I love Bali! I am writing these words two weeks after I left. But it is still vivid in my mind. Bali has changed me somehow! It has also changed how I see things.
I arrived to Bali at night after my very long bus ride. Decided to treat myself for the next two days since the bus ride was a kind of hell. So I spent the two nights in fancy places. The first night I received a gift from the heaven by sleeping in a suite due to a mistake in their booking system. A suite in a 4 stars hotel was enough to compensate me for the trip that made me tired and dirty!
Morning was slow as well. I moved to Kuta, another region in the island and moved to another hotel. Although I spent around 24 hours in Kuta, I feel now that I spent there a few days!
Bali just feels nice! It FEELS…. and it feels nice. I don’t know how to convey these feelings differently but it is one of the few places I visited and decided to come back many times. Rome is a similar place in its closeness to my heart!
In Bali, I went to different beaches, had nice meals, shopped for art and gifts, did parasailing and taught myself swimming a bit. The island is rich of the things it can offer. A wide variety of things that i didn’t have time to experience. Volcano, jungle, underwater wonders… etc.. I will surely go back if life extends with health and grace.
People were extremely friendly as well. Of course they try to sell you things all the time. But still, I loved it.
I think when I love something or someone i exaggerate a bit. I felt some love even for the airport. And realized that my love for Bali was getting out of control and becoming somehow too much.
It was the cherry on top of the cake. A good conclusion of my trip. I have changed. I look different and I feel different and I have been told this many times since my return.
Traveling does not only teach you things and fills your memory with storie and scenes. It shows you how many possibilities are there for you if you ever decide to change. How many jobs to do.. How many people you can meet and love.. How many things to learn and teach.
It showed me also shit.. People’s shit.. And then I realize that my shit compared to their shit is no shit. Their smallest problem can be bigger than my biggest problem. Chen asked me about the spelling of "bumpy". It is expensive for him to have an English course so he finds anything written in English and tries to learn at home. He woke up at 5 in the morning, took the bus for 35 minutes to the city to give me a ride to the airport. He did that for $7. It is big for him for sure. But I thought how little is this money for me and how I spend everyday on things that are largely unnecessary amounts of money that can change many many lives. This was theoretical to me. But seeing it happening was a different thing.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am not claiming to lead a hippy life from now on. I can’t change everybody’s life. But I think I have a high priority now of trying to make people happy. As many as I can. I have learnt that this is what really matters. Or wait. Happiness per sé is probably not the target. Probably these little moments of joy or surprise. This is living. Maintained happiness is a rare gift that not many can get. And definitely not many are ready to receive in my opinion.
Thank you Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia. I am grateful to what I felt, what I have lived and what I have learnt.