in indonesia it's already 2010 :) and some part of me is also one year ahead of the other parts of me still in 2009 here in portugal. and i go on island hopping :) i love it! from quiet a island to a messy island to an island that seems to be a still image and not a moving thing at all to a chaotic island to a curious island to an excited island to an island of love to an island of friendship to a sweet island of wisdom :) i love exploring them all. when i feel it's enough i hop on to the next one, looking back at how much i've learned at that island i now see at a distance. on to 2010 now ** it looks like an amazing island!
Thursday, 31 December 2009
happy 2010!
in indonesia it's already 2010 :) and some part of me is also one year ahead of the other parts of me still in 2009 here in portugal. and i go on island hopping :) i love it! from quiet a island to a messy island to an island that seems to be a still image and not a moving thing at all to a chaotic island to a curious island to an excited island to an island of love to an island of friendship to a sweet island of wisdom :) i love exploring them all. when i feel it's enough i hop on to the next one, looking back at how much i've learned at that island i now see at a distance. on to 2010 now ** it looks like an amazing island!
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Monday, 21 December 2009
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Monday, 14 December 2009
open up your heart and read away **
i've recommended the book to many of you by now ;) but here is a reminder! amazing book :) read it when it feels right! (and if you want to read it before the film comes out you need to hurry up! or liz will forever look like julia roberts....)
Sunday, 13 December 2009
m u y h a p p y
this might possibly be the happiest moment of my life :) it's definitely a moment of a new sort of happiness, another stage in the joy of life, a very beautiful wave in my whole ocean, a peaceful yet super exciting new phase of me.
it moves a bit like the easiness one feels with this music. or walking by the beach in rio de janeiro just before the sun sets. and i enjoy this moment with the awareness that i got myself here :) that i am responsible for this happiness :)
i feel really thankful to the planet and the stars and myself and to everyone who has always told me that i had to go on living my life my own way and to continue inventing my path as i move along :) and i'm also thankful to people who told me i should stop doing what i was doing to settle in a more conventional lifestyle - it always makes me see how much i want to go on doing what i've always done. and here i am, soon to be 32 and truly happy with where i choose to be :D
thank you world for being so great!!
it moves a bit like the easiness one feels with this music. or walking by the beach in rio de janeiro just before the sun sets. and i enjoy this moment with the awareness that i got myself here :) that i am responsible for this happiness :)
i feel really thankful to the planet and the stars and myself and to everyone who has always told me that i had to go on living my life my own way and to continue inventing my path as i move along :) and i'm also thankful to people who told me i should stop doing what i was doing to settle in a more conventional lifestyle - it always makes me see how much i want to go on doing what i've always done. and here i am, soon to be 32 and truly happy with where i choose to be :D
thank you world for being so great!!
Friday, 11 December 2009
sweet happiness
i'm so happy today :) i feel in such a flow with intuition and and energy that is connected with everyone and everything :)
not so long ago in indonesia i woke up one day and i felt my lungs were bigger, i felt more space and i could really BREATHE a lot more air in :) it was a really beautiful moment! but now i feel that but much mooooOoore! it's amazing! like if i could breathe the whole ocean in :)
there are some moments in life like this, when one feels exactly on the right path :) when everything seems to have found its way and life feels simply light and easy and sweet and happy :)
even one of my favorite musicians has an album with my name on it. and like a friend told me the other day - 'it's for you! enjoy it' :) the music is wonderful and everyone should enjoy it
not so long ago in indonesia i woke up one day and i felt my lungs were bigger, i felt more space and i could really BREATHE a lot more air in :) it was a really beautiful moment! but now i feel that but much mooooOoore! it's amazing! like if i could breathe the whole ocean in :)
there are some moments in life like this, when one feels exactly on the right path :) when everything seems to have found its way and life feels simply light and easy and sweet and happy :)
even one of my favorite musicians has an album with my name on it. and like a friend told me the other day - 'it's for you! enjoy it' :) the music is wonderful and everyone should enjoy it
Thursday, 10 December 2009
driving in bajawa
one of the best moments in indonesia was riding on a motorbike with david - my friend from sumba & flores who is a philosopher farmer. one day he took me to his orchard and showed me 3 fruits i had never seen before in my life :) i tried them all and them he told me to try the fruit from the cashew tree - not the nut, but the fruit :) and i loved how that new taste fitted my mood. back on the motorbike i asked david to go to the crater of the volcano close to bajawa - he had never seen it! and i told him i like the beatles so the whole way there he sang me good old beatles songs :D
isn't it beautiful how some moments last forever?
isn't it beautiful how some moments last forever?
what is there to know?
indonesia was really great :) its waves are still reaching me. and just the other day i was humming this song in bali. now i hum it in lisbon while bits of indo strongly move all over me.
the bag is still closed
haven't felt like unpacking yet. now i have another bag to unpack, the one i took to the north of portugal last week. so 2 packed bags in my room. and no rush.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
thank you!!
i feel really grateful for my family and friends and for the gods and the spirits and the space and the immensity of things out there that i feel but i can't even name and for all the safety in my trips and for the sun and the rain and the rainbows and the green of palm leaves and the fascinating colors of the indonesian coral and for the awesome people i met on this trip and for the less awesome people too and for the amazing days and for the less amazing days that are still always quite amazing because this whole thing we do is pretty spectacular and for all the great books i read in the last 4 months and for air asia and emirates and easyjet for flying me home safely and for the 'pasteis de nata' here in lisbon :) and for my lisbon tai chi class where i let the balance happen here too. and i thank me too, even though i don't think the balinese can do that ;)
and thank you for your comments and emails and text messages and energy sending across the oceans! you are a huge part of all my trips :) and everything would have been different without you or if you had shared different things with me. that would be another life, another planet, another sky.
terima kasih for everything!
and thank you for your comments and emails and text messages and energy sending across the oceans! you are a huge part of all my trips :) and everything would have been different without you or if you had shared different things with me. that would be another life, another planet, another sky.
terima kasih for everything!
unpack?
time is going quickly. well, time goes by at a slower pace in indonesia. now i feel slower than most people around me here in lisbon. there is so much information around with tvs and traffic and advertisement that just processing it seems to make time pass leaving no time to simply be.
and the rash is still going. it's funny, as parts of me are still in indonesia and parts of me are clearly here in lisbon... every time i scratch my body i feel i'm in bali.
but i'm not, i'm in lisbon. and i haven't felt the urge to unpack yet, fully aware of the immensity of things and feelings and smells and spirits and particles of bali that i carried home with me. also... there is no calendar telling me when to do it! in bali there are auspicious days for everything you do. so which is the auspicious day for unpacking when one comes home from bali?
another thing is shocking me... there is no one thanking anyone here!!?! in bali everyone is at all times thanking their ancestors, the demons, the good spirits, the rain, the sun, the money, the neighbor, the family, the dead, the living, the air, the space, the balance, everything! but here we go on doing our things and don't take the time to thank anyone!
and the rash is still going. it's funny, as parts of me are still in indonesia and parts of me are clearly here in lisbon... every time i scratch my body i feel i'm in bali.
but i'm not, i'm in lisbon. and i haven't felt the urge to unpack yet, fully aware of the immensity of things and feelings and smells and spirits and particles of bali that i carried home with me. also... there is no calendar telling me when to do it! in bali there are auspicious days for everything you do. so which is the auspicious day for unpacking when one comes home from bali?
another thing is shocking me... there is no one thanking anyone here!!?! in bali everyone is at all times thanking their ancestors, the demons, the good spirits, the rain, the sun, the money, the neighbor, the family, the dead, the living, the air, the space, the balance, everything! but here we go on doing our things and don't take the time to thank anyone!
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
being back
it's funny to be back. i'm different and lisbon is different and the world is different. yet it feels like i'm back. somewhere, somehow, in a way. i'm close to my best friend and we're close to my ocean. in "the honorary consul" graham greene says that the friends you share your childhood with, seem to never grow old. and i think it's really beautiful how they keep parts of you that no longer live anywhere else. this usually blows my mind. but now i'm in such a tranquil acceptive mood that i just smile at it and think that of course it is like this, and i think it's lovely :)
meanwhile i got a crazy allergy on my last days in indo. i have a rash all over my body and it itches like crazy. it started on the first day of the reiki course and i actually think it came from all the moving of energy through me. skin is something that always fascinated me (some of you with fabulous skin diseases know how much i admire them!) and i think it's the perfect part of my body to show me how strongly this reiki course affected me. my skin makes the border between me and the world, and other people, and other things. as you know, i often don't feel it there, and merge into the world, or another being or another thing. of course with all the bali healing and all the exchanges of energy and all the demons and the spirits around me in bali... that has clearly been in revision! also... the allergy is making me be all swollen and it makes me look at how much space i take in the world. and at an embryological level, skin comes from the same cells that later create the nervous system - at some point in the beginning of this great adventure they are together :) and that brings me back to a part of me that has been totally shaken up in the last however many months and has been changing and adjusting and exploring and this rash for me shows how things get so much out of balance to find equilibrium again, it shows it visually so that i don't forget that this great feeling i have at the moment is the result of a lot of work, a lot of determination and a great deal of inner strength :) it's not that i just feel like this because i'm having a good day, but i worked hard to get myself here! and that is a different thing entirely :)
meanwhile i got a crazy allergy on my last days in indo. i have a rash all over my body and it itches like crazy. it started on the first day of the reiki course and i actually think it came from all the moving of energy through me. skin is something that always fascinated me (some of you with fabulous skin diseases know how much i admire them!) and i think it's the perfect part of my body to show me how strongly this reiki course affected me. my skin makes the border between me and the world, and other people, and other things. as you know, i often don't feel it there, and merge into the world, or another being or another thing. of course with all the bali healing and all the exchanges of energy and all the demons and the spirits around me in bali... that has clearly been in revision! also... the allergy is making me be all swollen and it makes me look at how much space i take in the world. and at an embryological level, skin comes from the same cells that later create the nervous system - at some point in the beginning of this great adventure they are together :) and that brings me back to a part of me that has been totally shaken up in the last however many months and has been changing and adjusting and exploring and this rash for me shows how things get so much out of balance to find equilibrium again, it shows it visually so that i don't forget that this great feeling i have at the moment is the result of a lot of work, a lot of determination and a great deal of inner strength :) it's not that i just feel like this because i'm having a good day, but i worked hard to get myself here! and that is a different thing entirely :)
back in lisbon everything feels different :)
the trip was perfect!
on the last morning in bali me and constanza from germany sat at the front seat of the bus from ubud to the airport in denpasar. we met there, almost siting on each others laps! and we had so much to talk about! same age and similar moments in life and somehow taking similar bits of ubud's energy with us. it was great to sit there and share what the last months had done to us :) and suddenly we realized we could tell the other things that you don't tell everybody :) and we couldn't care less about the fact that we had 8 other western tourists behind us listening to the whole conversation ;) anyway, i got off at denpasar airport. she went on for the last day in kuta beach with a german friend. we said goodbye with broad smiles, sharing the joy bali puts in you!
at the airport i found out that the fancy european food i had bought at bali budha the day before.... had gone bad!! oh no, i admire bali budha beyond what would be a normal level of admiration!!! mainly because they make the best spelt and walnut pancakes on Earth and they manage to top them up with dark maple syrup from canada all the way in bali!!!!! so i was sad that my last bali budha treat was spoiled! which actually ended up making me feel very determined to go back to bali one day and sit at their tables again :) or order their food at my favorite ubud rice field ;) i love that restaurant!
the flight from denpasar took me to singapore carrying a huge kite i got for my nieces and nephew :) singapore airport was so clean and quiet and organized and everything was shinning and i felt all over my body this strange feeling of having left indonesia! there was an underground now!! an underground!!!!! and i got to the clementi underground station to meet sara :) we chatted from that minute until the minute i left her apartment the next day in the evening and it was clearly not enough because i spent a lot of the time on my next flight thinking like if i was still chatting with her :) anyway, for me singapore is sara :) during these 4 months lots of travelers have raved about the city, recommended the arts museum, a few galleries and other interesting things to do in the city... but for me singapore is sara and her favorite restaurant in little india and the amazing bookshop where i spend my money with the joy to be in a place where books are so well respected!! oh, and singapore is also those amazing desserts :) like the ones you find all over south east asia, but in singapore they are served in really clean places often inside of a mall with air con and the experience is just perfect!
on the flight from singapore to dubai i got to think of all the consumerism i saw in singapore after so many months of being in places where there was nothing to buy. i love the contrasts of traveling :)
i liked the airport in dubai a bit more this time around. i missed canadian jay and somehow bumped into bits of our conversation there 4 months before.
then london!
i arrived in london right on time :) and it was cold! not too cold, just really nice cold that made me put a long sleeve t-shirt on for the first time in too long! that made me happy :)
all the time at gatwick airport i was smiling thinking to myself "i don't have to stay here!! this is NOT home anymore!" and that felt great :) london is so NOT my city! and it's good to know it!
i checked in really early for my last flight and spent many hours at gatwick reading "eat pray love" still feeling ubud all over me.
finally i sat on the easyjet airplane and i really wanted to fly asap as i knew 2 little princesses and a handsome little man were waiting for me in lisbon :) but they couldn't close the luggage door of the airplane!! so we had to change airplanes!! anyway, the new one was better :) and we got here with a 2 hour delay... but we all got here fine :) and i could hug the kids and my parents and my sister and it felt GREAT!
i have never had a trip like this one :) when i feel so happy to be here now and not there! it was the perfect amount of time, the perfect place, i was lucky all along the trip, i don't have any complaints and i still chose to be here now! maybe it was some magical power in indonesia that changed me ;) or maybe it was just me! but traveling inside me as i stepped around indonesia was exactly what i needed at this moment in life :) and i'm very, very happy i did it :)
now i miss the atlantic ocean!! going out to see him and smile at him and enjoy his freshness and his amazing sound xx
to sum it up really shortly, i'll just say i'm HaPPY :)
on the last morning in bali me and constanza from germany sat at the front seat of the bus from ubud to the airport in denpasar. we met there, almost siting on each others laps! and we had so much to talk about! same age and similar moments in life and somehow taking similar bits of ubud's energy with us. it was great to sit there and share what the last months had done to us :) and suddenly we realized we could tell the other things that you don't tell everybody :) and we couldn't care less about the fact that we had 8 other western tourists behind us listening to the whole conversation ;) anyway, i got off at denpasar airport. she went on for the last day in kuta beach with a german friend. we said goodbye with broad smiles, sharing the joy bali puts in you!
at the airport i found out that the fancy european food i had bought at bali budha the day before.... had gone bad!! oh no, i admire bali budha beyond what would be a normal level of admiration!!! mainly because they make the best spelt and walnut pancakes on Earth and they manage to top them up with dark maple syrup from canada all the way in bali!!!!! so i was sad that my last bali budha treat was spoiled! which actually ended up making me feel very determined to go back to bali one day and sit at their tables again :) or order their food at my favorite ubud rice field ;) i love that restaurant!
the flight from denpasar took me to singapore carrying a huge kite i got for my nieces and nephew :) singapore airport was so clean and quiet and organized and everything was shinning and i felt all over my body this strange feeling of having left indonesia! there was an underground now!! an underground!!!!! and i got to the clementi underground station to meet sara :) we chatted from that minute until the minute i left her apartment the next day in the evening and it was clearly not enough because i spent a lot of the time on my next flight thinking like if i was still chatting with her :) anyway, for me singapore is sara :) during these 4 months lots of travelers have raved about the city, recommended the arts museum, a few galleries and other interesting things to do in the city... but for me singapore is sara and her favorite restaurant in little india and the amazing bookshop where i spend my money with the joy to be in a place where books are so well respected!! oh, and singapore is also those amazing desserts :) like the ones you find all over south east asia, but in singapore they are served in really clean places often inside of a mall with air con and the experience is just perfect!
on the flight from singapore to dubai i got to think of all the consumerism i saw in singapore after so many months of being in places where there was nothing to buy. i love the contrasts of traveling :)
i liked the airport in dubai a bit more this time around. i missed canadian jay and somehow bumped into bits of our conversation there 4 months before.
then london!
i arrived in london right on time :) and it was cold! not too cold, just really nice cold that made me put a long sleeve t-shirt on for the first time in too long! that made me happy :)
all the time at gatwick airport i was smiling thinking to myself "i don't have to stay here!! this is NOT home anymore!" and that felt great :) london is so NOT my city! and it's good to know it!
i checked in really early for my last flight and spent many hours at gatwick reading "eat pray love" still feeling ubud all over me.
finally i sat on the easyjet airplane and i really wanted to fly asap as i knew 2 little princesses and a handsome little man were waiting for me in lisbon :) but they couldn't close the luggage door of the airplane!! so we had to change airplanes!! anyway, the new one was better :) and we got here with a 2 hour delay... but we all got here fine :) and i could hug the kids and my parents and my sister and it felt GREAT!
i have never had a trip like this one :) when i feel so happy to be here now and not there! it was the perfect amount of time, the perfect place, i was lucky all along the trip, i don't have any complaints and i still chose to be here now! maybe it was some magical power in indonesia that changed me ;) or maybe it was just me! but traveling inside me as i stepped around indonesia was exactly what i needed at this moment in life :) and i'm very, very happy i did it :)
now i miss the atlantic ocean!! going out to see him and smile at him and enjoy his freshness and his amazing sound xx
to sum it up really shortly, i'll just say i'm HaPPY :)
Friday, 27 November 2009
gratefulness
walking home after i finished my reiki level 1 course i bumped into a really nice irish couple i had first met about 1 month ago in flores. they're traveling for an indefinite amount of time and as they told me about some of the changes they make to their plans for the next months i realized.... i couldn't be less jealous! isn't it funny... me?! not wishing i would be traveling indefinitely??! and realizing this didn't even surprised me :D i feel so happy and serene to be at this moment of my life :) and i think it's excellent when people are doing what they want to be doing! travel when it's time to travel, not traveling when it's not time to travel, and following you intuition at all times :) i couldn't be more at peace with the place where i am moving in now! it's new... it's definitely very new to me! and it didn't come out of the blue - i got me here, there's a lot of work and energy spent on it! and now i am in this totally new and exciting place which is at the same time totally comfortable and it breaths tranquility all over it :) it's a transition point, clearly the closing of a circle, the starting of a new one. and i am here smiling at it as it comes :)
it feels great!
and i'm very grateful i got this rite of passage in ubud :)
it feels great!
and i'm very grateful i got this rite of passage in ubud :)
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
healing
these last ubud days are treating me really well :) i had the best healing session of my life the other day... don't quite have the words to write about it. but believe me, it felt great! and... big! there's a lot of unexplainable things happening in ubud :) and i'm not trying to understand them, i just let them float and touch me and move me and spin me and dance me into the good balance xx it's beautiful here! this is really a special place :) to top it all up today i had a 2h full body massage + facial + special feet reflexology session... with my sweet nyoman mina :) and tomorrow and the next day it's time for reiki! this is the land of the things i can't explain but that i can feel strongly moving me xx and that makes it the place to be for the last days of this trip before i go back to sara's place in singapore (looking forward for that dear sara!)
life is such an amazing adventure :)
life is such an amazing adventure :)
Monday, 23 November 2009
another wonderful ubud day
it's hard to feel anything but happiness in this place :) and also... i'm so happy with this trip and all that it has been moving inside me! and to top it all up... i found a book that really fits the end of this island hopping journey :) i think for me bali sums up a bit of what this trip is all about, the same thing that liz in the book finds here in bali - a new path to inner peace so that one can fully love again :) the last 3 years of my life have been the hardest ones so far, and island hopping inside myself was exactly what i needed to do to find peace and rest and love in tranquility again :) so simply happy here in udub ** next monday i'll be home after 2 lovely days in singapore and a perfect yoga class at the same place i started this trip. things always have a way of getting full circled
Sunday, 22 November 2009
bali bali bali
ubud again and again and again :) it must be quite obvious on my face how much i love this place and already feel so much at home here because lots of people today asked me if i had been here already many times :) i always said "no, it's only the second time" but who knows? maybe i spent other lifetimes here, maybe i traveled here in my dreams, maybe someone who loves me thought of me while in ubud... maybe i have been here many times and just didn't know it :) what i know is that i LOVE this place! the rice fields, the offerings all the time and everywhere, the smiles, the way the houses are built, the importance given to the arrangement of space, the smell, the sounds, the sweetness in the air... it's beautiful!
today i found out my balinese sign - cremation tower. the character of the 'cremation tower' people is intelligent, well-mannered, responsible, likes to give information, brave, happy and extravagant life, open person, hides nothing. i had a longer explanation done by a balinese teenager and it all sounded a lot like me :)
in all of my trips in asia i like to read a book that is kind of a bad book but that feels good to read - a bit like when i read "the diary of bridget jone's" in vietnam or the last adrian mole in india :) so today i bought "eat pray love" and it feels great to read it! lots of people read this book when traveling in indonesia and after hearing so much about it... it's my time to have an opinion on it! julia roberts has been here in ubud to film the american blockbuster version of the book ;) the third part is set in bali - the time to love, of course ;) :) i'm still on page 9, so it's still all in italy - that's when she eats :)
ok, it got quite late and i still want to go get a korean tea that helps rejuvenating during the night!
i'm really happy... just simply happy :) it's no from eating praying or loving in particular ;) or it is, only in the way we do those things everyday. this happiness is kind of a breeze on a south east asian night x
today i found out my balinese sign - cremation tower. the character of the 'cremation tower' people is intelligent, well-mannered, responsible, likes to give information, brave, happy and extravagant life, open person, hides nothing. i had a longer explanation done by a balinese teenager and it all sounded a lot like me :)
in all of my trips in asia i like to read a book that is kind of a bad book but that feels good to read - a bit like when i read "the diary of bridget jone's" in vietnam or the last adrian mole in india :) so today i bought "eat pray love" and it feels great to read it! lots of people read this book when traveling in indonesia and after hearing so much about it... it's my time to have an opinion on it! julia roberts has been here in ubud to film the american blockbuster version of the book ;) the third part is set in bali - the time to love, of course ;) :) i'm still on page 9, so it's still all in italy - that's when she eats :)
ok, it got quite late and i still want to go get a korean tea that helps rejuvenating during the night!
i'm really happy... just simply happy :) it's no from eating praying or loving in particular ;) or it is, only in the way we do those things everyday. this happiness is kind of a breeze on a south east asian night x
Friday, 20 November 2009
back to bali
just quickly to say i'm alive and have a huge smile on my face :D the boat trip was mind blowing!! definitely the best snorkeling of my life!!!!!! sharks and dolphins and eels and snakes and thousands of nemos and clams and trumpet fish and lobsters and lion fish and just so many things!!! the komodo dragond were nice too :) but nothing compared with such amazing underwater life! 12 dolphins at a time :) and 5 at the same time jumping up just in front of our boat :):) pretty awesome! after the boat trip was over me and roel asked if they could take us for another week... but of course that was impossible! but as i liked it so much, i tried to look for the thing that would be the most like that and so i went to gili meno :) the quietest of the 3 gilis. and i loved it!! met the nice italian couple that i had met in kanawa island there - funny, we first met on an isolated island and then we met for the second time on another one ;) had a great time there! swimming with turtles and seeing the underwater xmas trees... i'm overwhelmed by the life of the coral!
now back to bali, for a week of ubud :) i got an amazing room! the place where i stayed last time was full so i went and checked a new place that is still not in the guides and... it's beautiful!! really nice place with a nice family and... i have the first hot shower since august in sumatra!!!!!!! this is only the second hot shower since i left sara's place in singapore! so, 3 hot showers on this 4 month trip!! i'm even a bit scared of going under it, my skin might melt or something! hehe
happy to be back here :)
now back to bali, for a week of ubud :) i got an amazing room! the place where i stayed last time was full so i went and checked a new place that is still not in the guides and... it's beautiful!! really nice place with a nice family and... i have the first hot shower since august in sumatra!!!!!!! this is only the second hot shower since i left sara's place in singapore! so, 3 hot showers on this 4 month trip!! i'm even a bit scared of going under it, my skin might melt or something! hehe
happy to be back here :)
Friday, 13 November 2009
boat life
happy with this life on board :) we have an amazing crew of 5 nice indonesian guys! and it's me and roel from holland. he's really nice and reminds me of piotrek, my first travel mate on this trip. they're about the same age and the way we make jokes and laugh together is similar :) roel has great travel plans and like piotrek he's just starting his traveling life - exciting times! today we head to the island of rinca after some morning snorkeling :) and we'll see the first komodo dragons!!! they eat goats and deer, did you know that?! i can't wait!
just came out of the harbor to do something urgent i had forgotten to do on the internet and to buy mangoes and cashew nuts for the trip. now back to the boat :) heading west!
just came out of the harbor to do something urgent i had forgotten to do on the internet and to buy mangoes and cashew nuts for the trip. now back to the boat :) heading west!
the rainy season
in east timor someone told me that the rain would arrive on the 5th or 6th of november. and so it did! since the 6th it has been raining everyday :) it rains a LOT!!! and it lasts around half an hour each time :) it's great! when it starts the temperature gets much cooler and the smell of the wet soil travels in the air and i'm really enjoying it right now :)
the world is spoiling me
i feel the world is treating me really well with great comfort and happy moments and amazing people and healers and new smells and tastes and fabulous new textures and unknown bits of me and generous clouds that keep me from the heat and everything just feels... great!
when i left for this trip i was curious with how it would feel to travel for a limited amount of time, already knowing that i would be in indonesia for most of that time. on top of that, this is a 4 month trip, making it a much shorter trip than my previous trips. these are all things that are new to me, as i usually have a lot more space to 'go with the flow', and i almost never make big decisions like time and place before leaving home... well, i found that... this is great! it's exactly what i wanted at the moment, and it is really making me discover new things in me :) i'm happy i chose indonesia and i'm very glad this trip is for this amount of time and not for a year or for an indefinite number of months :) i feel i'm somewhere new, in how comfortable i feel with this :) it's a totally different way of making decisions and going about life
and what a trip this has been so far! it started in london some 13 weeks ago :) from where i flew to singapore. then i headed north in malaysia till i reached penang to get the ferry to medan in sumatra. spent 3 weeks in sumatra :) flew from padang to jakarta and spent a week in java - trying to run away from the crowds of people and the noise and pollution! another ferry took me to bali :D and i really loved that special part of the world! got on another boat to lombok to find really beautiful beaches and fantastic people :) and then i took another boat to dry and gorgeous sumbawa, where i took the ferry to sumba after spending 2 great days at the harbour. sumba blew my mind with its traditional lifestyle, gorgeous unspoiled beaches and amazing people! from there i took the loooong ferry ride to west timor, from where i took the speed boat to the small island of rote where i had the most peaceful week of the trip :) then i traveled overland to east timor and onwards to the most eastern bit of the island, tutuala and the beautiful jaco island :) east timor hit some really special part of me that other countries don't usually reach - magical, really! then i backtracked overland to kupang and got on a ferry to flores, where i got on a boat to lembata island and went south to the village of lembata that moves in a rhythm that would better fit another century... so special :) back to flores with another boat and i started the trip overland to the west tip of flores, labuan bajo :) from here i took a tiny boat to the island of kenawa, and i got back here to labuan bajo today in the morning with the same boat :)
now i have 16 days to go on this trip! 4 of them will be spent on a boat traveling west to lombok through rinca and komodo and the red island and moyo and bola and stopping in great snorkeling stops on the way :) this is definitely the most touristy thing i will do on this trip! but actually... it looks like i might have the boat all to myself! or maybe i'll share with only one more person (that's quite something as the boats coming the other way, from lombok, arrive with 20 people at a time...!) we'll see! tonight i'm already sleeping on the boat here at the harbour :) and i can't wait to be woken up by the harbor's noise in the morning while i get used to the deck that will be home for these 5 days ;)
there is little time to go till i'm back in lisboa :) and this feels great! i've saved my last week, week and a bit, to go back to bali and let that amazing island move me again in that sweet and special way that bali has... and i can't wait for that too!
i'm at a really beautiful time of my life :) i feel a happiness that is really full and it's not coming from external things, it's really coming from inside. i feel a bit like when the traditional healers here work on my energy starting at the belly button... it's all coming from the center :) but maybe this happiness is best visualized if you picture one of those hugs that make everything feel well and balanced and peaceful xx and i feel i'm spoiling the world just as much as the world is spoiling me :) and that feeling is sweet and light and special x
so much has happened in this trip so far! most of it is non wordable and that's why it doesn't fit here. but you will know what i mean when we meet :)
when i left for this trip i was curious with how it would feel to travel for a limited amount of time, already knowing that i would be in indonesia for most of that time. on top of that, this is a 4 month trip, making it a much shorter trip than my previous trips. these are all things that are new to me, as i usually have a lot more space to 'go with the flow', and i almost never make big decisions like time and place before leaving home... well, i found that... this is great! it's exactly what i wanted at the moment, and it is really making me discover new things in me :) i'm happy i chose indonesia and i'm very glad this trip is for this amount of time and not for a year or for an indefinite number of months :) i feel i'm somewhere new, in how comfortable i feel with this :) it's a totally different way of making decisions and going about life
and what a trip this has been so far! it started in london some 13 weeks ago :) from where i flew to singapore. then i headed north in malaysia till i reached penang to get the ferry to medan in sumatra. spent 3 weeks in sumatra :) flew from padang to jakarta and spent a week in java - trying to run away from the crowds of people and the noise and pollution! another ferry took me to bali :D and i really loved that special part of the world! got on another boat to lombok to find really beautiful beaches and fantastic people :) and then i took another boat to dry and gorgeous sumbawa, where i took the ferry to sumba after spending 2 great days at the harbour. sumba blew my mind with its traditional lifestyle, gorgeous unspoiled beaches and amazing people! from there i took the loooong ferry ride to west timor, from where i took the speed boat to the small island of rote where i had the most peaceful week of the trip :) then i traveled overland to east timor and onwards to the most eastern bit of the island, tutuala and the beautiful jaco island :) east timor hit some really special part of me that other countries don't usually reach - magical, really! then i backtracked overland to kupang and got on a ferry to flores, where i got on a boat to lembata island and went south to the village of lembata that moves in a rhythm that would better fit another century... so special :) back to flores with another boat and i started the trip overland to the west tip of flores, labuan bajo :) from here i took a tiny boat to the island of kenawa, and i got back here to labuan bajo today in the morning with the same boat :)
now i have 16 days to go on this trip! 4 of them will be spent on a boat traveling west to lombok through rinca and komodo and the red island and moyo and bola and stopping in great snorkeling stops on the way :) this is definitely the most touristy thing i will do on this trip! but actually... it looks like i might have the boat all to myself! or maybe i'll share with only one more person (that's quite something as the boats coming the other way, from lombok, arrive with 20 people at a time...!) we'll see! tonight i'm already sleeping on the boat here at the harbour :) and i can't wait to be woken up by the harbor's noise in the morning while i get used to the deck that will be home for these 5 days ;)
there is little time to go till i'm back in lisboa :) and this feels great! i've saved my last week, week and a bit, to go back to bali and let that amazing island move me again in that sweet and special way that bali has... and i can't wait for that too!
i'm at a really beautiful time of my life :) i feel a happiness that is really full and it's not coming from external things, it's really coming from inside. i feel a bit like when the traditional healers here work on my energy starting at the belly button... it's all coming from the center :) but maybe this happiness is best visualized if you picture one of those hugs that make everything feel well and balanced and peaceful xx and i feel i'm spoiling the world just as much as the world is spoiling me :) and that feeling is sweet and light and special x
so much has happened in this trip so far! most of it is non wordable and that's why it doesn't fit here. but you will know what i mean when we meet :)
Friday, 6 November 2009
kelimutu, flores
i woke up before 4am today! for the first time in 2 months i put on trousers!! and boots & socks! that's because at 4am i got on a motorbike to go up KELIMUTU to see the three volcanic lakes that change colors all the time :) it's really gorgeous up there! the sunrise was perfect! and the lakes were turquoise, dark green and black :) the locals believe the souls of the dead go to those lakes and there is one lake for the souls of the young people, another for the souls of the wicked and one more for the souls of old and wise people :) it's a really peaceful place! and i met 2 nice dutch ladies to chat with over coffee at 5.30am :) we befriended the old man who sold us coffee and later i walked with him to his village and he waved goodbye as i went on walking down to the waterfall on the way back to my bungalow in moni :) lovely walk! and again that amazing feeling when it's 9am and you have already done so many things!! i decided to go and organize a lunch that was not the usual nasi campur and managed to have some creative food!! but then it was time to go, i felt like moving to another town :) an i ended up getting on a motorbike that brought me to ende :) from where i will take a bus to bajawa tomorrow to meet david, one of the most interesting people i have met on this trip so far :) he's a farmer in sumba and an intelectual in flores and he's totally into psychology and philosophy :) he's also going to take me to a special healing man... let's see what happens!
baleo, baleo!
when someone sees a whale in lamalera they scream "bleo, baleo!" and the men get together on a little wooden boat and go off to chase the whale and kill it with a harpoon made of bamboo :) this is the last place on earth where this happens! and the village is truly special! i stayed at mamma maria's house down there and everyday i ate merlin cooked with tomato and whale oil :) yumm! maria is an awesome cook! but the best present she gave me was... a new and healthier way to walk!! when i got to lamalera i had been on the ferry from kupang for 15hours and then on the boat to lewobata for 4hours and then on a motorbike over a really baaaaad road for 2hours... so i told her how everything in my body hurt, and especially the left hip - knee - foot... she said "i will bring the lady who fixes it" and i said "that would be great, bagus bagus!! terima kasih!" i thought i would be getting a massage... so they brought in the teacher from the secondary school in lamalera to help with the english and with him came mamma roberta. she was a big lady who looked really strong, chewed a lot of betel and had a huge chin. mamma maria sent us to my room with a bamboo mat that i laid on the floor and then i waited for instructions :) berta was apparently half masseuse, half witch ;) and she rotated my left femur and the hip bone to a position that is SO MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE from where it has been for the last 2 years!! (terima kasih mamma berta!)
and if you are in this corner of the world go and visit lamalera, it's truly magical!
also... on the ferry back to larantuka when i left lembata island... i met a really nice malaysian who had been spending his holidays there with relatives and he told me how just the day before they had seen a mermaid! i looked surprised and he said "it is not uncommon here"
and if you are in this corner of the world go and visit lamalera, it's truly magical!
also... on the ferry back to larantuka when i left lembata island... i met a really nice malaysian who had been spending his holidays there with relatives and he told me how just the day before they had seen a mermaid! i looked surprised and he said "it is not uncommon here"
Sunday, 1 November 2009
smiling with bruno
yesterday it was 3 years since bruno died x x i didn't cry! i think the 3 years were the time i needed to have b's death unsettle everything inside me, totally change me, and then make all of the moved bits of me land in new places and find the balance in the new me :) i am SO LUCKY i met him! i feel truly special for all we lived and for all we still live! and his death at the top of shisha pangma is one of the things that has thought me the most in life! it's really one of the strongest lessons i've had so far! also sharing 10 years with a friend like him... plays a huge role in who i am today :) so great to have met someone so special in such a huge world! and to let go of him with his death! and to understand so clearly how people go on living in the ones they deeply touch :)
back to the west part of the island
i left dili on a mikrolet that played 'the summer of 69' twice :D and also my favorite indonesian hit song :) so it was the perfect transition! as soon as i crossed the border i was thinking 'now people will start taking me everywhere on their motorbikes again' and as soon as i think that, literally 5 or 6 steps after the border... a motorbike stops "hello miss, you want to go there" "yes, terima kasih" "let's go" and off we went :) then it was 9 hour till kupang and when i switched to my indonesian sim card i had a text welcoming back to the west :) by edwin from the avalon cafe in kupang :) and it just feels GREAT to be back!
today around 4pm i will take a ferry to larantuka in flores and there i'll try to get a connection to lamalera, a village that sounds like the setting of moby dick with its whale hunters and little else than the bars where they hung out...
i love indonesia :) and LOVE island hopping!
(have actually been offered a job running the cafe and the hostel here and organizing cinema night in kupang... and with the job comes also my own stretch of land in a small paradise island!!! and a little boat to take me back and forth!)
today around 4pm i will take a ferry to larantuka in flores and there i'll try to get a connection to lamalera, a village that sounds like the setting of moby dick with its whale hunters and little else than the bars where they hung out...
i love indonesia :) and LOVE island hopping!
(have actually been offered a job running the cafe and the hostel here and organizing cinema night in kupang... and with the job comes also my own stretch of land in a small paradise island!!! and a little boat to take me back and forth!)
Friday, 30 October 2009
back to indo tomorrow
i'll be leaving dili at 7am tomorrow morning on a 12hour bus back to kupang. i miss indonesia and its conforts and the food and the crazzy buses and the sweet people and the smells and even that indonesian hit song that drove me mad after the brainwashing session on the 36hour ferry...
meanwhile, it was really nice to hear you on my east timorese number :D thank you!! and i'll give you my indonesian number - it will be working from around 11am my time tomorrow
+62 812 377 241 34
meanwhile, it was really nice to hear you on my east timorese number :D thank you!! and i'll give you my indonesian number - it will be working from around 11am my time tomorrow
+62 812 377 241 34
a dizer adeus a dili
trying to say goodbye to dili but it's hard... as i walk the city streets lots of memories from the last days in the mountains in baguia keep on crossing my heart. they were preparing for the "dia dos finados", the day of the dead. they spend 3 days with the family to celebrate. they have a lot of pride in their dead here, they represent freedom, they are the independance of the country and it's not rare to see a framed picture of a man who died during the occupation years put in a little altar inside his fmily's house. the pictures are often in front of a revolutionary flag with a picture of che guevara or other freedom icons. in those 3 days whole villages go up to the big cemiteries and dig up the bones of their family members and take them back home. in baguia i stayed with sra adelaide cabral and sr martinho pinto, the best hosts i can think of as i felt straight away like part of the family. really sweet people! and the mountains are lovely up there, in those hard to reach villages where lots of people has been hidden for so many years. they showed me the hiding places of lots of portuguese people who went there in the time of the indonesian invasion. this things are told with an "oh pa" here and there, with the tone of a portuguese revolutionary :) and it all feels so special...
this country filled up my heart in a really special way! i was here long enough to have lots of strong feelings and i left enough things to see and do that i really feel i want to come back :) all and all... a perfect visit to a very very special part of the world!
this is also as east i will get on this trip. from now on i travel west :)
this country filled up my heart in a really special way! i was here long enough to have lots of strong feelings and i left enough things to see and do that i really feel i want to come back :) all and all... a perfect visit to a very very special part of the world!
this is also as east i will get on this trip. from now on i travel west :)
Thursday, 29 October 2009
cold weather?!
i have been in the sun since april and .... it's TOO MUCH!! i miss the cold! i wish for the day when i can have the joy of wearing long sleaves! puting on a jacket :) being warmed up by a blanket around me :):):) can't wait!
oh boy, what a journey!
this has been quite a trip! today when i got back at the dili's backpackers fabrizio said "you look like a kid coming back from the candy shop"... and that is exactly how i feel :) this place is so special! i have that traveling feeling i have only felt in burma and pakistan and now in east timor :D and here there are even more sides to it because of the connections with portugal, of the happiness of the people to speak my language, of how close i can get to people and how at home i feel immediately and the stories i liten to...
now i just came back from a great massage and decided to stay one more day in dili. not ready to leave yet... there is SO much to digest xx
now i just came back from a great massage and decided to stay one more day in dili. not ready to leave yet... there is SO much to digest xx
back in dili
i had one of the most amazing weeks of my life here in east timor :D
am back in dili now and have already been out for indian food (yumm, chapatis!!)and a great pastel de nata & expresso at hotel timor :) the pastel de nata costed 2 USD! totally worth it thought ;) to eat such a divine thing halfway across the world!
am back in dili now and have already been out for indian food (yumm, chapatis!!)and a great pastel de nata & expresso at hotel timor :) the pastel de nata costed 2 USD! totally worth it thought ;) to eat such a divine thing halfway across the world!
Monday, 26 October 2009
from los palos, east in east timor
i am LOOOOOVING this country!!
after i left dili i've been traveling on the back of trucks, inside cramped up minibuses with chickens and kilos of tobacco and old ladies sitting on my lap and kids leaning on my back... also walked with my backpack for many kilmeters, got lifts with a few jeeps and jumped to the back of a pick up truck that brought me to los palos, where i wasn't really going to come to but that was where the ride brought me by sunset and because it was to dark to go on to baguia i decided to stay :) happy i did!
at the guesthouse 27 i met joana, a really nice portuguese girl working at the UN mission who is letting me use the internet illegally at the UN facility ;) this is just after we went to the restaurante roberto carlos where i had caldeirada de peixe!!! the best meal i've had in over a month!! so good :):):):):)
but between dili and los palos there have been quite a few amazing things :D
first i got to baucau. i wasn't too impressed with the place and i wanted to avoid an australian who was almost stalking me... so i walked the 5 kilometers down to wataboo beach and i met senhora teresa who invited me to stay at her house :) and to become colegas (friends). she was the local baker, so we had amazing fresh bread in the morning! and at night we watched awful indonesian soap operas with her kids, and it was wonderful! the next day we went together to the market and i helped her sell the bread for a while (having a foreigner at the local market helps the sales!!).
then i went on to com. got to the junction at desa rasa where i met ngo worker koutiti from uganda :) and after a great chat over coffee on the shade of a beautiful tree we found me a ride - a gentleman who was going to com on official work offered to take me at the back of his motorbike ;) the best way to see the amazing coast! COM WAS GREAT :D i stayed at a lovely guesthouse by the sea where agustina cooked octopus with super mie and rice! across the street lived ricardo lopes with whom i had great conversations while helping him with his english and portuguese :) the com had the sweetest kids i've met in timor leste :):):) they started singing to me "indo eu indo eu para a cidade de viseu"...... this is an old portuguese song thet they sang in a bit of a different version from the one we sing in portugal :D then "o meu chapeu tem tres bicos, tem tres bicos o meu chapeu"...... and many other!!! it was so special!! on my second day in com, xanana gusmao was expected there. but he didn't make it by 7pm or so when it got dark and i went to do some yoga and didn't go to the reception where they had the beautiful girls dancing the beautiful traditional dances.
i got up early the next day to start going to tutuala. walked a gorgeous road for 8kms, got a lift with a truck, walked 5 other ks, another lift, waited at a nice couple's house, got on a bemo and sat on a girl's lap, then walked again and got a truck to the town where xanana gusmao was hidden for a long time during the occupation. then i walked some more under the HOT sun and i got a lift from a fancy and fast pajero!! that's how i reached tutuala beach, in front of jaco island :) i got a bungallow right at the beach and that night at an opening party for the new guesthouse i met xanana gusmao :D he was so nice!! first he offered me cake ;) then a beer :) and then he asked me for a dance! i shook his hand and told him how much i admire him ;) but i didn't dance, i was to shy to dance the tete in front of a hundred east timorese ;) that night i also met major neves, an amazing man who joined the guerrilha when he was 7 and at 44 is still with the timorese army.. he has 22 or 23 bullets in his body and a sweet smile, the kind of smile that i've hardly ever came across. loved meeting him and chatting way into the night.
stayed one more day in tutuala and got a ride at the back of a pick up truck to go all the way to los palos :) los palos looks like a town south of the mexican border... just like its name ;) and for me it offered the chance to enter the world of the UN in east timor and to hear first hand comments from people who are part of this mission that is, like they say, "just like being at summer camp"...
after i left dili i've been traveling on the back of trucks, inside cramped up minibuses with chickens and kilos of tobacco and old ladies sitting on my lap and kids leaning on my back... also walked with my backpack for many kilmeters, got lifts with a few jeeps and jumped to the back of a pick up truck that brought me to los palos, where i wasn't really going to come to but that was where the ride brought me by sunset and because it was to dark to go on to baguia i decided to stay :) happy i did!
at the guesthouse 27 i met joana, a really nice portuguese girl working at the UN mission who is letting me use the internet illegally at the UN facility ;) this is just after we went to the restaurante roberto carlos where i had caldeirada de peixe!!! the best meal i've had in over a month!! so good :):):):):)
but between dili and los palos there have been quite a few amazing things :D
first i got to baucau. i wasn't too impressed with the place and i wanted to avoid an australian who was almost stalking me... so i walked the 5 kilometers down to wataboo beach and i met senhora teresa who invited me to stay at her house :) and to become colegas (friends). she was the local baker, so we had amazing fresh bread in the morning! and at night we watched awful indonesian soap operas with her kids, and it was wonderful! the next day we went together to the market and i helped her sell the bread for a while (having a foreigner at the local market helps the sales!!).
then i went on to com. got to the junction at desa rasa where i met ngo worker koutiti from uganda :) and after a great chat over coffee on the shade of a beautiful tree we found me a ride - a gentleman who was going to com on official work offered to take me at the back of his motorbike ;) the best way to see the amazing coast! COM WAS GREAT :D i stayed at a lovely guesthouse by the sea where agustina cooked octopus with super mie and rice! across the street lived ricardo lopes with whom i had great conversations while helping him with his english and portuguese :) the com had the sweetest kids i've met in timor leste :):):) they started singing to me "indo eu indo eu para a cidade de viseu"...... this is an old portuguese song thet they sang in a bit of a different version from the one we sing in portugal :D then "o meu chapeu tem tres bicos, tem tres bicos o meu chapeu"...... and many other!!! it was so special!! on my second day in com, xanana gusmao was expected there. but he didn't make it by 7pm or so when it got dark and i went to do some yoga and didn't go to the reception where they had the beautiful girls dancing the beautiful traditional dances.
i got up early the next day to start going to tutuala. walked a gorgeous road for 8kms, got a lift with a truck, walked 5 other ks, another lift, waited at a nice couple's house, got on a bemo and sat on a girl's lap, then walked again and got a truck to the town where xanana gusmao was hidden for a long time during the occupation. then i walked some more under the HOT sun and i got a lift from a fancy and fast pajero!! that's how i reached tutuala beach, in front of jaco island :) i got a bungallow right at the beach and that night at an opening party for the new guesthouse i met xanana gusmao :D he was so nice!! first he offered me cake ;) then a beer :) and then he asked me for a dance! i shook his hand and told him how much i admire him ;) but i didn't dance, i was to shy to dance the tete in front of a hundred east timorese ;) that night i also met major neves, an amazing man who joined the guerrilha when he was 7 and at 44 is still with the timorese army.. he has 22 or 23 bullets in his body and a sweet smile, the kind of smile that i've hardly ever came across. loved meeting him and chatting way into the night.
stayed one more day in tutuala and got a ride at the back of a pick up truck to go all the way to los palos :) los palos looks like a town south of the mexican border... just like its name ;) and for me it offered the chance to enter the world of the UN in east timor and to hear first hand comments from people who are part of this mission that is, like they say, "just like being at summer camp"...
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
bom dia
walking the streets of dili around 7am is a delight :) some people are sweeping the floor of their homes, others walking to work and to whatever mission they have for the day. and everyone goes 'bom dia' or 'bom dia sinhora' :) and it makes me smile away
i'm headed to the santa cruz cemitery today and then to the new CHEGA! museum. i was 13 when the santa cruz massacre happened and it was the first thing that i remember really shocking me, making me think "what kind of world is this?" and realizing the life i was living in cascais was a small part of the whole thing... i clearly remember walking out of school one day and crossing the street to go to my bus stop and those images on TV where on my mind... and i couldn't really make sense of them...
off to the place where that happened .. .
i'm headed to the santa cruz cemitery today and then to the new CHEGA! museum. i was 13 when the santa cruz massacre happened and it was the first thing that i remember really shocking me, making me think "what kind of world is this?" and realizing the life i was living in cascais was a small part of the whole thing... i clearly remember walking out of school one day and crossing the street to go to my bus stop and those images on TV where on my mind... and i couldn't really make sense of them...
off to the place where that happened .. .
Monday, 19 October 2009
loving dili :D
what an amazing place! i have dorm bed on the first air-con room on this trip :) and there are some amazing people staying at the dili backpackers! there's also a shower there!! i hadn't seen one since the one and only since i started traveling - at lake toba in sumatra quite a while back now! but the shower is not what's making me the happiest... because the happiness i get from it is nothing compared with the jumping up and down today in the morning when i had pasteis de nata (portuguese custard tart!!) and a bica (expresso) down at hotel timor!! the menu also shows bacalhau com natas, arroz de marisco and other of my favourite meals :) and there is arroz doce for dessert!! yumm, what a paradise after 2 months of nasi campur and mie goreng!!!!!!
the people here are really nice :D and they are really fond of portugal! lots of people walk around with t-shirts of the portuguese team, cristiano ronaldo is a god, buses and trucks have the portuguese flag and stickers saying things like "love of portugal", "portugal in the heart" and such :) and they open up a broad smile when they hear i come from portugal! lots of people speak portuguese :) but tetun and bahasa indonesia are the most spoken languages. the portuguese in dili is simple and has a softer accent, some sort of lighter version of our sometimes harsh portuguese from portugal. everyone calls me "menina" :)
i got to the border of indonesia with east timor on a packed mikrolet (sort of minibus) with a cool driver who at some point screamed at me saying "hey rita, this is for you!", and he played a tape with bryan adam's hits!!! so i made it to east timor singing 'the summer of 69'!!!!! hahaha
today i got all i need to get a new visa for indonesia - quite a bothersome process actually! - which i should get sorted tomorrow. and i'm not sure if i'll leave dili right after that or if i'll stay around for another day... i hadn't been in a city for a long time and it's fun! there are traffic lights here!! hadn't seen those since i left singapore :)
as i head out of dili there won't be internet so i'll have to tell you all about this country on my way back xx can't wait to go explore it!!
the people here are really nice :D and they are really fond of portugal! lots of people walk around with t-shirts of the portuguese team, cristiano ronaldo is a god, buses and trucks have the portuguese flag and stickers saying things like "love of portugal", "portugal in the heart" and such :) and they open up a broad smile when they hear i come from portugal! lots of people speak portuguese :) but tetun and bahasa indonesia are the most spoken languages. the portuguese in dili is simple and has a softer accent, some sort of lighter version of our sometimes harsh portuguese from portugal. everyone calls me "menina" :)
i got to the border of indonesia with east timor on a packed mikrolet (sort of minibus) with a cool driver who at some point screamed at me saying "hey rita, this is for you!", and he played a tape with bryan adam's hits!!! so i made it to east timor singing 'the summer of 69'!!!!! hahaha
today i got all i need to get a new visa for indonesia - quite a bothersome process actually! - which i should get sorted tomorrow. and i'm not sure if i'll leave dili right after that or if i'll stay around for another day... i hadn't been in a city for a long time and it's fun! there are traffic lights here!! hadn't seen those since i left singapore :)
as i head out of dili there won't be internet so i'll have to tell you all about this country on my way back xx can't wait to go explore it!!
Saturday, 17 October 2009
proud tan
meanwhile, after being under the scorching indonesian sun for more than 2 months... i got the best sun tan of my life :) even better than when i traveled in vietnam while being photosensitive because of malaria pills! the proof is that yesterday morning while ernest took me on his motorbike yesterday and we went through a village in rote, a lady asked him (while looking at me funny) "where is the boleh - foreigner) from? she is boleh but she is darker, like us..." and i was so proud :D i'm brown! and with all this sun around it was hard to process the info we all got the other day at nemberala - in about 2 months it's xmas!! christmas with a nice tan it will be ;)
kefamenanu
i made it to kefa! it was dark already when i got here so i couldn't really see much, but it looks like a strange place. i got a cheap room at a not all that clean place run by a group of young musicians ;) went out for bakar ikan - grilled fish :) yummy! and met a ducth lady and a japanese man who work at an ngo here fighting leprosy. interesting! they think i'll cross the border and find a job in east timor :) after that one of the guys from my hotel took me on a motorbike tour of kefa... in the dark! so he pointed at places saying where the hospital is, the church, the mosque, the post office, the regent's office and the school... and to me they were all the same, just a dark spot along the road :) after a while he concluded it would be better to do that tomorrow with light ;) and i found this internet place where i get to sit on the floor while typing - i missed old good indonesia after being in safe and clean nemberala for a week!
and from here it's a 6 hour trip o dili!
i'm almost there.... quase quase!! i'm tempted to go tomorrow... will see how it feels in the morning :)
and from here it's a 6 hour trip o dili!
i'm almost there.... quase quase!! i'm tempted to go tomorrow... will see how it feels in the morning :)
Friday, 16 October 2009
another great book
at the surf camp in nemberala i found a book called 'tuesdays with morrie'. well, the book found me ;) and it brilliantly summed up a lot of what i've learned in the last 3 years! it was great to read things that i feel inside explained in such a clear and simple way :) the book is the result of the conversations of an old student with his university professor when this finds out he has a terminal disease. beautiful! and i recommend it to anyone :)
rote island
i just came back from 6 days in the beautiful island called rote :) have a look at the location of this place on googlemaps... it's so perfect! as south as it gets in indo :) i stayed at the surfer's paradise there, nemberala :D really easy life with a great room, all the meals cooked for us, everyone eating together, good coffee and tea whenever we wanted and coconuts aglore! have been amongst the usual surfing crowd of hawaians, australians, south africans and europeans with high expetations ;) the surf there is GORGEOUS!! and i had a totally relaxing week :) perfect after the loooooooooong ferry trip from sumba that took almost 2 days where i saw a rat going over the head of a lady sleeping next to me!
this part of the world is amazing :)
tomorrow at noon i'll be heading east, getting closer to dili where i have to be on the 19th because that's when my indonesia 60 day visa runs out.
happy in the tropical sun :)
this part of the world is amazing :)
tomorrow at noon i'll be heading east, getting closer to dili where i have to be on the 19th because that's when my indonesia 60 day visa runs out.
happy in the tropical sun :)
Friday, 9 October 2009
martabak
this is a delicious fried thing that you can usually find on food stalls that show up out of nowhere when it gets dark. and it's delicious!! it's made of a thin dough that is deep fried and takes egg, spices and green onion inside. the whole thing is skillfuly clossed and deep fried for a bit longer on both sides. the result is super yummy and super oily - so it's not something you can have all the time ;) but whenever you do have it... it's worth it!
books
meanwhile i finished reading "l'etranger" in french :D and loved it!! somehow the 4 books i ended up reading on the first half of my trip make a lot of sense together, and at this particular time, while traveling, now. before this book i had read "the blindfold" by siri hustvedt and she did it again... the woman touches me in a really strong way! i love her writing :) reading good books is so amazing!! when you close it after the last page and you look around and the world has changed, you have changed, everything is different and you look back at the pages and wonder... it's words, letter by letter.. and they gain such life, such power, they act so trongly and so sharply and all of the sudden nothing is the same anymore xx
3 hours away from the ferry to timor :)
in one hour i will be taking a motorbike to the harbour in waingapu to get my ticket and hopp on the ferry to kupang. it goes via flores, so the route is waingapu - ende - kupang, and it should take a day and a half :) so i'll be in west timor on sunday!
i might go to the little island called rote just southwest of kupang because it looks so peaceful :) and then i'll start going east to timor leste until i hit dili xx i'm so curious with that part of the world!!
the trip by ferry will be an adventure itself, as they always are :) there is a communal area where entire families and everyone else sits down with all their luggage and also with chicken, goats, cabbages, tabacco and anything else you can think of. that is also where everyone sleeps, on the same ground :) and you have breakfast, lunch and dinner on the same spot. it's quite an event! and i can't wait to board it!
i might go to the little island called rote just southwest of kupang because it looks so peaceful :) and then i'll start going east to timor leste until i hit dili xx i'm so curious with that part of the world!!
the trip by ferry will be an adventure itself, as they always are :) there is a communal area where entire families and everyone else sits down with all their luggage and also with chicken, goats, cabbages, tabacco and anything else you can think of. that is also where everyone sleeps, on the same ground :) and you have breakfast, lunch and dinner on the same spot. it's quite an event! and i can't wait to board it!
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
the food
it's time to reflect on food ;) makan, in indonesian :)
indonesian makan is really good!! but very very repetitive! in parts of the country it's fried rice for breakfast lunch and dinner, sometimes without anything but fried onion and chillis added to it! if you're lucky you might get a variation... fried noodles!
then if you are super lucky you get nasi campur. and nasi campur is usually a delight :) it's a plate of rice to which you add a bit of everything - the restaurants or food stals have a variety of bowls with vegetables, fried fish, fried and boiled eggs, tofu, tempe, meat, and always some sort of soup. you point at the ones you like and then enjoy the yummy meal :) in some parts of indonesia this can be really great!! in the poorer areas it's often just rice, a green vegetable and 2 fried eggs. the best nasi campur is in bali where you sometimes have 20 different bowls to choose from :) and you always get toasted peanuts on top :) and prawn chips :)
in sumatra, java and bali the food is really great and there is MUCH more choice! lots of vegetarian options and really different tastes :) in lombok in the touristy places the food was excellent and in the non touristy countryside it was the basic fried fare and somehow close to tetebatu a family managed to feed me 11 eggs in one day!!! (at some point of my life i didn't eat eggs remember?! so that was quite something!)
anyway, everywhere around here it's the kingdom of carbs!! as in the last 3 years i have not been eating much carbs at all... i see this as a way to even things out and find the balance for carbs! i know a certain chinese medicine doctor who'll be very happy to know i'm eating rice and noodles every day now :)
so far, ubud in bali is the place where you can find anything around here - from carrot cake with sugar topping to great sashimi and morning croissants and korean energy juices and spirulina cakes and lasagna and skippy peanut butter and illy coffee and great apple pie... and i have to say i miss it! i have been craving a sandwich for about a month now!! i dream of bread... dark rye bread... and if while in sumatra, java and bali i couldn't face the sight of another pancake... now that i've been in 2 islands where they don't know what pancakes are... i crave them! and somehow i even miss those displays of chocolate bars in british shops... hmm, would love a sneakers bar right now :) i haven't seen one in the whole trip!
i'm actually quite hungry at the moment so i'll stop writing about food and go eat some ;) :) padang makansar it will be!
indonesian makan is really good!! but very very repetitive! in parts of the country it's fried rice for breakfast lunch and dinner, sometimes without anything but fried onion and chillis added to it! if you're lucky you might get a variation... fried noodles!
then if you are super lucky you get nasi campur. and nasi campur is usually a delight :) it's a plate of rice to which you add a bit of everything - the restaurants or food stals have a variety of bowls with vegetables, fried fish, fried and boiled eggs, tofu, tempe, meat, and always some sort of soup. you point at the ones you like and then enjoy the yummy meal :) in some parts of indonesia this can be really great!! in the poorer areas it's often just rice, a green vegetable and 2 fried eggs. the best nasi campur is in bali where you sometimes have 20 different bowls to choose from :) and you always get toasted peanuts on top :) and prawn chips :)
in sumatra, java and bali the food is really great and there is MUCH more choice! lots of vegetarian options and really different tastes :) in lombok in the touristy places the food was excellent and in the non touristy countryside it was the basic fried fare and somehow close to tetebatu a family managed to feed me 11 eggs in one day!!! (at some point of my life i didn't eat eggs remember?! so that was quite something!)
anyway, everywhere around here it's the kingdom of carbs!! as in the last 3 years i have not been eating much carbs at all... i see this as a way to even things out and find the balance for carbs! i know a certain chinese medicine doctor who'll be very happy to know i'm eating rice and noodles every day now :)
so far, ubud in bali is the place where you can find anything around here - from carrot cake with sugar topping to great sashimi and morning croissants and korean energy juices and spirulina cakes and lasagna and skippy peanut butter and illy coffee and great apple pie... and i have to say i miss it! i have been craving a sandwich for about a month now!! i dream of bread... dark rye bread... and if while in sumatra, java and bali i couldn't face the sight of another pancake... now that i've been in 2 islands where they don't know what pancakes are... i crave them! and somehow i even miss those displays of chocolate bars in british shops... hmm, would love a sneakers bar right now :) i haven't seen one in the whole trip!
i'm actually quite hungry at the moment so i'll stop writing about food and go eat some ;) :) padang makansar it will be!
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
midpoint
i just came back from rua :) amaziiing place! when i left the internet place last time i walked to the bus terminal to look for the bemo to rua and suddenly i heard 'Rita!' i turned around and the guy from the internet place was driving a car and told me he would drive me there as he likes to travel. ok then, i told amjad, and off we went :)
on the way there there were a few ladies in the jungle wearing nothing but their sarongs and holding babies on their topless chests. the road to rua is gorgeous, passing through many little villages and offering glimpses of some of the tribes that live around here.
when we got to rua and after amjad had bought me water and cookies and coca-cola (which i later gave to some kids as i really don't like it)... i found out that all the info on the lonely planet was outdated (nothing so new in remote areas in this part of the world...). so there was no homestay there. and actually... it made me happy :) it meant i'd be looking for another family to stay with :) i found one with 8 kids that wouldn't leave my room and we went through the whole indonesian-english dictionary ;)
the beach in rua was perfect! and south of there there is nothing :D sumba is so dramatic!! it took 1h15min to walk the whole stretch of sand and today as i walked it in the morning i met a father and a son both wearing their huge tribal knifes around their wastes. after using all my bahasa indonesia with them and running out of things to say, i tried to sit down and write my journal. they got closer to me and stared and stared and went on talking in indonesian. we sat there for about 20min and i think we talked about an amaerican called lucy who once visited rua :) soon after that as i walked in the direction of the harbour a group of 5 fishermen offered me 2 fishes they had just grilled on a fire made with coconut wood. that was lunch :)
suddenly i felt the urge to get back to waikabubak xx got an ojek to the junction and got a truck to drive me back here where i met amjad for dinner :)
today is the midpoint of my trip. 55 days have passed :) and there are 55 days to go!
on the way there there were a few ladies in the jungle wearing nothing but their sarongs and holding babies on their topless chests. the road to rua is gorgeous, passing through many little villages and offering glimpses of some of the tribes that live around here.
when we got to rua and after amjad had bought me water and cookies and coca-cola (which i later gave to some kids as i really don't like it)... i found out that all the info on the lonely planet was outdated (nothing so new in remote areas in this part of the world...). so there was no homestay there. and actually... it made me happy :) it meant i'd be looking for another family to stay with :) i found one with 8 kids that wouldn't leave my room and we went through the whole indonesian-english dictionary ;)
the beach in rua was perfect! and south of there there is nothing :D sumba is so dramatic!! it took 1h15min to walk the whole stretch of sand and today as i walked it in the morning i met a father and a son both wearing their huge tribal knifes around their wastes. after using all my bahasa indonesia with them and running out of things to say, i tried to sit down and write my journal. they got closer to me and stared and stared and went on talking in indonesian. we sat there for about 20min and i think we talked about an amaerican called lucy who once visited rua :) soon after that as i walked in the direction of the harbour a group of 5 fishermen offered me 2 fishes they had just grilled on a fire made with coconut wood. that was lunch :)
suddenly i felt the urge to get back to waikabubak xx got an ojek to the junction and got a truck to drive me back here where i met amjad for dinner :)
today is the midpoint of my trip. 55 days have passed :) and there are 55 days to go!
Monday, 5 October 2009
sumba
this island is amazing :D again, no tourists! and a coastline that is totally breathtaking!
on the boat to waikelo i had the company of 2 very nice men - an old man traveling with his nephew who was coming to sumba for the first time. when we arrived to waikelo we had coffee together and then each of us got an ojek (motorbike taxi) to waitabula. they paid for mine and helped me get a bus to pero, the westernmost point of sumba.
i got to pero and looked for the only official place to stay. the rooms were beautiful but the girl who worked there was not nice... and she wanted 150.000 rupiahs for the room, breakfast, lunch and dinner. i thought that of course i could afford the 10 euros... but it didn't feel nice and it didn't make sense that i would come to a village that feels like the end of the world and pay more then the double of the most expensive room of this trip do far... so i left. i knew there was no other guesthouse... but there's always a nice family ;) so i used my indonesian and told a nice man "saya perlu murah kamar" - i'm looking for a cheap room :) and that took me to a family house with a big courtyard and suddenly i had a cute baby on my arms and a little girl playing with my hair :) they didn't want me to stay because they thought their toilet wasn't good enough for me (i tried to say that was not a problem!) they insisted i'd stay with their cousin who soon arrived and we got on his motorbike to go to his house :) lovely place with mango trees and a monkey as a pet - kiki who was incredibly jealous of me...
the same day after a great shower and amazing fried noodles he took me to the 3 villages that make up the kodi district. on the first one i was invited by the chief of the village to go and live there and not go back to portugal as i should stay and live there. he said he'd offer me animals. i passed and we went on to the next village after watching the ocean for a while.
on the second village, my host's village, we took part in a celebration. someone had died so they were slaughtering one pig and one water buffalo on that person's honor. i had a rush of emotions going through me with the passing of the last minutes before they started to kill the animals. for the pig they got a big spear and they hit him a few times until the animal was contorting with pain and finally fell on the ground and went from very quiet moments to having crazy spasms and then quiet again and lots of blood coming out of his mouth... and making a strange noise. while this happened, just next to it they killed the buffalo. they used a big knife. a strong man went close to the animal and hit him on his big neck. blood came out. the animal shake his big face. the man went to the other side and hit him there twice. blood came out from the sides. the man hit him 5 or 6 more times. lots of blood came out. the animal fell down. and got up again. there was more blood. and the man hit him twice more. blood was coming out of the neck with bubbles, pouring out. the animal fell without any control of his legs making lots of noise. blood and more blood came out and it made a huge puddle of blood. the animal had big and strong spasms at the same time that the pig was moving and getting quiet and making noises. and they lay there dying. i was surrounded by about 30 children. i was greeted by the old people of the village. they were now waiting for the animals to die and each would take a piece of meat home to eat. we left. i sat in the motorbike thinking. mixed feelings. i closed my eyes and felt the curves and the bumps and the sun and the shadow and the air, the smell of papaya tress and coconut trees and a dragonfly hit me. and i felt the place where i am, so close to timor :)
we went on to the last village. i signed the visitors book, made a donation and we went on. this village had a group of people gambling. they were gambling quite a lot of money on a strange game with special dice being thrown by a young kid who was gathering up all the rupiahs that people lost... i had so many young kids around me there... something like what happens if you arrive alone to a little village in tibet :) we went on exploring a more quiet side of the village and we met a convoy of 5 men and 3 children taking a very fat pig and two water buffaloes across a stretch of water to get to another side of the village and offer the animals to the girl that one of their friends fancies :) the pig was lazy and wanted to rest after every 10 steps... so this took forever... we spent about 1 hour with them, the kids playing in the water, the buffaloes bathing, the adults talking under the HOT sun and the pig running back to rest under a shadow. the family of the girls wants 15 animals so it will take a while until the boy can get the girl - these were the first 3. the brother of the guy who offered the animals took my hand and he wouldn't let go. i needed help to get free from it. and we went on. back to the motorbike and on to visit a friend. lovely family.
so much had happened in a day. i went to the beach to watch the sunset. kilometers and kilometers of some of the most beautiful coastline i've ever seen. i hit my left big toe on some dry reef. a chunk of meat got separate from the rest of the toe and lots of blood came out. i went on walking and the blood made the sand light red. i washed it in the ocean and sat there looking at the waves and to the horizon behind the waves. there's no land after pero until you reach africa. the north of madagaskar or tanzania xx
now i'm in waikabubak just for the ATM, the post office and the internet. on my way to rua, on the southern coast of sumba :)
soon i'll be taking the ferry to timor!
on the boat to waikelo i had the company of 2 very nice men - an old man traveling with his nephew who was coming to sumba for the first time. when we arrived to waikelo we had coffee together and then each of us got an ojek (motorbike taxi) to waitabula. they paid for mine and helped me get a bus to pero, the westernmost point of sumba.
i got to pero and looked for the only official place to stay. the rooms were beautiful but the girl who worked there was not nice... and she wanted 150.000 rupiahs for the room, breakfast, lunch and dinner. i thought that of course i could afford the 10 euros... but it didn't feel nice and it didn't make sense that i would come to a village that feels like the end of the world and pay more then the double of the most expensive room of this trip do far... so i left. i knew there was no other guesthouse... but there's always a nice family ;) so i used my indonesian and told a nice man "saya perlu murah kamar" - i'm looking for a cheap room :) and that took me to a family house with a big courtyard and suddenly i had a cute baby on my arms and a little girl playing with my hair :) they didn't want me to stay because they thought their toilet wasn't good enough for me (i tried to say that was not a problem!) they insisted i'd stay with their cousin who soon arrived and we got on his motorbike to go to his house :) lovely place with mango trees and a monkey as a pet - kiki who was incredibly jealous of me...
the same day after a great shower and amazing fried noodles he took me to the 3 villages that make up the kodi district. on the first one i was invited by the chief of the village to go and live there and not go back to portugal as i should stay and live there. he said he'd offer me animals. i passed and we went on to the next village after watching the ocean for a while.
on the second village, my host's village, we took part in a celebration. someone had died so they were slaughtering one pig and one water buffalo on that person's honor. i had a rush of emotions going through me with the passing of the last minutes before they started to kill the animals. for the pig they got a big spear and they hit him a few times until the animal was contorting with pain and finally fell on the ground and went from very quiet moments to having crazy spasms and then quiet again and lots of blood coming out of his mouth... and making a strange noise. while this happened, just next to it they killed the buffalo. they used a big knife. a strong man went close to the animal and hit him on his big neck. blood came out. the animal shake his big face. the man went to the other side and hit him there twice. blood came out from the sides. the man hit him 5 or 6 more times. lots of blood came out. the animal fell down. and got up again. there was more blood. and the man hit him twice more. blood was coming out of the neck with bubbles, pouring out. the animal fell without any control of his legs making lots of noise. blood and more blood came out and it made a huge puddle of blood. the animal had big and strong spasms at the same time that the pig was moving and getting quiet and making noises. and they lay there dying. i was surrounded by about 30 children. i was greeted by the old people of the village. they were now waiting for the animals to die and each would take a piece of meat home to eat. we left. i sat in the motorbike thinking. mixed feelings. i closed my eyes and felt the curves and the bumps and the sun and the shadow and the air, the smell of papaya tress and coconut trees and a dragonfly hit me. and i felt the place where i am, so close to timor :)
we went on to the last village. i signed the visitors book, made a donation and we went on. this village had a group of people gambling. they were gambling quite a lot of money on a strange game with special dice being thrown by a young kid who was gathering up all the rupiahs that people lost... i had so many young kids around me there... something like what happens if you arrive alone to a little village in tibet :) we went on exploring a more quiet side of the village and we met a convoy of 5 men and 3 children taking a very fat pig and two water buffaloes across a stretch of water to get to another side of the village and offer the animals to the girl that one of their friends fancies :) the pig was lazy and wanted to rest after every 10 steps... so this took forever... we spent about 1 hour with them, the kids playing in the water, the buffaloes bathing, the adults talking under the HOT sun and the pig running back to rest under a shadow. the family of the girls wants 15 animals so it will take a while until the boy can get the girl - these were the first 3. the brother of the guy who offered the animals took my hand and he wouldn't let go. i needed help to get free from it. and we went on. back to the motorbike and on to visit a friend. lovely family.
so much had happened in a day. i went to the beach to watch the sunset. kilometers and kilometers of some of the most beautiful coastline i've ever seen. i hit my left big toe on some dry reef. a chunk of meat got separate from the rest of the toe and lots of blood came out. i went on walking and the blood made the sand light red. i washed it in the ocean and sat there looking at the waves and to the horizon behind the waves. there's no land after pero until you reach africa. the north of madagaskar or tanzania xx
now i'm in waikabubak just for the ATM, the post office and the internet. on my way to rua, on the southern coast of sumba :)
soon i'll be taking the ferry to timor!
thanks :)
just a quick message to thank you for worrying and sending me your positive energy by phone, email, smoke signs and those invisible waves of friendship and love :) you're the best! and with you all around the world caring, how can anything bad happen?!
sumbawa & the earthquake in sumatra
i was at the bus station in bima, sumbawa, sleeping on a stopped bus around midnight when i heard about the earthquake through my sister in the algarve! that day i had left lombok in the early morning and when i arrived in sumbawa i got on a bus decided to cross the island and get on a boat to sumba because they only go twice a week and i didn't want to get stuck in hot and dry sumbawa. my bus only went as far as bima and it was run by a really nice group of guys :) one old man and 2 teenagers - all of the fans of Figo ;) the old man told me to sleep on his bus until we'd leave for sape at 4am. it sounded crazy to me... but i did as he said. was setting the alarm clock on my phone when i heard it ringing (wow, hadn't heard that sound for ages!!). it was catarina with news from sumatra. i was fine, as sumbawa is really far from sumatra. but i'm really worried with many of the people i met in that beautiful island! funnily enough... if i had gone to mentawai where i wanted to meet the tribe and make the mythical tattoo... i would have been right at the center of the big mess xx news of the earthquake only reached sumbawa the next day and people were devastated... the only thing that made people smile was the relief of not having a tsunami following the earthquake. then things slowly got back to normal.. as they're so used to the earth shaking around here. i was a bit worried with taking the overnight boat and n was great in finding out the last updates for the tsunami report and all that by sms (obrigada n!) but it turned out the boat would only leave the following day at 10pm. so i was stuck in sape, sumbawa for a whole day and 20 hours! and it turned out to be GREAT :)
sape is a super dry and desolate harbour city without any tourists or tourist sights and it's filled with nice people with great smiles who are happy to just chat with you and talk about the world in general, politics and love and education and the riches of each country and religion and the weather and football and music and anything else :) i enjoyed the time in sape :) and then got on the night boat to sumba xx
sape is a super dry and desolate harbour city without any tourists or tourist sights and it's filled with nice people with great smiles who are happy to just chat with you and talk about the world in general, politics and love and education and the riches of each country and religion and the weather and football and music and anything else :) i enjoyed the time in sape :) and then got on the night boat to sumba xx
Monday, 28 September 2009
lombok
lombok is paradise on earth :D
just came back from kuta (look it up - kuta, lombok - NOT kuta, bali!) it's such a GREAT GREAT place! it was very hard to leave... but i'm trying to get to sumba which is not so easy... i almost hopped on the big ship going there the other day... but then i didn't so i could go to kuta beach :) totally worth it! a village full of very nice people! amazing waves - sadly many of them are not being surfed... while the dirty waves in kuta, bali are always overcrowded!
i feel i got a new family in kuta lombok :) and i can't wait to go back! i negotiated 5 ares of land already :) and found a great cook that would work for me :) and i can easily imagine a happy simple life in front of that dramatic landscape listening to the loud LOUD waves :) i've also been invited to work at the university of Mataram :) and i met the perfect surf instructor :) and it feels like part of me is staying in kuta beach, in a dimension where i live that perfect sweet and quiet life by the beautiful ocean, eating ripe fruit and just being happy in that simple way of being happy, the best way i think x
having such a great time here :)
sweet beach days with many papaya shakes and sasak food xx
just came back from kuta (look it up - kuta, lombok - NOT kuta, bali!) it's such a GREAT GREAT place! it was very hard to leave... but i'm trying to get to sumba which is not so easy... i almost hopped on the big ship going there the other day... but then i didn't so i could go to kuta beach :) totally worth it! a village full of very nice people! amazing waves - sadly many of them are not being surfed... while the dirty waves in kuta, bali are always overcrowded!
i feel i got a new family in kuta lombok :) and i can't wait to go back! i negotiated 5 ares of land already :) and found a great cook that would work for me :) and i can easily imagine a happy simple life in front of that dramatic landscape listening to the loud LOUD waves :) i've also been invited to work at the university of Mataram :) and i met the perfect surf instructor :) and it feels like part of me is staying in kuta beach, in a dimension where i live that perfect sweet and quiet life by the beautiful ocean, eating ripe fruit and just being happy in that simple way of being happy, the best way i think x
having such a great time here :)
sweet beach days with many papaya shakes and sasak food xx
Thursday, 24 September 2009
snorkelling paradise
padangbai, east bali :)
i have seen about 12 nemos today!! and among all the other amazingly coloured fishes.... he's not even that spectacular! traveling underwater and loving it :D
i can see lombok from here though... and every 90min the boat goes and signals a departure... so i might leave soon, and go on island hopping :)
i have seen about 12 nemos today!! and among all the other amazingly coloured fishes.... he's not even that spectacular! traveling underwater and loving it :D
i can see lombok from here though... and every 90min the boat goes and signals a departure... so i might leave soon, and go on island hopping :)
Monday, 21 September 2009
time to make a move
will be leaving ubud after my healing massage :) and my croissant with an energizing smoothie at bali buddha - love that place! i'll be travelling north to the place where bateson and margaret mead lived :):):)
Sunday, 20 September 2009
quiet
today i found a great healer :) it's so amazing how different it feels when such hands touch you and everything is stirred and things move, changing all there is inside you, and at the same the universe ** so magical. like this island. all this transformation is quiet and balanced, or tending to some sort of balance, a new way. i love how one has the ability to find the place where they need to be and get there. once there you just have to give space and time and you will find whatever you had to find inside of you. by yourself, through a messenger, with the trick of a massage, a special tea, or any sort of witchcraft that you might coose *
universal happiness
if you contribute to other people's happiness, you will find the true meaning of life. the key point is to have a genuine sense of universal responsibility, the dalai lama
everything is alive
yesterday i woke up at 7am with my bed shaking. it was going up and down and to the sides and rocking and it took me a while to realize that it was an earthquake. i got up and tried to think of the things you always hear you should do but i was still half asleep and trying to figure out if those things apply to a hut that only really has a thin wall around it and a straw roof... and by the time i opened the door and started talking with the slightly panicking family from the jungut inn... suddenly it all stopped and things seemed quiet, much more quiet than your average quiet. everything was still and it felt so stable! so i went back to sleep :) for the first few minutes i still felt the bed rocking a bit... and i fell asleep feeling great to know that everything is so alive and moving, so much that the earth can shake you out of your place like that :) it was a 6.4 earthquake apparently ++
Saturday, 19 September 2009
:):):):):):):):):):):)
i'm very happy :) one of the reasons is that i'm reading a beautiful book that found me at the right time (like usually!) - 'the brave new world' is really moving things inside me and i travel happily in the company of the great character bernard! and i am just very glad to be here in bali :) i have to admit that before coming i felt a bit of a snob about it and thought 'oh no, not me, i won't like bali, it's so touristy' bla bla bla. and then i got here.... and as soon as i left kuta (only 15hours after i arrived, 7 of which i slept)... i discovered wonderful bali :) i haven't been very far away from ubud yet, only as far as i can walk in a day ;) but the villages close by are wonderful! the rhythm is soft and the smells are beautifully sweet :) the pace of life suits me and i am enjoying a quietness i had missed for some time now. this is exactly what i meant when i felt i missed india. this unhurried way of moving, the joy in living, the care for the universe, this mood of having your arms open at all times, of living in balance, of caring, and this knowledge of finding the place to be for now. and this amazing wisdom that there is in knowing how to live this NOW. 'the human spirit doesn't know the after and doesn't know what was already. i have trouble knowing the tomorrow, i don't know, i am not there. here, i am here now, this i know.' told me an old lady today ** i follow her wisdom, or try to. most of all, i'm happy to be alive and my heart feels big and shiny and warm but fresh at the same time, light *
check this out
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_adam_maclean/
those are the photos by sumatra travel mate adam who gave me the wonderful book i'm reading, was recovering from a nastier motorbike accident than mine, and who is also on his way to west canada (slooooowly!)
a funny story he told me:
while going around north scotland last year he bumped into a beggar who help a cup at him asking for money... he looked at the cup and it was a tim horton's cup!!! now how did that get there all the way from canada to that guy's hand?!...
oh the world ;)
those are the photos by sumatra travel mate adam who gave me the wonderful book i'm reading, was recovering from a nastier motorbike accident than mine, and who is also on his way to west canada (slooooowly!)
a funny story he told me:
while going around north scotland last year he bumped into a beggar who help a cup at him asking for money... he looked at the cup and it was a tim horton's cup!!! now how did that get there all the way from canada to that guy's hand?!...
oh the world ;)
lovely week in ubud :)
i'm really loving this place ** the thought has crossed my mind to stay here for the last 2 thirds of my trip... there is so much to explore in bali :) meanwhile i found a great blog with lots of bali info, if you feel like investigating
this is a place to come back with your loved ones, or when you want to hear some part deep inside of you and maybe even a spot to come live once retired ;) :) it's really really nice! the vibe in the air is just fabulous and one feels like lingering around a lifetime. or many
everywhere the offerings, the blessings, the shrines, the demons, the gods * . * . *
i keep on seeing this vehicle :) love it!
me at my ubud room at jungut inn after having the banana pancake and the tropical fruit salad for breakfast :) and tea, always tea, at all times tea :) as you can see i had just done my laundry - all is clean and smells of fresh flowers like the air around it!
Thursday, 17 September 2009
ubud, bali
this is one of those places that is touristy for a reason.... it's amazing :D i feel i could stay a couple of months! great atmosphere and fantastic landscape all around with lush rice paddies and traditional villages :) no wonder there is such a big community of foreigners living here, it's really great! there's everything to make everyone happy :) and this is greatly why bali is so famous! you can get a great 2h massage with a flower bath and a facial for less than 10 euros.... a pedicure with half an hour massage for 2.5 euros... and a brownie for 60 cents :D yumm! there's illy coffee next to local stalls selling the normal nasi goreng and mie goreng (fried rice and fried noodles) and evian water on supermarkets for 15x the price of local water ;) there are amazing yoga classes and a meeting of 100 yoga teachers for world peace next saturday!! :) and you can learn indonesian cuisine, indonesian language, balinese dance, hinduism, buddhism, batik, shadow puppeteer, and all sorts of other things around town ;) there's also rafting close by :) and all of that makes this place... perfect!
ubud is the place to be :) i have an amazing room as big as the house i lived in when i did my erasmus in toulouse, with pancake, fruit salad and perfect javanese coffee in the morning :) the place is owned by a sweet family that takes care of the garden with the temple and the beautiful birds :)
loving it!
ubud is the place to be :) i have an amazing room as big as the house i lived in when i did my erasmus in toulouse, with pancake, fruit salad and perfect javanese coffee in the morning :) the place is owned by a sweet family that takes care of the garden with the temple and the beautiful birds :)
loving it!
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
an island in the caribbean
did you know that there is an island in the caribbean where single mums have a higher status than anyone else in their society?
bali
if you click on the photo you can see the name of the boat and be amazed like i was :)
so i said goodbye to java and got on the ferry to bali :) this island looks amazing! but i still have to leave kuta to explore it. kuta is just like you can imagine it... filled with drank australians that drink by night and surf in the day... and it's packed with foreigners! just on the bus from the ferry to denpassar i saw more tourists than in the entire 3 weeks in sumatra! i'll make a move out of kuta SOON!
kuta beach
mount bromo
i think that is the most beautiful volcano i have ever seen :D got up there with daniel from leipzig and louie from brighton and we shared the price of 2 rooms to make it a bit cheaper as prices up in the mountain were inflated as usually... the boys had their night bintang and we shared travel tales :) and off to bed to get up at 3am and climb up! louie took the jeep up, me and daniel did it the hard way :) and we saw the sunrise from the most beautiful viewpoint in the mountain :D also, there was no one else there because everyone had taken a jeep to the official viewpoint a bit higher then ours - well done for us!! it was absolutely amazing! we still walked up to where all the jeeps gathered and met louie who walked back down with us :)
my stomach wasn't feeling great... perhaps from the overcharged food at our expensive mountain hotel! but it didn't make the experience any less fantastic! and as we got back to the hotel around 9.30am we all went to sleep until 2.30pm and by them the stomach was back to normal! :)
we read our great books and walked to bromo for sunset :) again, a bit after the sunset there was no one else there... people seem to only want to be there for those minutes of the sun going up or down and that's it... they leave right after that! so the 3 of us sat at the crater and enjoyed the beauty of bromo :) it was really magical!
and so was the walk back to the hotel in the dark... we looked up and saw the most beautiful sky :D with shooting stars and that feeling that we are so small and there is SO MUCH MORE out there :D
got back and the boys got their bintangs again :) while i tried some local warm drink with kacang - peanuts. yumm!
the next day we couldn't be asked to walk up again ;) it was time to sleep and make the most of our overpriced beds! after breakfast we left on our over packed bemos and said goodbye at the bottom of the mountain as we were all headed to different places. i went east to take the ferry to bali xx
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