. 

Our first stop was Kingkling beach, the most iconic beach on Nusa Penida for its t-Rex shape and stunning rocky shoreline. The way down requires more technical hiking than I’ve ever experienced. I'm not kidding, the hike down was more difficult than coming down Kilimanjaro. The cliff side is basically a 90 degree angle and there are ropes and bamboo ladders leading us down. We reached the bottom to the giant secluded beach and instantly went for a swim. The waves were huge and it was a workout to get out of the crashing swells. We swam for awhile, enjoyed our coconuts and then made the climb back up the cliff for our next destination: a natural rock pool below a temple. I read on google maps that this can be difficult to reach on a scooter if you’re someone “unexperienced” with driving. I didn’t place our group into that category. I followed the route until it brought us to a steep hill that is all rocks and broken road. It looked like some kind of challenge from a video game. I held on to the breaks of my scooter as tightly as I could, with Tal sitting behind me, dodging holes in the earth left and right with a steep cliffside next to us. We got to a flat part, I looked behind us to see none of the others followed. These local guys came out of nowhere, it was like they emerged from the woods, and with their broken English asked if they could help us. We agreed and they took over my scooter, put Tal on the back of a rusted old motorcycle, they hollered for their friends who also came out of nowhere and they took over the scooters of the others. We each rode on the back of a local as they soared down this cliffside, sometimes one handed with a cigarette in the other hand as we trusted these men with our lives. When we got to the bottom Thomas said he’s never letting me choose where we go again hahahahaha. But this ended up being the highlight of Nusa Penida. We ended the night with local food, Bintang, a dip in the pool and a huge thunderstorm. 

After our adventures on Nusa Penida we took a two hour long fast boat to Gili Trawangan, the party island of the Gili’s. The Gili Islands are a few islands north east of Bali. No cars or motorbikes are allowed on the islands so the only way to get around is by bicycle or horse drawn carriage. I still couldn’t get myself to let this poor animal carry my luggage so I walked across to our next accomodation for Halloween. We booked a hostel that had the “best” Halloween party on the island but it turned out to be too expensive with bad music so we made our own fun. No costumes this Halloween but the beach and cheap beer made up for it. We also met Camila and Krista, from Chile and Mexico, and if that was the only thing I got out of Gili T I’d be fulfilled. Sweetest girls, I hope our travels cross again. 

Just a couple nights on Gili T was enough. I don’t enjoy the party scene like I used to. College Hannah would have eaten this place up but I was looking for a quieter spot. We said farewell to Tal and wished him the best as he made his way east to the Komodo islands. Again, the goodbyes are not getting easier. Some people you wish you could put in your backpack and take with you. Alix, Matt and I headed just a $5 speed boat skip away to the next Gili Island: *Gili Air. Gili air has some of the best sunsets and snorkeling I’ve experienced in Indonesia.

I had been talking with a hostel on Gili Air about being a yoga teacher in exchange for free accommodation. I sent them my resume, yoga certificate, a detailed message about why I would be a good fit and they replied with “sure”. Easy enough. When I arrived I met the owner of Begadang Hostel and he detailed the expectations of my position. I said I’d stick around for two weeks of volunteering. But this wasn’t just teaching yoga, I would also recruit people for the nightly events that the hostel put on, make sure everyone is included and having fun. Alix described me as the hostel “rep”; basically be the life of the party to give the hostel a higher  “atmosphere” rating on Hostel World. I thought this would be nothing for me, I’m already pretty outgoing and enjoy meeting new people/including them in activities. I agreed and the next morning I led a beginner yoga class in the lawn of the hostel and it was a hit. The new yogis asked if I could lead another class that evening at sunset. I said of course. 

Every day I would teach a morning yoga class, talk to people at the hostel and encourage them to sign up for our nightly events (taco night, movie night, game night, trivia, etc). Then I would teach a sunset yoga class, get a volleyball game going and put on the evening event. This was very fun in the beginning but as you can imagine I burnt out pretty quickly. I learned that free accommodation is nice (saving $10 a day) but it might not be worth completely exhausting my social battery every day, and this position also involved a lot of activities revolved around drinking which I just can’t keep up with. I was meeting some great people (including two Dutch farmers that reminded me of the European version of Minnesotans so much, miss you guys! Cas and Tjardo) but I was always feeling so tired by the end of the day. I injured my wrist boxing in Tanzania and the yoga was making it much worse, even though the daily yoga classes were my favorite. If it was just yoga, I would have probably stayed in this position longer but on the morning of my 9th night at Begadang I decided I couldn’t be the rep anymore. I’d rather pay $8-$10 at an accommodation elsewhere than be the Party Girl of the hostel. As much fun as I had, I resigned my volunteer position and made a move to Lombok with Matt (Alix took off to Komodo Island Tour with plans to meet us again in Lombok for surfing after (yes, Komodo like the dragon; they’re native here and I’m so excited to do this same tour in a few weeks). The owner of the hostel understood why I left but I was kind of beating myself up about not committing to the date I originally planned on volunteering at Begadang. Matt reminded me that I made no promises to Begandang, they were lucky to have me for the time I was there, and did my best. I was the first yoga teacher they’ve had so that’s pretty cool. There are other ways to save money while traveling. I do love a good hostel party from time to time but volunteering with a drinking scene every night was just too much for me. 

Matt and I left the small islands of the Gillis for the bigger island of Lombok. We kept saying we were going back to the mainland but Lombok is just another, bigger, island. This was the first time we’d seen cars or motorcycles in weeks. We needed to go about 3 hours inland for our stay in Tetebatu, a mountainous region in Lombok known for it’s waterfalls and rice fields. We were both looking to save some money on transport so we decided to go with local transportation by riding a “Bemo”, a public open air truck. Public transportation always ends up being my favorite. It cost us $2 and it was a good introduction to the local life in Lombok. In the front of the truck was the driver, his wife, their son and little baby boy. The driver's son sat on his lap. Next to me were bundles of bananas, mangos, and half woven scarves still on the loom. My backpack was tied to the top of the bus. We zoomed through the winding roads of Lombok. It feels good to slow down throughout my travels but nothing beats the excitement I get when it’s time to start a new adventure. 

Matt and I stayed in Tetebatu for just a day. We discovered a few hidden waterfalls, one was overflowing with school children on a Monday morning which, as a teacher, I absolutely loved. We explored the rice fields and ate at the only restaurant available in the area for all three meals. It felt good to be at a higher elevation for a little bit, cooler air and rain. 

Matt and I then headed south all the way to Kuta Lombok, a surfing town in the south that has been described as “the old Bali”. We’ll see what this place is all about. We’re excited to reunite with Alix and get some surfing in.