Miami Beach, Florida + Jakarta, Indonesia
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Alison is obsessed with You Vs. Wild, the new interactive choose-your-own-adventure Netflix show with Bear Grylls. You literally make a selection on the screen multiple times per episode to determine how the journey progresses. Can you imagine how much they had to film to get footage for all of those compounded possibilities?! So fascinating! Plus you learn stuff like how to stay warm in the snow and how to know which way is north. Pretty cool. Lulu is re-obsessed with yoga. She had a regular practice before the pandemic, and is very grateful to be returning to this beneficial habit.
Alison is wishing for a greenhouse, despite having a black thumb. We’re thinking with a bit of PVC pipe and plastic sheeting, and help from someone handy, she could build one in her backyard. And she’s thinking with a nice bistro table set in there it could be where she has her morning coffee. Lulu is wishing her environmentally friendly baking soda charcoal toothpaste tasted better.
In case you have missed the info from recent episodes of The Daily Happy, Alison has Covid. So her ideas for where to go this week were centered around wanting some R&R. Her research lead her to an article on Worth.com titled The Top 10 Places to Heal in Style. While noting locations great for healing after “a discreet nip or tuck”, she feels one of these spots is sure to work for her.
Alison decided on the 9th listing, The Setai, “a Zen oasis in the midst of South Beach’s more scene-centric resorts”. The spa building is right on the beach, and the ocean-front spa suites have two-bedrooms so you can have an in-house (or in-suite rather) nurse. Alison knows plenty of nurses, so will bring one along with her to assist with expediting her recovery. The ocean suite she booked included airport transfer, breakfast in the restaurant or en suite, en suite non alcoholic beverages refreshed throughout the day, and overnight valet service. Being that she is here to recuperate, in addition to her french toast and eggs benedict she gets the “flu shot” - a glass of ginger, lemon, honey, and cayenne pepper.
First things first. Alison is going to follow her nurses likely order to nap. To support this endeavor, she has brought the Manta Sleep Mask with her, known as the world’s comfiest 100% blackout sleep mask. After her snooze Alison heads to hotel restaurant Jaya (which means "victory" in Sanskrit) to enjoy their prix fixe lunch menu, dining al fresco in the courtyard. You can choose from appetizers like tuna tacos and truffle dumplings, and entrees like chicken Panang or pad Thai. You also get a dessert, all for just $29!
Next stop on her healing journey is a visit to the spa for their hydration and purification ritual. A 90 minute body scrub and gentle massage leaves you with a feeling of well-being, and calms your mind. Alison is so rested that she heads back to her room for another nap. She has another sleep mask to go with this nap, Sisley’s Velvet Sleeping Mask has shea butter and saffron flowers to restore the skin while you sleep.
Alison heads to the courtyard for dinner, which consisted of a California roll, and several cocktails by the pitcher.
To wrap up her relaxing day, Alison puts on her new Mommesilk pajamas, turns on her Sound+Sleep High Fidelity Sleep Sound Machine, which features non-looping real nature sounds. Not your typical Miami Beach day, but definitely the kind of day we could all use right about now.
Lulu did a deep dive in her research this week, and discovered that Indonesia is the world’s largest island country with 17,000 islands belonging to it. Seventeen THOUSAND.
Since she’s “been” to Bali before, Lulu decides to explore another Indonesian island, and chooses Java, home to the country’s capital, Jakarta. Lulu booked an Airbnb with a misleading title, as “A little bali in the heart of the city” is not in Bali, nor is it exactly city center, it is just over the city borders and is technically in the western province of Banten. It’s super spacious and serene, however, with its 6 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, full kitchen, manicured garden, outdoor lounge area and swimming pool! It’’ serve as a good base for Lulu’s explorations!
Lulu plans to travel in style and has booked a chauffeur service through Dadang Supardi. Her first requested stop is for breakfast at Komunal 88, where she is feeling very communal (get it?) and buys breakfast - and breakfast wine! - for everyone in the place!
Lulu was very interested in taking in a live performance while here, and she found the Ramayana Ballet Performance at Prambanan to be of particular interest, as it is a dialogue-free dance drama that tells the story of Rama rescuing Sita. She didn’t see the map correctly though and realized she booked this experience that takes place in Yogyakarta, a mere 350 miles (~560km) away from Jakarta. If you’re more inclined to do an activity based in or around Jakarta, there are some excellent activities, tours and classes on Viator.
Lulu heads back to Jakarta where she finds hole-in-the-wall spot Abang Adek, famous for its “Death Noodles”. At this restaurant you can customize Indomie noodles with a myriad of toppings and spices, but if you are brave enough, going for the death noodles will get you a mouthful of noodles with a 20 million Scoville rating (for context, a jalapeño average 5,000)! To counteract all of that spice, Lulu gets a $43 quart of Japanese stress-relieving milk, and decides to zhuzh it up with fair-trade cocoa powder and 24 carat gold sugar cubes. Apparently carbs can also absorb spice so to make sure her taste buds remain relatively intact Lulu also has on hand her Etsy Bread of the Month loaf.
Whoops! It’s back to Yogyakarta, where Lulu wants to visit the most popular tourist attraction in Indonesia, the Borobudur Temple from the 9th century. It is a place for Buddhist pilgrimage, with a path ascending the monument through via stairways and corridors covered in over 1,400 narrative relief panels. Getting to the top of this monument symbolically takes you from the world of desire (Kāmadhātu), through the world of forms (Rūpadhātu), to the world of formlessness (Arūpadhātu). For a general look-see at this site a minimum of 2-3 hours is recommended. But if you are particularly interested in Buddhism, admire reliefs, or want the spiritual benefits of journeying through properly, a full day is advised!
For Lulu a trip isn’t complete without sampling snacks from that culture, so to tide her over until dinner Lulu gets this World Food Mission classic Indonesian snacks box.
Deciding to “dress for dinner” Lulu went in search of something stunning to wear that reflected the local culture. She found a gorgeous gown with multiple Javanese Batik patterns featured by designer Iwan Tirta. Feeling oh-so-fabulous she heads to Plataran Dharmawangsa, a dining compound designed to resemble a traditional royal Javanese family residence. Wooden pavillions, a prayer house, and a glass-roofed conservatory overlooking a garden all set the tone for a delectable meal. She samples a smattering of divine dishes, like:
Shimeji Telur Asia: shimeji mushroom, salted egg, curry leaves, chili padi
Salad lemburi mangga: softshell crab, pomelo, mango, torch ginger, coriander, carrot, sweet and spicy dressing
Buntut: oxtail, potato, carrot, tomato, leek, served with green chili samba, and crackers
and a whole bunch of desserts! Day well dined!
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