Rice-fields to Waterfalls ~ Adventures Around Bali, Indonesia.

Meeting Locals And Exploring With Friends

Arriving to Tranquility, A Bali Sunset in January 2017

I've spent the better half of my time this year in Bali, Indonesia and in particular the area around Ubud.

I was deep in India when the new year ticked over, expecting to find myself travelling all over Asia for the rest of the year. I knew it in the back of my mind that I'd return to Bali somewhere along the road but I wanted to see as many countries as I could before returning to somewhere I'd already been. What I didn’t realise was that was my ego seeking new experiences and I wasn’t wholeheartedly listening to what I truly wanted.

When I set off traveling I had this plan, if I wasn't coping so well I'd push the emergency Bali button. If I became stressed, overwhelmed or just run-down I knew I could always go back to the place filled with people who want to share their love for happiness and peace. Why didn’t I have home as an option? Because I gave that idea away, I decided to live a life home-free (a more kind term for homeless). Why? My life had to change. I had to find a better balance of working and living. In Melbourne I was working relentlessly only able to live to work. I want to work yes, but live more whilst doing so. I decided to travel in between every booking, every week I had room, I would travel. Sounds expensive? Not really compared to the living costs in Melbourne.

Anyway, it was kind of a silly scenario because I'd find myself making up any excuse as to why I should return to Bali.

I pushed on a little after India, found myself in Sri Lanka. For 6 days. I was having quite a difficult time. Everything came with resistance. Nothing was making me happy and things weren't really exciting anymore. It wasn't Sri Lanka that was the problem, it was me and my internal thoughts and emotions. I wasn't happy and new experiences weren't giving me happiness. Then I just had to admit it to myself. Like a fleeting romance, I couldn't stop thinking about the one who I once fell in love with. So I hit that Bali Button, it was 10pm and I booked my flight for the next evening. I cried from relief. Why was I forcing against what I truly knew I wanted to do.

The train between Colombo and Ella, Sri Lanka

I had never moved myself a greater distance, faster, than what I was about to do.

The next morning I walked along the train-line in Ella, jumped on the first train I could - 10 hours open windows to Colombo. It is one of the most beautiful train-lines in South East Asia but it is also a train in Asia and you do get filthy after an hour, so I was 10 times filthy by the time I arrived in Colombo. Well I didn't get to Colombo because logically I wouldn't make my flight with the set timing. Thank you to the 4 local friends who helped me get off in a town a little closer and a more taxi friendly ride to the airport. It was still 1.5 hours with a driver who wouldn’t stop telling me about how many girls he loves to lay with. Then I caught the red-eye split-flight to Bali via KL. It was about 35 hours of transit all up, I hadn't had this much energy in months.

Before I knew it I was in Ubud nursing a coconut and laughing at how quickly I could turn things around, mentally, emotionally and geographically.

I didn't plan to stay long and I couldn't as I frequently have work booked in Melbourne. But listening to that inner me again, honestly this time, I found myself back in Bali. I reconnected with my yoga practice more deeply than ever, this time however my practice changed to Kundalini. I found out that this was what I was truly seeking. After months of frequent practice I reconnected with myself, something I had a lost a sense of when I became too work-focused and then preoccupied with traveling. As much as I want to explore new places around the world I also want to explore new places within myself.

With my yoga, being around a people so happy and an abundance of pure healthy food I've found a place in Bali where I can work on being the best version of me possible. Not to say this isn't possible elsewhere, this is just where I've found a place of focus and blissfulness.

So, why do I keep coming back? I've reached a point in my life, sustainable in your eyes or not, where I just have to follow what my heart. Clichés aside, it's simply all I know what to do with myself at the moment. I'm not really searching for anything or running away - I'm just simply doing what feels good for me.

So here I am and here we are. I've made some incredible friends, reconnected with those met on other trips and have met with so many locals on my evening strolls through the rice fields.

This is an eclectic collection of my time in Bali this year. It doesn't all match. Some are shot on film, some digital and some with a drone.

Enjoy.