Always Welcome
Same faces, different spaces. Different faces, same spaces. Enter the vortex.
The cat has well and truly been let out of the bag, Bali long a paradise for holidaying Australians, is now well and truly a global phenomenon, a global love affair of sorts. Perhaps there is too much love for Bali, the island has desperate traffic problems in some areas, over-development is rife in mostly those same areas and let’s not get started on the pollution and plastic problem.
Yet the beauty and allure of Bali remains, for now at least. Almost immediately upon stepping off the plane, the scent of incense is burning everywhere, welcoming you like a warm embrace and you know instantly, you’ve made it back to the ‘Island of the Gods’.
There’s a pull to Bali that keeps you enchanted, I’m in awe of the kindness of the everyday person and the populaces devotion to their faith. If you manage to escape the late night Bintangs and shenanigans you can see it for yourself; men and woman awaking at dawn and arriving at one of their infinite temples to provide offerings to their Hindu Gods.
The threads that bind us
If you stay long enough on the island you’ll most likely feel the pull of the vortex, with random, spontaneous and synchronistic encounters bound to happen. Once this happens the vortex doesn’t let you leave easily and expect to extend your flight back to your home country once, twice or even thrice.
I liken this to a spider’s web, made seemingly out of nothing, but clearly something is going on in the background that allows the spider to make a web. The beauty of increased visitors to the island makes it more likely that unpredictable encounters will happen, nonetheless they still have to happen.
The start of my trip I based myself out of Bingin at one of the same places I visited last year, but with different faces this time. A set of incidental events happened and before I knew it I was at a Co-Working space in Sanur, planning a trip to the Northern regions in Bali to help a friend I loosely knew from Byron to film a project based on sustainable living.
The plan now was to head to some outer Indonesian Islands but the longer I stayed the more the web started connecting, trapping me in like a helpless fly.
Some other connections that formed through the web include:
- a friend from high school involved in distributing clean water to remote communities throughout Indonesia
- a mate I met travelling in South America 4 years ago who was hitch-hiking Indonesia with his girlfriend
- a Portuguese surfer I met snowboarding in Australia
Much like the spider’s web is invisible, the threads that bind us remain unseen until our paths cross again. Our shared history, interests and travel experiences converge into a moment in time, is this by chance or by design? Enter the vortex at your own risk..
Pre-paddle out, Bingin @sunset. Phoenix the king of biochar & permaculture
Post snapping a board, *not in Bali*. Johnny and I spent a lot of time filming together in Bali before this moment
In between hitch-hiking, having a tea with old mate Jan and his girlfriend Maddy in the north-east hills of Bali.
