It began with being welcomed to Bali by an earthquake, and continued with arriving during a Hindu religious festival whose purpose is to sweep away everything negative and invite in new, positive energy. Overnight rainfall washed the air clean in a dramatic sound and light show. To add to that, tomorrow is my birthday (69), and I will be moving on to Yogyakarta to my next bucket list thing, Borobudur. The universe could hardly be sending stronger signals that this journey I am on in this part of My Year of Living Travelly is exactly what I am supposed to be doing.
Yesterday I saw glimpses of the fabled Bali, including these rice terraces.
But what I think I will remember more are glimpses of people on their own journeys, both those whose devotion to their faith was so on display at Holy Springs Temple, shown below, but also in the numerous villages I passed through, each one with a specialty—wood carving, glass blowing— and each one full of people simply going about their lives, holiday or not.
The best thing about being a traveler is seeing the ordinary as special. It’s hard to do that in the middle of one’s everyday life. Maybe that is what far more evolved people than I have managed to do, traveling through every day with new wonder, even if it is on their own street in their own village. I still have so much to learn about that, as I chase new experiences around the globe.
Sweeping away what holds me back and inviting in what propels me forward is a lot of it, but so is just sitting here at breakfast on this hotel terrace, shown below, as a cooler breeze wafts through and dark clouds hover. Be here now, the world whispers. I am trying for no more than that.
