As you may know, I spent two years in London. You might think that for a frenchy, living on Queen Elizabeth’s island would have depressed my sensitives taste buds. And you would be wrong, oh so wrong my dear reader! London offered me the chance to discover cuisine from everywhere in the world. 

I was pretty confident all these years by saying that outside enjoying a Jerk Chicken in Jamaica, if you wanted a good one, you had to visit London. And this time, I was wrong, oh so wrong my dear reader!

   
  

After snorkeling and walking for an hour around the island under the rain, I needed food. I was in active search for a good place to sustain myself but most of the places in Gili T in February are closed. That’s when I discovered a little paradise. 

  

Are you kidding me? CASA VINTAGE! On the beach? Another spot? And you can EAT TOO? 
    

I refrained myself to shop around. I tried on few dresses who were absolutely amazing and would have been a killer look in London but once again, I remembered my promise to Marion and didn’t buy anything in order to be able to continue my trip without starving. Hum!
    
  

  

I start to speak with the girls who were working here. There were not a lot of clients due to the bad weather but I felt warm and at my place with them. It was a chance to get a glimps of what the new generation of Gili T where aspiring in life.
  

And like most of the people I talked to in Gili T, these three sweet and nice ladies where right in between tradition and a very open minded view about the world. They were calling me sister and it was no joke, at that moment, we were all sisters. 

One of my new sister was pregnant. The other one was waiting to have more money before getting married with her fiancé… Different lives but same love and respect for our own kind. 

  

In South East Asia, the relation I could have had with young women was sometimes tinted with misunderstandings.

Often, I felt from young girls some stares who were making me uncomfortable. I’m not talking about the stares I had from locals in very small cities who were not used to see a white chick crossing their village on a bicycle. These stares were funny and were melted with curiosity and surprise!

I am talking about the stares I had from teenage girls who were seeing in me the beauty of the occidental. That kind of stares always make me feel weird cause I don’t want to be the ambassador of the false image of a successful and happy woman from Europe and influence their way of dressing up, change the way they are living their life or finding themself. 

Don’t get me wrong, I doubt I could change the life of any young girl just because I incarnate a vision of beauty that Asian brands try to push and I don’t mean that I am particularly beautiful or so… I just hate the idea that these young ladies are repudiating their own beauty and traditions because they think occidental is better. 

  

What I saw in Casa Vintage was three strong and incredibly beautiful women who found the balance between the future and the past. And I think you can call that being right into the present. 

I saw three women who were considering me, a foreigner like their equal. They had nothing to prove to me, they didn’t feel superior either, we were just on the same vibe and it was good. They were my afternoon sisters.

  

Also, their Jerk Chiken is the best I ever had in my entire life. A shame I had to leave the very next day to Gili Air, I could have eaten every single meal at their restaurant, drinking cocktails facing the sea under the trees and chatting with everybody around…