Virabhadrasana - Meeting The Warriors of Shiva

Prior to the Yoga Retreat in Chiang Mai with Melee and Diva D, I haven't been on a girlie holiday for 2 years. Sometimes we can be terribly lazy with our friendships. When Diva D floated the idea of going on the retreat, I thought I would end up with a last minute pullout. But thankfully the girls never let me bail. So I painted my toes, got on that plane and joined them on a girlie holiday disguised as a yoga retreat.

Which now begs the question, after four (one with guest yogi Jonas) classes with Vincent the Yogi, am I a yoga convert? Let's just say after one session with Vincent and his caribbean way of teaching yoga, I was warming up to the idea and four sessions later, I'm thinking let's go join Nora at BodyActive. It was pleasant working up a sweat very early in the mornings. Morning classes started at 6.30am and what an achievement it was to roll myself out of bed and go to one. The morning air cold at first, but gets warmer. Then everyone goes to have a huge breakfast that take hours. The crowd was good too, and some of my yoga classmates (with their various posse), stood out more than others.

This woman Belinda is amazing. She hardly speaks a word of English, conversing almost exclusively in Hokkien, has an elderly father in tow who sits quietly reading Chinese comic books by the pool while she does her yoga. Belinda does her asanas with the same admirable passion as she performs her filial duties. She has a belly ring and also wears a silver belly chain during classes. Breathtaking and namaste.

Tanya (on the further side with longer pants), blond and beautiful and toned as hell. Married to Paul who she brought along, she's been a dressage rider, marathon runner, aerobics and fitness instructor with her very own mexican tv show to showcase her skills. She brings her mother-in-law Celia on holiday and cares for her charmingly. We liked her. Now Alice on the other hand, loves her short shorts too much for me to be comfortable sitting behind her in class. I would rather take pictures of her form. She is a scary yoga person though. Executes her poses excellently but sucks in the temperament department. I thought yoga made people chill. Each to his/her own I guess. She was asked to teach the Beginner's class, but only two I think, took her up on it. I think most would rather have Vincent teach them in his gentle ways. We called her Namaste. Biatch. Just kidding because she could scissor kick me into a considerable amount of pain easily.

Azalena's mother is a blond Chinese woman who has her own yoga studio in Puchong (I kid you not) in Malaysia. She sat through one yoga class and took videos during one and was absent out shopping during others. Her daughter is a gem, precocious and cute and was mostly looked after by niece Rachel.

Rachel managing some downtime at the pool when Azalena was asleep while her mother was spa-ing.

It helped, of course, that in between sessions Vincent cleverly organised lunch and dinners at 'hidden gems' of local restaurants and brought us nightmarket trawling. He obviously knows his target market of women who love to yoga, dine and shop. And allowed time to mong, spa, have a foot massage and other touristy activities. The Yogettes and SiriKitty did all except go see the flowers and elephants.

Posing Shivas.

Chiang Mai has its night markets especially during Loy Krathong to trawl.

Having a paw massage at M M Boom, a respectable massage parlour 3 minutes away from The Chedi, that gives foot massages for 2 hours at 200Baht (approximately B$50). Much needed after all that trawling.

We walked down the bohemian streets of Tapae Road and had lunch at Ratana's Kitchen, an eatery frequented by backpackers and was featured in the Lonely Planet's Rough Guide. Diva D had an avocado juice with the essential orchid. The restaurant was a haven of information for backpackers, its walls and bookcases filled with pamphlets for hostels, best surfing beaches, travel books and the like.

We made time to mong and swim. Some of us sunbathed, happily shining in the sunlight in a hot pink thong.

Namaste. To be continued.

Comments

[Jewelle]

Happy Belated Birthday Emma! Just remembered after seeing AnakBrunei's shoutout for you.

[danura]

Gd morning! My daily dose of the beehive. Im lovin more and more of this!! Must suggest to try more yoga on your future travels. Come to think of it, must feature this on travel and living on astro titled: "yogic adventures with Srikitty & one good egg"..hehe..Oh and btw, was looking through the studio members log and saw your name :) twas in Jan? Happy belated birthday! Kisses to Srikitty. Was all tickeld with her(his?) pic with that foot massage.. haha... love & light, Danura.

[Jewelle]

Gosh, am so jealous with your girlie holiday. I can't wait till my kids are old enough for papa to look after and me can go off!