Healing

I feel very lucky not to actually need a healing retreat... but when one of your best friends happens to be the manager at just such a retreat not sooo far away, and you happen to have to leave the country for a visa run... well, the universe was aligning itself...

So here I am at the Orion Healing Retreat Centre in Koh Phangan, Thailand.

Here's a blurb from their website (orionhealing.com):

The Orion Healing Retreat Center is set in the serene Srithanu bay in Koh Phangan, Thailand. Nestled in peaceful surroundings, amid soothing sounds and rippling waters, your mind and soul are balanced, restoring a sense of serenity and vitality.  At Orion we have created a unique life changing retreat program which combines detox, healing and yoga to create Absolute Alchemy.

Our detox retreats are specially tailored and supported every step of the way. As healers we ensure that your cleanse is a healing experience for your body, mind and soul. A personal touch is given to all our cleansers and this will ensure that your individual needs are always looked after.  Using ancient methods with modern day touches, our unique treatments harmonize, balance, attune and charge your body to leave you feeling completely revitalized.

I can't say I had the right motivation in coming here... I wasn't feeling toxic, or the need for healing necessarily... I really just wanted to see a good friend in her element, and thought the best way to do that, since she was to be working, would be to integrate myself into her life... so I signed up!  And no doubt it will have all kinds of additional positive benefits as well.  Although I am still a little upset about being in Thailand (with some of the best food on the planet) and not EATING, I am really enjoying the daily yoga, and have been to the Wat Pho Traditional Thai Herbal Sauna, and am taking advantage of being here to get some work done in my sweet little bungalow!

(All the pics are from the Orion website, since my camera is in the shop... )

Rujak Natsepa

Rujak is the Indonesian version of a fruit salad... and like all food-things Indonesian, it must have its share of chilis!  I've written about the common-man's rujak here... 

But of all the Rujaks in all the land, the most famous is Rujak Natsepa, from Natsepa Beach in Ambon.  So of course, we had to try it... twice!  The beach itself, although it did nothing for me whatsoever, is a very popular spot for locals to spend the weekend!  Overcrowded... ughh.

But the Rujak was its redeeming quality...

Rujak ingredients

The combination of an extensive variety of fruits, plus fresh peanuts used in the sauce, no water, but fruit to make the sauce saucy, are what makes this the King of Rujaks.

Masterpiece

They even got the bule to try to make the Rujak sauce... 

It did not compare to the original!

Rujak lady at her station at the far end of the beach mixing up her sweet goodness for us!

Delicious body

This has to be my favourite one...

If you're just sort of feeling a bit off... you know, under-the-weather, but not sick with any identifiable illness... you can use the term "tidak enak badan" to tell everyone how your "body is not delicious".  Fabulous!

http://bullypulpit.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008d0e0018834011168590176970c-800wi

I guess it's a better excuse than 'not tonight honey, i've got a headache'...  ?

Unless of course, you're feeling that your body really is delicious... But the inverse ("I have a delicious body") doesn't work in bahasa... although I bet it would for this chocolate-covered beauty!

photo:  http://catherinesouth.blogspot.com/2010/11/delicious-body-art-chocolate-body.html

You have 'Entry WHAT?'

Hehehe... another one of my favourite Indonesian sayings that just simply does NOT translate into English...

Masuk Angin = Entry Wind, or Enter Wind  (it really doesn't matter how you translate it, it's just as funny)

Basically it means to have gas, I guess... but I prefer the Indonesian term!

Out of the Blue!

Sorry... I just realized that last post was rather out of the blue for most of you!  And then I forgot to POST this post - hahaha!  So here it is almost a month later - more on the last month to come!

A quick update:

I spent until mid-March in the Galapagos with Martin, enjoying the enchanted islands, trying to figure out the best ways to run our little dive business, luxuriating in the sun sand surf and sharks and sealions, and being frustrated over both our visa issues!

Enjoying the sea breeze on Isabella Island

Curious baby sealion allowed out to play for the 1st time!

Mid-March I arrived back in Indonesia, with a teeny stopover in Florida to see my parents in their fabulous new digs and enjoy a special belated birthday dinner and some delicious strawberry shortcake together!

Best birthday dinner ever!

yummmy!

I specifically came back to Indonesia to support the filming of our education program by a Swiss TV documentary - it was a great success, and I can't wait to see the program!  They agreed that it is probably the most important program for conservation of this phenomenally biodiverse area, and we all think this film will do wonders for funding the future of the program... fingers crossed!  I have also had a great deal of opportunity to work with the Kalabia and do some more training with the education team since being back.

Students gather outdoors with Kalabia at the end of the jetty

Then, and as a result of that week of filming, I had the incredible opportunity to be aboard the MV Pindito for her first ever Whale-Macro Journey, which was informational, inspirational, fun, and all-round absolutely fabulous!

Sunset over Pindito

Flying Water!

A great little side trip on our Ambon trip was an impromptu hike to the Waka Waterfall...

We had just stopped along the side of the road to admire some spices (more about this in another post)...  As is my style, I ended up chatting with the locals who were standing around... asking about the area, the spices, their gardens and farms... chit-chat.  Of course, my obvious interest led to an invitation to go see some of their lush forest gardens, with promises of not only all these spices on the trees in their natural state, but almost all the fruits I have ever heard of in Indonesia, plus a few I never had!

Pala, or nutmeg... one of the main export commodities of the spice Islands.  The fruit is actually quite tasty, and the under-ripe fruit (above) is extremely sour, but supposed to be very good for cleansing the palate, or curing halitosis.

Oh and that wasn't all... our elderly gentleman tour guide was eager to show us the villages 'flying water' (air terbang).  Huh?  Yes, you heard it right... When I first heard him say this, it took me a few seconds, then a smile of recognition played on my lips as I realized he was talking about a waterfall (usually, air terjun)!  Only here in Waka, the water doesn't just fall as it does in other part of Indonesia and the world, it FLIES!  YES!  Sign me up, that was the clincher... flying water... let's go!

Well, the flying water was no longer flying in all the glory of its more formidable days when it was given the moniker, but we enjoyed the walk through the forest freshness anyway!  It seems agricultural activities up-stream have stemmed the flow of water and reduced it to a mere quarter of its original size.

Waka "Flying Water" Waterfall

Of course, it started to POUR just as we were heading back down, and after taking shelter for half an hour it was apparent the rain wasn't letting up, so we fashioned ourselves some local umbrellas and continued on our way!

Ambon Manise

Retro-posting!

I was in Ambon to help with a ten day Sustainable Fisheries Management Planning Training... the training was excellent, but draining, as it always is when I'm functioning morning 'til night in multiple-languages.  It also meant I was in an area of Indonesia that I had never been before... and with the long Easter weekend on the horizon, I decided there was no better time to extend my ticket and explore a bit!  Luckily I wasn't going to have to do that alone, either... ii came and joined me and we had a fabulous weekend!

We explored the underwater Ambon diving for two days and then explored the terrestrial portion of the island as well!  We literally covered almost every square inch of the island!  There are a few stories about it I wanted to share... but as they say, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'... so...

Hukurila

Hukurila Cave

Laha Piers

"Dad, what's a toad face..."? 

Better keep that eel in your trousers!?

Coy eel

Posing mandarin fish

Tube anemone

Lionfish dead ahead

shoefish

Bottle sponge

Lightbulb eel

Squat lobster catching a ride on a fire urchin 

Stylin' underwater Ambon

Dive log

The diving at Laha was the most utterly surreal experience of diving I've ever had... I can understand why they have named this area 'the Twilight Zone'... because it is!  You're diving in a black sand slope FULL of garbage under the constant drone of the active fishing vessels at the jetty, which throw all their waste directly overboard...  at one point the only exposed skin on me was so itchy... it was disgusting to think of the cause... but then on the other hand, everywhere you looked there was another unique an interesting critter... The types of creatures that choose to make this place their habitat are seriously special!

Our overland exploring consisted of a two-day road trip around the entire island!

Best umbrellas ever!

View of Seram from Fort Amsterdam

1642... still standing after all these years (with a new roof) - good ole Dutch construction!

So many eels at Larike!

Seaside mosque near Larike

Gardaria... the Ambon specialty... size and texture of a plum, tastes like Mango!

Standing on "Pintu Kota", the Gates to Ambon City

Pintu Kota

Downtown Ambon city

A lone rooster with his pink wall

Gimme five!

Hug an eel today...

quite content

I really don't know exactly what it was about this place... the people, the place, music, food...  Ah, Ambon, Sweet Ambon (Ambon Manise)!

Survivor in Raja Ampat!?

I remember watching the first season of Survivor back when I was in university. I didn't realize it was still going... or that there were French, Serbian or Israli versions either!?  And certainly when I was watching it then, I didn't think much about the area in which the 'teams' were living, other than to think it was beautiful scenery and backdrop for the game.

Now, however, that there is a French television team shooting a Survivor Series in Raja Ampat, I am seeing things in a different light.  I am seeing how oblivious foreigners are when they come to an area with a single aim.

Obviously they are here because this is such a beautiful area, rich in culture and nature.  But is their presence here going to do more harm than good in the long run?

Apparently a substantial amount of money has gone into this project... fair enough... but that money was paid directly to the central government and to the government of Raja Ampat... I would wager a very very small percentage of it ever reaches any of the communities of Raja Ampat... its impact will not be felt where it could do some real good and is needed.  As far as I'm concerned it is a complete lack of respect for the traditional village systems which exist in Papua.

This is Indonesia, but Papua is a special case... things don't work here exactly the way they do in the rest of Indonesia... I mean, the level of corruption is still there, or perhaps worse even, but there are two systems of law/government here that should be abided by...  The 'hak wilayat' (traditional tenural system) has been in place in Papua for generations, and has worked to maintain peace as well as protect resources throughout local history.  This traditional governance is the system that the local people live by, abide, and should be respected by the any visiting foreigner as well.  The dualism created when the Indonesian government moved in to Papua is hard to reconcile... but possible.  Papua has special autonomy, and legal respect for their traditional systems... but when foreigners come in without knowing about this, it is easy to step on toes... and the people who lose inevitably are the locals.  I could write many posts on this problem, but don't want to make this blog political and get black-listed from Papua... so I won't.

On one hand, the French TV folk can't be blamed for being utterly oblivious to the appropriate manner of doing things here... they expect that things work as they do in their own country and no doubt no one from the Indonesian government told them any different... But on the other hand, if they're planning such a big and impactful investment in an area, shouldn't they do a little background research and find out the way to do things best???

Anyway, a funny story from the villages since Survivor has come to the area... the villagers in one nearby village were utterly appalled that these poor people had been left to fend for themselves without food, water or fire... so they snuck them over food!  These are the Papuan hearts that I love!