Five Ways to ... Get Healthier

We are all searching for the magic formula to be healthier, look better and live a longer, higher quality life. Problem is doing all the hard work to get there. Try out these gentle steps on the road to a fitter you. 

1. Walk the Walk
Pothole-laden sidewalks and fume-filled air do not make Jakarta a comfortable place for pedestrians. Head instead for Gunung Mas Tea Plantation in Cisarua, Bogor, to pick a few leaves, sip the fresh brew and pad through the 2,500 hectares of fields. Just leave the pith helmet at home. 
Tel. (0251) 252-501 (Monday closed)

2. Pole Position
Time to get jiggy, or jiggly, with it, people. A new “exotic dance lesson” is promised for April to put all the Demi wannabes through their paces. It’s
Rp 540,000 a pop, but there is already a waiting list.
Interlude Dance Academy STC Senayan, Level 4 #1003
Tel. 579-32021

3. Feeling the Sting
The pesky little critters are not just good at making honey. Proponents of apitherapy, or using bee venom to treat ailments, vouch for its benefits in combating arthritis, tendonitis and bursitis, as well as lessening the appearances of scar tissue. For the squeamish, and those turned off by the fact the bees will die after releasing their sting, then just stick to a spoonful of the sweet stuff. Rp 30,000 per treatment.
Pramuka Apiary Kompleks Wiladatika
Cibubur, East Jakarta Tel. 844-5104

4. Alphabet Soup
The blood-type diet has been around for a few years, with food choices based on whether we are an A, AB, A or O for maximum health benefits. In the cavernous, and quiet, Bellagio mall in Mega Kuningan, the Healthy Choice organic food restaurant offers individual blood-type menus. We, however, had a bloodbath, so to speak, by ordering from all over the menu. And while a one-time dining experience is not going to have you running marathons, it makes for an interesting Sunday brunch. If you are not convinced, there is always a Dapur Sunda upstairs.
Healthy Choice Bellagio Mall
Kuningan, South Jakarta Tel. 300-29770
Opening hours: 7 a.m. – 10 p.m. daily

5. What’s Your Aura?
Getting healthy is not just about buffing up the outside; the fragile inner you may also need some careful handling. Aura photography, in an electromagnetic nutshell, supposedly shows the physical, emotional and spiritual properties and potential of the subject from the colors displayed. A computer printout prescribes ways to put your yin and yang in order (and the owners will try to sell you some crystals for that purpose). Rp 120,000 per photograph. Must confess that the reading struck a little too close to home for me.
Aura Fotographi Mall Mangga Dua
Second Floor No. 46 Tel. 612-6018
Opening hours: 11 a.m. -6 p.m.

+ Bruce Emond

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