Poolside and Studio

Tomorrow I’m gone.

Leaving a country is painful, like leaving someone you loved and cherished. And in fact, you never leave just a physical space but you do leave the people that connect you to that land. You are closing the door to all the possible future you might have with them, may they be good, may they make you stronger, may they be destructive. You are saying goodbye to friends, and to all the experiences and moments you lived together, and the one you might have had in the future.

The prospect of leaving a country always make my eyes water, my throat close and my belly ache. I’m not just taking an airplane and discovering a new place, I’m saying goodbye forever to the person I was, at that time and space in my life. This is not only a goodbye to friends but to my self.

Tomorrow I’m gone, and today I’m only half here.

It feels like I’m separated in half. I’m already two person, the one I was yesterday, the one I will be tomorrow. Both brave, both carefree, both sensitive. It is possible to cry of happiness and sadness at the same time and the ticking clock toward my departure create a conflicted feeling of gratefulness, hope and regret.

It’s my last day in Bali and I have to make it count. But the prospect of doing anything else than staying in a warm swimming pool to cure the hangover from the too-many-cocktail from Deus ex machina, Pretty Poison, and Sandbar is not appealing. So we chat, we swim, we float and we laugh. Before everybody get together for dinner, I join Sashi in her recording Studio. It feels special and unique to be there. Tomorrow I’m gone, but I’ll remember, forever of these moments spent in Bali.

No dogs allowed 

“I am Muslim!” Said proudly the taxi driver who was driving me from Ubud to Canggu. “And you?”

“Hmmm… I try to take what I think is the best from every religion, but I am not from one confession really!”

The taxi driver didn’t talk to me until the rest of the trip. He looked obviously upset! Whatever is your religion in Indonesia, you HAVE to have one. 

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Canggu, don’t let me go

Staying in a place for a week or more is, I would say, essential when you travel for few month. It’s like taking holidays of your trip. You can rest your bones on the same bench in the same spot at the same time everyday if you want to. You start to make friends and do some plans together, the kind of plans you do at home with your homies. You discover all the good places of the city and you have time to try all the different coffee shops and register all the wifi passwords of the town in your iPad. You take your time. 
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Secret temple

I like taking the little roads when I visit a place but you never know if there will be a treasure at the end of the alley or if you’ll find the dump of the city. A nice and sunny path in the rice fields can turn into a muddy grey road. That’s when you regret to have come so far because you think you’ll never find your way back on time before sunset or because you feel that this dude working on the field is looking at you in a strange way.
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Do you know where I can find a scooter?

[Careful – Cheesy and romantic contains]

I’ve never been so happy to be on my own. Bingin beach is the perfect place on earth for solo travelers who wants to have a break. Imagine a beautiful little beach protected by the cliff, few travelers happy to avoid you as much as you want to avoid them, plenty of space to lie on the sun or chill on your balcony facing the sea, fresh fruits for breakfast and the only sound you can hear around is the ocean or the ladies selling bracelets.
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Silent retreat

After an epic journey from Ijen Volcano to Denpasar in Bali, Alberto and I were absolutely exhausted. Waking up at 1am, hiking in the condition I explained in the last article for more than 8 hours, taking the van, the boat and a public bus was like living the longest day of my life. And it was not over yet.

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