Category: bali

Poolside and Studio

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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.

Magnetic Canggu

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And like that, I arrive in Canggu. I drop my backpack in a small surf hostel. It’s cheap and near the beach but I’m not really sure I’ll stay here for a long time. After sleeping in my own room in Ubud for a couple of days, suddenly the idea of sharing a dorm with seven other people with no space between the mattresses doesn’t seem really appealing.

I grab a delicious meal at California Republic and hop on my scooter to meet Marielle and Salma at Sashi and Puck’s house. There is something delightful to be reunited with friends. I missed this “all women” group, how relaxing it is to be surrounded with feminine vibes. Coming back to Canggu and knowing I’ll stay there until my departure to Lao, is reassuring and exhilarating. It feels comfortable to know people, knowing the way to anywhere, the shortcuts, the local faces and name, going to the same warungs and bars… A little routine will come along for the next couple of days that will include a lot of partying, dancing, scooters rides, good food, getting to know my friends a little deeper, meeting new awesome people, doing a bit of yoga and opening ourselves and sharing our hearts out to each others.

When Nostalgia hits you in the present

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I woke up too early for breakfast and too late to go back to sleep so I impulsively grab my camera, a jumper and jump on my scooter. I have enough time to see the rice fields one more time before my bus to Canggu depart and I feel I might regret not riding in Ubud one last time before leaving the town.
It’s my last time in Ubud before who knows when… I feel nostalgia already while driving through the little streets and the green landscapes. This morning is my last sunrise completely by myself. Nobody I know is around and I can freely do as I want. I’ll miss this sensation of freedom but I’m ready to meet my friends-familyfromBali and start another type of Journey with Wes in Lao.

This subtle feeling of nostalgia makes me see things more vibrant, more beautiful, more unique and magical. Any goodbye, any realization of a new Era coming up is making you appreciate the World for what it is really: a Miracle. How strange is it to miss this moment of my life while living it…

The last sunrise in Ubud.
Going to the Tegallalan Rice Terrace one last time, before the tourists awaken, before the heat start heating up the asphalt, was a sort of goodbye for me. A closure to one side of me, of an experience and a type of adventure I lived for the last months in South East Asia.

Cinema and Rice Fields

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I just can’t get enough of these green luxurious landscapes. Wes suggests that I grab a breakfast at Sari Cottage. The only way to access this all organic and vegan coffee shop and restaurant is by walk or by scooter. If your heart is well hang in your thoracic cage, you might be able to drive there without having a heart attack. I only half dramatize when I say there is just about enough space to drive on a paved elevated path with one scooter. When the local cross you, you better stop on the side and try to squish between the border of the path and a high fasted paced vehicle coming your way. Of course, if you miss a turn, go too fast or are not careful with all the pot holes, you simply end up in… The water of the rice fields.

It is just the right amount of danger for me and it makes me feel like arriving safe and dry, and grabbing a delicious breakfast in this secluded place is worth the effort. It does feel good to just be, observe and have fruits after an intense drive!

The afternoon, I buy a ticket to see a documentary about Miles Davis in a REAL CINEMA. I always have been a movie fan. When I was young and living in Paris, I used to go to the movies three or four times a week at least. Back then, the unlimited pass for young people was only 20 euros. In between my university lessons, when a promising moving was coming up, or when I was bored, when it was rainy outside or too cold, I was hoping in the first cinema around and spent delightful hours in the dark, living my emotions to the fullest.

After nearly five month of backpacking, Ubud is offering this sweet feeling of being back home for a moment, by opening the doors of a Movie Theater.

Coming out of the theater, the sun already set. Time to grab dinner. I lost myself in the little streets and grab a bite somewhere. The hundred of restaurants along the way look more appetizing than the other and I decide that I would come back one day to try them all.

I come back to my room and enjoy the solitude. The last time I will get lonely this trip? It always sting a little, even knowing it will probably be the last one in a long time. Being a long term backpacker means accepting this dual feeling of loving being alone but also feeling the pain of it.

Gamelan

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I sat down at the first row. I was not the kind of student who used to sit right next to the teacher in class but after all, it’s not everyday that I’ll be able to see a traditional Balinese show. And after the few first notes of the Gamelan resonated in the big room, I knew it was probably be the last time!
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Canggu, don’t let me go

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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

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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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