Canggu-Seminyak

Echo beach

The last few days here in Canggu have been really great! While Ubud is clearly our favorite spot in Bali, it's definitely nice to be able to walk to the beach when we feel like it. We had this same feeling when we spend three weeks in Chiang Mai, there's just something about being close to water that makes you feel more relaxed. The first two days here weren't the best weather wise but yesterday was the nicest in a long time, it was hot but not too hot and we got all our sun bathing done before lunch, keeners! 

Shops and cafes.

Since being here we've been to a little cafe called Avocado that was really delicious with loads of vegan options and also we've been to the Betelnut Cafe for the last two mornings to have some awesome tropical smoothie bowls. For a smaller beach/surfer town there's quite a bit to choose from, food, shopping and activity wise. It's a really cute and cozy little place and we are staying a short bike ride to the famous Echo Beach where we get to soak up the sun and watch people surf some waves.

Deus Ex Machina

They even have a place here that's called Deus Ex Machina and its a custom motorbike/surf/clothing shop with a big restaurant and hangout area attached to it. One of many cool things about this place is on Tuesday's they do a taco tatuesday event where the first 10 customers get a free tiny tattoo and all you have to do is buy some tacos Ha! Sounds sketchy but it's really not and a great way to get people through their doors since over 40 people show up each time.

Lunch

Today we decided to grab a taxi to Seminyak so we could check it out. After breakfast we hopped in a cab and got dropped off at the Seminyak Square so we could have some beach time before walking around the shopping area. We had a decent lunch at the Earth Cafe and we were pretty overwhelmed by all the stores here, there was lots of shopping but good thing we didn't need much! 

After some walking around and going into stores and not buying anything we figured we better go back to Canggu for dinner since we know our way around there a bit better than Seminyak. Traffic was terrible but we got back and we were glad to be back! Seminyak was a bit too busy for our liking, Canggu is much more relax and calm which is the kind of mood we've been in lately.

Dinner and a lazy night as always for these two. 

A bientot,

Janelle Brine

Flutter

It's midnight and I get up for my usual middle of the night pee. Things didn't go as per usual athough, I've become used to seeing strange things crawl on walls while we've been in Asia. I flick on the bathroom light and open the door to find a little frog on the floor which at first glance surprised me but then I was overcome with relief that it was just a frog.

After I was finished in the bathroom I stepped over the frog, closed the door behind me, shut the light and climbed back into bed. Maybe 3 minutes after I was back in bed Vee turned over and we suddenly heard a loud fluttering noise... In this very moment, I knew that for one, Vee's heart had just skipped a beat and two, this could turn into a long night/process. 

Look of terror on our faces.

You might wonder why a loud fluttering noise might cause such stress for her? Well anyone who knows her well, knows that her ears are sensitive especially when it comes to fluttering and buzzing noises anywhere around her let alone her ears. In record speed she turns on her bedside light and goes "What the f*ck was that!?!??!!!??!?", I reply with a "I don't know, I think it came from the curtains".

Literally 30 seconds after my statement and after a thorough look around from the bed was made by Vee, this MASSIVE flying insect flew out of the curtains and into the room. Ok, when I say massive I mean like, the size of a large cockroach but at the time we were acting like it was the size of a BIRD! First thing that happened was a mild heart attack on Vee's behalf and a feeling of disgust on mine.

Pretty much sums up our idea of this thing.

These feelings were followed by a bit of yelling and both of us jumping straight out of bed with our eye as wide open as they possibly could open. The monstrous thing was flying around the bathroom door and so with Vee's head poking up from behind the bed, I knew I'd have to kill in order for her to be able to go back to sleep.

Now I'm no hero and I hate bugs just as much as the next person, so the little girl inside of me came right out and I was trying to decide what to do about this horrid situation. I had Vee at one end of the room yelling with panic, telling me to kill it and I had this huge a$$ bug unsettlingly flying around at the other end. I picked up a towel and started trying to hit it, I missed once then ended up getting it the second time and I left the towel on it. 

Atleast it wasn't flying and fluttering around anymore, which meant that the coast was clear...ish for Vee to come out from behind the bed. I knew it wasn't dead yet so I tried whipping it with a second towel and having an additional towel above this thing gave us a bit more relief, it wasn't enough for our troubled hearts. At this point I'm thinking, well this thing is under there, probably still alive so it could crawl out and we would have to go through all of this again in a few hours so... We better deal with this now.

So disturbed...

So now Vee and I are arguing over who's going to lift the towel or what to do next. We decided that walking on the towel is probably a good idea before lifting it. The dilemma here is the fact that I despise and am extremely grossed out by loud crunching noises and Vee's heart still isn't on a regular beat and her eyes are the size of golf balls. She finds the courage that I was lacking in this moment, puts on her flip flops and runs over to the towels stomping on them as quickly and hard as she could. 

No crunch... It's my turn now I guess. I take the little bench from the vanity table thing and tried to place it where I thought was the bug. The loudest most deafening CRUNCH!! Followed my dropping of the bench and it massively disturbed me so I stepped away and needed a moment to recover. I swear this thing sounded like it was a rib cage and we had just crushed the sh!t out of it... I'm not exaggerating.

Now that we're both pretty convinced it's dead I lift the towel that we thought is wasn't under to single out the other one but of course, I almost shit myself when it ended up being under this towel and not the other one. Thankfully it wasn't moving and at this point in time Vee had had enough and threw her flip flop on top of it then put her second one on top and started stomping on it like a mad woman.

It's dead! And we didn't die even though we were acting like a serial killer was in the room. After all of this, we are still awake, it's 1:45 am, Vee's goosebumps won't go away and I'm trying to comfort her enough so she will shut the light off so we can go to sleep. All I know is that I have never been so disturbed yet laughed so much in my life, Vee's reactions were absolutely priceless and I'd give a lot to have this whole nightmare on video.

A bientot,

Janelle Brine

Paradise

The Bali paradise is coming to an end soon and when we look back at all the amazing things we've seen while here we definitely cannot complain. From being absolutely spoiled at Villa Lebah for 45 days to hiking a volcano at sunset to eating the greatest vegan food on this trip yet. 

We're not entirely sure if anywhere else we go will beat this place we adore so much but that's not the point. All we know is that we will be back some day and that's the main thing that matters here. Ubud has treated us very well, the people here are the kindest and to make it a little better there's no funky smells here Ha!

Today is our last full day in Ubud then we are off to Seminyak and Changgu for a few days to soak up some sun on the beach. Well at least we're hoping the weather is nicer there than here at the moment. Once we've seen Changgu we will have about 4 days left before our Indonesian visas expire so we have a little over one week to decide where we want to go next.

It's crazy to think that we left Canada almost 4 months ago and won't be touching its soil for another two months. Traveling is so amazing and has made us grow so much, we've known for a while that we will be forever grateful for this trip of lifetime. What's even crazier than that is the fact that this is only the first trip of many to come! There so many countries for us to see still! 

Starting off the day with the gym this morning then enjoying some mind blowing food at our favourite restaurants for the last time on this trip, followed by some packing. 

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For those of you who will be coming to Ubud  and are looking for some amazing, healthy and cruelty free food, here's the list of must tries.

 Jalan Gootama 

Dewa Warung, have the veggie curry or the rice, green beans & grated coconut with the peanut tempeh satay.

Seeds of life, have the dragon bowl for breakfast or snack then later in the day come back for the raw vegan mocha cheesecake.

Melting Wok, have the curry noodle bowl with tempeh.

Jalan Hanoman

Kafe, cashew tempeh curry

Veggie Table, pretty much anything on the menu

Taco Casa, build your own burrito! Or taco salad with no cheese or sour cream

Jalan Sugriwa, it's one street after Jalan Hanoman

Sopa, Nasi Campur! With tempeh manis, Bali curry, ratatouille and curry lentils, oh and the tofu falafel ball is delicious too!

Dayu's Warung, we only ate here once and it was pretty good but the place is always busy so I'm sure there's something here that we didn't have that's worth a try!

Jalan Raya Ubud

Tukkies, the coconut chocolate banana cake, the coconut coffee cake and the date balls!

Clear Cafe, Vegan Nasi Campur, hummus dip appy and the tofu scramble.

Jalan Jembawan

Bali Buda, the pizza Buddha on rice crust and the quinoa salad! Dip your pizza in the pesto and house dressing they bring to every table for free use.

Jalan Penestanan Klod

Alchemy, best juice and best breakfast bar EVER! We ate this breakkie every day for two months.

Saraswati authentic vegetarian restaurant, the lady is the sweetest thing and she makes everything fresh to order, the food is worth the slightly longer wait! We got the pakoras, samosas, aloo gobi and veggie curry masala with rice!

Really hard to explain but it on a path in the rice field off of the main road and its a 10 minute walk passed Cantika Spa and Villa Lebah.

Sari Organik, build your own pizza!

This is what I can remember off the top of my head! Hope I didn't forget anything. Enjoy!

A bientot,

Janelle Brine

Vilła Lebah

Leaving Vilła Lebah..:(

Today was a sad day, as we put our back packs on our backs and walked away from Vilła Lebah. We had been there since March 8th and we could have stayed longer! Carol took us in and made us feel at home in her gorgeous Vilła, so much that we didn't want to leave. 

Unfortunately she is heading back to Canada now and we have to move on and find a new place to stay. When we first arrived in Bali we were only expecting to stay for one month, but here we are almost two months later and we're still here. This place is just too amazing and we just don't want to leave!

Upon suggestion from a friend we went and booked a two week stay at Inda Lodge just up the street from Vilła Lebah. We will be staying here for a little bit before leaving Ubud, good thing about this place is that it has a pool. Time to get this tan back up to par!

Inda lodge! New home.

Well maybe the tan will get better when the sun decides to come back out! Anywho, we are staying in a dorm with 5 other people and we quickly realized how amazing and how spoiled we were with Carol. No snoring, no one coming in at 2 am, no one riffling through their bags in the morning, we had it good and now we're back where we started Ha! 

It's not so bad and in a few days when a private room becomes available, we'll be moving out of the dorm. It's crazy to think how differently this trip ended up being, we set out to see all the Southeast Asian countries, which clearly did not happen. We thought, pffft... We'll get it all done and we'll be on the move all the time, it'll be a breeze. 

Passed right out.

Not only did we skip three countries we realized very fast that being on the move all the time is extremely exhausting. Nowadays if we spend a day doing a tour, we'll spend the next weeks chilling out to balance the business of that one day. It might sound crazy to someone who hasn't travelled before but as lame and whiny as it does sound, travelling is actually exhausting.

My gorgeous gurl:)

Back home were on the go every day of the year it seems and if we stop we feel like we're wasting away, but here it feels amazing to do to nothing. It's such a different world, I can honestly say (As cheesy as it is) that I will be coming home a changed person, in a good way of course!

We've been at Inda lodge for a few days now and we're still waiting for the sun to come out so we can enjoy the pool! What a tough life we have.

A bientot,

Janelle Brine

Green school

A few days ago we went to the Bali Green School and even though we had an idea of how cool it was going to be, it ended up being beyond anything we could ever imagine. The school is doing things that not only no other school on the planet are doing but they're innovation is out of this world. 

They have 415 students at the moment, starting at pre-kindergarten all the way to grade 12. Let's just say that I wish I was in school again so I could come to this school, maybe then I'd actually learn something useful. The tuition to this school is a bit hefty but I've seen with my own eyes the worth and benefits of being a part of this school.

We did a 2 hour tour with the founder of Green School, his name is John Hardy and he's a Canadian from Toronto. First stop on the tour was their water system where he explained how they have clean, filtered and accessible water for all the students and staff as they don't allow plastic bottles or bags onto the premises.

Founder in the banana shirt and lunch lady:)

A bit further into this amazing school we met the school's cook or "Lunch Lady" and she along with 10 other kitchen staff members prepare the food for over 550 people every day. They basically have rice and veggies every day and meat once every 6 months, yay for a basically vegan lunch menu! After this we walked down the path and John brought us to their massive bird cage. 

I'll admit that at first I wasn't too sure about this cage but their intentions were good. They breed birds that are on the verge of extinction and then they release them back into the world. While walking around with the group we saw children of all ages, races and nationalities which shows how great this school is even just for this aspect of it. It lets children be themselves without having to worry about something as petty as their skin color or where they're from, just as it should be.

Further into the tour we got to see the beautiful grounds that the school is on and surrounds it, along with the amazing outdoors classrooms that a kid could only dream of having. The whole school is built out of bamboo and is almost fully self sustainable with the exception of a few small things that they're working on making green as soon as they are able to. 

Bamboo bridge to cross the river

They grow their own vegetables and fruit and also have their own animals like chickens, fish, rabbits and a few cows. Even though I'm still against them using these animals, atleast they're a far cry from the animal abuse we create in the western world. Is was a really special day for me, not only was I already amazed at this school but I got to meet my first calf. There were a dozen young kids in our tour group and they all wanted to pet the calf but I wasn't budging I was so happy to finally be able to interact with this beautiful animal.

I cannot begin to describe the love I hold in my heart for all animals and in this moment a large amount of emotions rose within my body. I was so happy to be able to pet her yet so sad to see this calf tied up. A great deal of comfort overcame me just by knowing that because of the lifestyle I choose to live that not her nor any other fellow earthling will ever be used or harmed by me.

My heart is melting in this moment

I then looked at Vee and said "I don't understand how anyone could ever want to eat this precious animal", but that was a discussion for another day. By this time we had already seen the majority of the school along with the river that flows beneath it. The school runs on solar power and with the vortex, which is power generated from the river. Yeah, I know... amazing.

Once back up from meeting the cows and walking along the river we got to see some more wicked classrooms and all the solar panels that power the school. Every time someone donates money to the school they get their name carved into the schools bamboo, we saw a few famous ones like, Ben & Jerry and David Copperfield. Our tour ended here at the heart of the school, it was a great day and we got to see so many cool things and if I had kids they'd be coming here!

A bientot,

Janelle Brine

Compassion

Little bunny at the green school in Bali

Compassion is kind of a touchy subject, especially when the topic at hand is animals and how we treat them. Some people will stay silent, some will debate and some will fight to the death for what they believe in. While there might be some shades of grey in between it all, for the most part when it comes to ethics or veganism, it's like religion to most.

When I first went vegan I'll be the first to admit that I was one of those "pushy" vegans and even though my intentions were pure, it wasn't quite the way to go about it. I quickly learnt that people are easier fooled than convinced they are being fooled, if I really wanted people to start SEEING I would have to switch up my strategy.

I started simply leading by example, it may not be the quickest method but it's certainly effective. People around me started seeing my results and wanting to know what my "secrets" we're and I'm sure they never expected to hear PLANTS come out of my mouth. I started Crossfit at the same time as I went plant based and I have never been as strong as I am now living this lifestyle.

Ok to get onto the real topic now. For most, living in denial and bliss is much simpler, which is why the majority of people live this way. And for 20 years of my life I lived the exact same way as everyone else, how was I to know if I was never shown or told different? I try my best to give the benefit of doubt to people because I know that 4 years ago I was right where they are now.

Although, nowadays it's almost hard to NOT see what's really happening in the world and how we are treating our fellow earthlings. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I'll snap and I'll blurt out some smart ass comment about veganism or animals and it most of the time makes the other person feel uncomfortable. Now what you need to realize is that, if a simple little comment from me makes you feel this way, try quadrupling (now times that another 50,000 times) that and that's how I feel when I hear or see a lack of compassion towards animals.

I didn't grown up loving animals any more than the next person but I was lucky enough to be exposed to the truth behind it all, which changed my life for the better. 

To me it's quite simple in my head:

1) Don't eat your friends

2) Don't cause harm to others

3) You can live a completely healthy and vibrant

life without animal products or byproducts

But what people don't seem to realize is that they're practicing speciesism. This practice came about simply because humans are cocky assholes that truly believe that we as the human race are superior to all other species. Similar to how all religions believe that their religion is better than the next and that theirs is the ONLY option. 

The thing here is the fact that this is completely backwards because humans are actually 100% USELESS. If something as small as bees or ants were to die off the WHOLE planet would collapse. If humans were to die off, the planet would completely and naturally restore itself and every other earthling would live a jolly ol' life and celebrate our departure.

Do you see how completely useless we really are? 

Pollution, humans. California's water drought, humans. Global warming, humans. Death of 150 billion animals a year, humans. Extinction of some animals, humans. World hunger, humans. War, humans. The list goes on and on and on, when is this monstrosity going to end...

 Make the change you want to see in the world.

A bientot,

Janelle Brine

Blessed

Rocky temple

So we actually decided to do something with our lives, we went on a mini tour with Marleigh and Edi our driver. We started the day with going to the gym of course, to lift some stuff and put it down then had breakfast at alchemy. Should we have skipped alchemy? Probably with the time crunch we were under but... No, it's way to vital for our wellbeing. 

After breakfast we walked home, showered and walked back down the path to meet Edi and to go pick up Mar on the way to our first stop. We drove maybe 30-40 minutes and got to the Rocky Temple, which was truly beautiful and nothing like we had ever seen. Not only did we take loads of stunning pictures, we also go to see some traditional Balinese engagement pictures. Their outfits were so extravagant and so different from what you would see back home, it was rad to see.

Gymnast on the right, useless technique on the left...

After we were finished with taking so many pictures and fooling around with the famous selfie stick we walked back up the what felt like thousand stairs in the scorching heat. Once back at the car, Edi drove us to our second destination, which was the Holy Spring Temple. 

Before entering the temple we put on some sorongs and headed in to get blessed by some holy water. Not too sure what makes it holy but there clearly are a lot of people that believe in it because the spring was super busy with all kinds of people. At first we just jumped in and figured we'd just do on prayer and one dunking of our heads under the water and peace out, but it wasn't quite this simple.

As we got into a line to get to the spout thing where the water was coming out of, we were told by a friendly man that the way it works is that you start at the first one on the far left then work you way down to the last one on the far right. It took about 30 minutes to go through all of them and by the 3 one I was ready to pack it in, but I figured it be best if I just finish them all. 

After getting blessed with holy water and walking through a cold spring inhabited by really large fish, we were ready to go dry off. We return the sorongs and went back to meet Edi so he could bring us to the gorgeous rice terrace before going back to Ubud.

Getting blessed by holy water

All in all it was a great day and super awesome to finally do something different! Don't get me wrong I extremely enjoy all our lazy days but it was nice to get out of town for a few hours. Now to get ready for Friday, as we have to leave Vilła Lebah and find us a new home for the rest of our stay in Bali. We are on the search for a place with a pool, because we feel that our tans are fading which is completely unacceptable.

Anyway that's all for now my friends

A bientot,

Janelle Brine