I have travelled to Bali to meet our friends, Louise and Mark, who have flown in from Fremantle. Before I “escort” them to our island home, I get to play tour guide and share my favourite haunts around Legian, Seminyak and Ubud. The themes, as requested by Lou are : café culture, power shopping and day spas. It just so happens these are my specialties. Lou and Mark are coffee fiends, and a day hasn’t begun without a caffeine injection. Despite my best intentions, I have a similar affection for coffee and allow myself to be drawn into the latte vortex at Grocer and Grind.
Every Saturday morning there is a small organic market that brings together 10 local, independent growers and related businesses with a selection of vegetables, fruits, medicinal plants, natural cosmetics and remedies, breads, cakes, rice and organic seeds and seedlings. I purchase a bag of lush vanilla beans, locally grown raw cacao and hibiscus seeds to try in the garden. Morning tea is a green smoothie and a cashew-milk latte chaser (woops, there's the coffee monster again) at the divine Little K raw vegan café. Tucked behind the Yoga Barn, the shady deck overlooks a terraced garden of coconuts, bananas and tangled undergrowth, rising to rice padis beyond. Me and my laptop are in wireless heaven.
There is a blossoming raw food network in Bali, particularly around Ubud, that is in part driven by Mark Ament and Leah Rinaldi, founders of Raw Food Bali. They hold regular raw food classes, retreats and pot-luck dinners, and their website is a valuable information portal for everything raw. I visit Mark at his home - where students of a raw food class are eagerly devouring their vegan creations - and pick up a supply of raw cashews (hand shelled in Flores), virgin coconut oil, and Balinese cacao beans. We are set for another month of "power day smoothies."
The list is ticked and the essential items restocked, so I escape the madness of the Bukit for a weekend in Ubud. Swapping the slow island pace for Bali sends my system into overdrive, and the sensory overstimulation turns a regular koala sleeper into a raving insomniac. Staying at Kebun Indah offers a respite from the unreal mess of Legian, and a massage at the nearby Zen Spa brings the pace down a notch.
