Naked Soul Kitchen

Tomorrow morning I will be on a plane which will take me to the other side of Malaysia. I will be in Kuala Lumpur where I will be meeting a good friend, whom I met in Cambodia. I couldn't be more excited however I am sad to leave Kota Kinabalu. It has become somewhat of a home for me and that is definitely thanks to my wonderful accommodation and experience at Lucy's Homestay. It felt like having a mother around since my own lovely mother is back in Boston. I also got used to the city and knew where to go when I wanted to eat, to walk, to sit or to relax in a tropical paradise. It's been great. So thank you Lucy and all of you who have been a part of my adventure so far. Thank you so much to Syida and her family for inviting me to be a part of their celebration of Eid. The food was absolutely delicious and the company was so good and welcoming. It was nice to be a part of a big family celebration. I guess I've missed that quite a lot since all of my family, besides my m...

Yesterday I spent all day on Mamukan island off the coast of Kota Kinabalu, Western Malaysia. I had a lovely day on the beach. I finished Shantaram towards the end of the day and was in a strange mood after. That book is quite powerful and it can suck you in right into what is going on in the story. When the beach finally emptied of loud local tourists since it was a Saturday, I found a little flat spot and started doing yoga. I needed to clear my mind. Looking over at the sea, with its lulling waves slowly washing up onto the shore, I was breathing in fresh island air and breathing out everything that might have been bothering me before. As I continued focusing on my breathing and clearing my mind, my eyes caught fluttering wings of a small bird flying over the waves. All of a sudden his delicate body dipped into the ocean and looked like it was just floating there. When I saw him fly up for a few seconds only to plummet back into the water, I realized that something was wrong. I ...

After falling asleep for a few minutes, I was woken up by my soothing yet insistant alarm clock. It was dinner time. I heard raindrops outside my window. It didn't seem bad though. When I knocked on the door of the rest of the group they were all still warm and cozy in their beds. They weren't really sleeping so they figured we wouldn't walk down to the Laban Rata Lodge for dinner. The rain became stronger and louder with each passing minute. We were all hungry and we also were supposed to meet our guide at dinner to discuss the action plan for tomorrow's hike. That is if there was going to be one, because of the rain. No one goes up if it rains. We were secretly happy about the possibility of not having to go through the strenuous day that we again, over again, in the middle of the night and at a much harder level. The massive downpour was creating waterfalls down the natural pathways created by the glorious mountain. We watched the waterfalls increase with the added ...

So I am more than halfway to the summit of Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia. Our group of five did quite well and made it up in about four hours. 6km and 3,500m up some really steep rock formations, some stairs, almost no flat spots. It's definitely been a challenge and a lot harder than I expected it to be. But I guess my physical fitness hasn't really been improving by me rolling around on the beaches of Cambodia and taking it easy through Vietnam. Today was hard but tomorrow will be the real challenge. We will be tired from today's climb and will have to climb all the way to the top for another 3km, which will be the hardest ones we've yet to climb. It is 4:30pm now and we have settled into our lodge. Dinner is at 5pm during which time we'll decided what time to head out tomorrow, which will probably be somewhere between 1:30am and 3am depending on the weather conditions and things like that. I am laying in my bed now and all I want to do is stay here forever and nev...