Bali Through A Notebook
Inspired by last term’s 100 Notebook Project and moved by the people and landscapes of an alien land, I began to document my stay in Bali through the entries of a travel journal. Although my week was taken up largely by my internship duties, I made it a point to see and do as much as I could during weekends and over the various religious holidays. The following post is excerpted material taken from three months’ worth of personal drawings and writings as I explored Indonesia’s very own “island of the gods”.
“I find beauty in these in-between spaces - the staggering of every other hand, the mismatched voices, the one man who is fatter than all the rest.”
Streets throughout Bali are often closed off to make way for the traditional processions that follow a person’s death.
“The entire circumference of Gili Trawangan can be biked within two hours. It’s real, it’s a breath of fresh air, the backdrop is ever changing and the singing of rickety wheels is constant.
Balinese offerings typically include fruits, sweets, and cigarettes packaged in a plaited palm leaf.
On motorbike rides: “a space occupied by myself and the driver, an instance suspended and elongated between the past and the future. It is about holding this moment wide open, a consciousness with the world unfolding before you, the desperate storefronts screaming their names and all the different faces that whirl by before your eyes. I am in love with this transitory state, in love with the people and striking variances of this island, like a gradient of colours merging into one another. I see it fade from valleys and mountains to roadside temples and warungs, to a place I can call home.”
“Ganti Suasana” - that is what Bob refers to when I tell him how I like diversity in my life. How I get bored of the people and places around me. He relates it to the change of seasons. It’s a nice thing to keep in mind as we scale rice terraces and small irrigation streams, my calves itchy from the grass, Mount Lempuyang always keeping watch from behind me.
“I feel selfish because their lifestyle is an option for me, something temporary and something to learn from only to go back home and resume living under my own norms, but to them it is all they know, absolute, and it has partially revolved around me for the past three months.”
Give travel notebooks a try, I assure you that looking back through them will be as satisfying as scrolling down your Instagram feed. If you have any questions about Indonesia, diary-ing, or how to secure a Balinese lover feel free to contact me at [email protected]!
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