Traveler: Eylül Dizdar – Traveler
What is your most unforgettable escape? For now it’s my trip to Bali. I went there in November and stayed for nearly two months and then flew to Goa India, where I also stayed for another two months. I was supposed to go back to Bali from there but I had an accident on the first day I arrived to Jaipur so instead I returned home.
What was the purpose of your travel? Music and dance were always the heart and soul of my life and magically I discovered that I could turn this passion into a job, and share and spread the joy of surrendering to music with other people, by becoming an ecstatic dance facilitator. This was the catalyst of my trip, but this was also a journey I had to experience for my personal transformation as well.
I attended two different courses in Bali. One was the 5 Elements Ecstatic Dance Facilitator Training in which I learned to facilitate ecstatic dance journeys that follow and embody the 5 elements (ether, air, earth, fire, water) and the other was called Unwind The Feminine which covered topics about being a woman and the relation between womanhood and yoga. In India I took a Sound Healing course. Overall my main goal was personal development.
With how many people did you travel? I was alone in Bali but I met with other friends in Goa the last month I was there.
Where did you stay? During my training I stayed in two different retreat centers, one was called Villa Boreh and the other one was Seraya Shores. For my last month in Bali I stayed at a hostel very close to the Yoga Barn called Soni’s Backpacker.
What did you most like about the trip? I am a summer person, the sun makes me very happy and everything feels lighter under the sun. The tropical fruits were amazing and so was the food, Bali is a culinary heaven for people who follow a plant based diet. The sound healing and ecstatic dances at the Yoga Barn were magical. But above all it brought me closer to myself so this was the most valuable aspect of my trip. You don’t just get to know a friend better during a trip but also yourself.
Could you share an unforgettable memory about the trip? My birthday is on the 1st of December and I was doing the 5 elements dance facilitator training at that time. Every morning we woke up with the sunrise at 5:30 to meditate and do yoga. That morning after our meditation, I was picked up and held in the air by 12 women as they sang me happy birthday and gave me hugs and kisses. It was magical, I felt like Simba from the Lion King.
Near the end of our training we went to an elementary school and planted fruit trees. The children gathered around and accompanied us with their songs, clapping along as we gave life to their garden. It was a humbling experience coming from the Western world where we have access to so much.
Your most surprising find during the trip? The amount of expats who live there was surprising. Also the whole holistic health and wellness vibe, it is like another universe. Nearly every banana I had, tasted and smelled different than the other ones, they said that there was around 300 different species of bananas in Indonesia.
Favorite restaurant(s) or food you have tried during your trip? I follow a vegan, gluten-free and sugar-free diet so my scope was these kind of restaurants but Bali is known for this anyways. (The most famous restaurants also offer their own cooking courses.)
ZEST
Everything is gluten free, sugar free, vegan and extremely delicious. I want to go back just to go to Zest again. I loved their gluten free and vegan carbonara, Mick Jagger pizza, and also the wrap they make with jackfruit called Run Piglet Run. (A lot of restaurants and even the Balinese use jackfruit as a substitute for meat). On Sundays there’s usually live music in the afternoon and they do have nice events from time to time. All in all I love their approach to food and the whole vibe.
Alchemy
They serve raw vegan food, I recommend their raw spinach pizza and the chocolate mousse is heavenly.
Seeds of Life
A raw vegan restaurant, I loved their raw lasagna and they have amazing health tonics.Sayuri
Also vegan, amazing deserts and nice variety of both raw and cooked dishes.
The Cafe at Radiantly Alive
Great gnocchi and pizza
The cafe at Yoga Barn and KAFE
Try any of their tempeh dishes and brownie
Kokolato
Vegan, sugar free, crystal infused and sound healed Ice cream. They have interesting flavors and gluten free rice cones.
Tukie’s
Vegan, sugar free coconut ice-cream. This was the first thing I had in Bali.
Bali is famous for it’s chocolate and cacao. You can find raw, fermented and also drinkable delicacies. Ubud Raw was my favorite.
What are the must tries of the city? The Sunday ecstatic dance at the Yoga Barn is an extraordinary experience. The shala, the music and the crowd were all amazing. People go there to surrender to the music and their body wisdom. You really feel the magic. People go with their children too. I once saw an elderly couple dancing together, I think they were in around their 70’s and they were so beautiful together. And a pregnant women with her partner, singing and dancing to their baby. These dances had a major impact on me and my journey and inspired me to gather an ecstatic dance community in my hometown too.
There are many waterfalls in Bali, visit any of them, go under the waterfall and stay there for a while. An amazing way to connect with nature and the water element. Once you arrive you will feel like you have found a hidden treasure.
Sound healing at Yoga Barn.
Any hidden gems you could whisper to us?
Pyramids of Chi, a place where you can experience sound healing, tech infused experiences, moon ceremonies, cacao ceremonies and many other activities and workshops.
Akasha, a little bit far from city center, there you can attend themed parties, ecstatic dances, moon and cacao ceremonies.
Ubud Floating Garden, they have sensory deprivation tanks.
Sunday Kirtan at Sayuri.
There are many art galleries all around midtown and some around the outskirts which are both worth checking out.
Would you go back? Yes, I would and I hopefully will go back at the end of March for Bali Spirit Festival.
Could you list a few of your favorite finds you came back with? A silk top I got from a boutique called Uma and Leopold, and a frangipani and jasmine essential oil from a cruelty free and aromatherapy based shop called Sensatia.
Any tips that might be useful to know before going there? Book your ecstatic dance tickets in advance, they sell out very quickly. Bring activated charcoal with you just incase you get Bali belly and avoid brushing your teeth with tap water. Be ready to bargain on the markets and for transportation.
Next stop you would like to visit? I want to go to Algarve Portugal in the summer, I’m also very intrigued by Mexico.
What does traveling mean to you? Traveling means being on the road, and “being on the road” for me is a metaphor for staying in the moment and just surrendering to the experience. Being open and curious like a child. I really savor whatever comes up and somehow all my senses are a lot more open than usual. It all becomes a playground. So it is not just about the place but also a lot about myself and how I relate to that place and life in general at that moment.
Eylül Dizdar
Traveller
