visa-run

on my way to the gate – dawn at Ngurah Rai International Airport

My first visa-run. At 5 o’clock in the morning Ellen brought me to the airport. I have to leave for Singapore for one night and then get back to Bali. I had the choice between saving money by sleeping in a backpacker dorm and paying a bit more for the additional privacy of a hotel. Not much interested in meeting backpackers I went for the latter option. First, I thought it was not the right choice. The fact that the place is located in a red-light area was not a problem, somehow even interesting. However, the room isolated me from the people. Originally the plan was to do some sightseeing, visiting museums and also meeting people. For sure there is much to discover in the city. But I was busy recently and had forgotten to update friends here. So for both these reasons I have decided to stay much of the time in the hotel and at the airport to get some work done on the laptop. Asia will be the future anyways, so Singapore won’t run away and thus can wait. The hours in the room ended up in reflecting much, which was good, even it did not bring any results apart from the status quo of now being reconfirmed. I feel that I have so much, and still not yet enough. So much is changing. So fast. Looking back and re-evaluating my own priorities I realize that the guy who used to be shy and preferred being alone has over the years turned to a person hungry for meeting people and socializing. So much, that Germany has become too uncommunicative to live there. I still need my own space to withdraw from the buzz, but a huge proportion of time I do now prefer being with people, be it at work, after work, on weekends or evenings, be it long-term friendships or casual encounters. Possibly a good move, especially in societies where a good network is more important than back in Europe. Later is better than never. But there is a big need for coordination and the overheads are massive. Transit life. A transnational existence. Living in three worlds. Maybe even more. Once more. All we gain comes at a price. Anyways. It is good the way it is. Life as a most enriching experience. As a path, a transition, reinventing itself every single day.

still shot at Changi Airport upon arrival in Singapore on the way to the MRT trains….commuting though life

I am looking out of my window and see that street hooker on the corner waiting for clients. With her umbrella. Hiding her bottles of water in a bush. The scene makes me sad. We are all human. We have all been given a life by our parents. And for everybody of us there should be an opportunity to live in dignity. Even for those of us who do not need to do much of the things that we don’t like, it isn’t always easy. Somehow we are all searching for something or for somebody. But how must life be when one has either had no option at all or has gambled away chances for a better life? Sometimes I wish there was a world in which everybody had the same, had enough to maintain a healthy livelihood, can create a safe harbour without struggle. Thinking about these issues I start to wonder again. I start to realize how much I myself – despite journeys to other worlds and sometimes even to the limits – am still living inside the box, taking only little risks. I ask myself whether one could reach more if one was ready to give up more of what many of us take for granted. Or have I already started being that way for a couple of years without realizing so far? Once more, the loneliness of a hotel room and the view out of the window creates space for pondering and for realizing the relativity of any everyday situation somewhere on this planet. There will be more and more people. Opportunities need to be figured out. Live has to be enjoyed to the max. As it has always been, or mostly. Again, now. Being witness. Like in a book, in a movie. Being there without her knowing being observed. Thinking too much. About all the individuals crossing our ways. At the same time enjoying and being affected.

Geylang street prostitution – may she meet good luck on her search

At night I went out and had a fish-ball soup and a stroll through Geylang. Quite nice, not as bad as expected. Many food-stalls, cuisine from all over South- and East-Asia, nice chats with staff in the Seven Eleven store…some culture- and language-exchange. Singapore always feels a bit like a living-room. With remote control. All is convenient. Despite it being a big city with much traffic it seems quiet and the air is still of good quality. There is much to see in all the backstreets and alleys. Chinese societies with names such as ‘The Billion Lights of Buddha Society’, shop-houses, brothels, people of all Couleur; and even the Mafioso here look somehow nicer than in other places. And this is not the posh place of the city. So all in all the first day turned to an interesting event and was more or less pa positive relection. Second day consists of sitting on Changi airport and working on the transcription of my interviews. On the evening I flew back to Bali.

ecotourism

odd one: better to attach the hint on the outside or inside of the safety boy? it has no key anyways…
 

odd two: advertisement seen in a local expat-magazine - well, yes, I have like thinking, but I am not gonna try

The past weeks were busy with the field trips to so far three of four sites of the ecotourism project I am exploring for my thesis. The time was busy with meeting old friends and new people. With enjoying Indonesian food. With riding a few of the waves of the Indian Ocean. Bali is no more what it had been to me long ago. As already mentioned recently, the enthusiasm for the island has turned into a more down-to-earth view of the place. Still, it is one of the best spaces on earth to live and love, to work, to get inspired, to develop ideas, to make friends, to discover, the environment, the society, oneself. Compared to any other place in the world I have ever been to, the island still offers the best lifestyle options that fit my desires. The centres are semi-urban spaces combining the most cosmopolitan and global artefacts and cultural reproductions combined with practices of ancient civilizations still being alive. There might be only a few places in the world combining such features. I might think of San Francisco Bay Area and Hawaii. There is an unbelievable diversity in local and international communities, cultures and sub-cultures. There is that tropical island feel, where open-architecture and four-wheel drive are the standard. There are the most beautiful sunsets ever seen. The island under the volcano is a place of pure aesthetics and beauty. Bali is female. The rhythm is slow and people are good. Life is rewarding here. Every day the swell from the Indian Ocean produces surf that creates the most thrilling and relaxing leisure time activity I could think of. People are happy.

Evening skies in the garden of my beach-inn after dream-like surf sessions – blue…

…and pink.

My project is running at medium performance and quality. Interviews aren’t as good as expected, but still they are sufficient to have get valid analysis and they provide some insights that make a very logical link to the debates on tourism development on the island in general, which is intended to be the frame of my thesis. In so far it is successful. The project itself is very much a grassroots-approach. For my own taste it is too far away from the commercial reality. Thus, the longing for the triple-bottom-line might not be fulfilled. In my opinion, economic sustainability has to serve as a very basis of the satisfaction of human needs and needs to be the in the focus of conceptualization also of projects that aim to contribute to human development rather than to pure economic gain. Are projects too much oriented towards human needs, there is the danger, that economic sustainability isn’t given, and finally the underlying goal in itself cannot be achieved. I believe there should be a stronger sense of business-mindedness also in  many of the NGO and grassroots-sector that close to the communities. Carefully managed and maintaining ownership of the local people, this might, in the end, pay off for the people. The approach of this project I am working on, however, is very interesting and the products offer very good insights into local life in Balinese villages most of them which are very much cut-off the tourism industry on what is often referred as an ultimate island. Insofar tourists can indeed get another experience from what is mostly offered to them. Apart from the thesis, an internal feedback report and one or two articles in travel magazines from my side are planned. Seems there will be a lot of work ahead. Below some impressions from the field trips:

Pelaga  - a village in the heart of Bali…

…where people life a life in harmony with nature.

guide Wayan introducing Balinese food

guide Gede explaining the process of organic coffee production

Lontar leaf writer in the Bali Aga village of Tenganan Pegringsingan

painted fighting cock in Tenganan village

local farmers at Tenganan village

hand-made cotton used for the unique double-Ikat cloth existing only in three

places in the world (Japan, India, Bali)

 

kids in a street scene at Dukuh Sibetan village on the foot of Mount Agung

ceremonial decoration on a village road in Dukuh Sibetan

Padangbai with Penida island in the background, seen from a spot called ‘breathtaking view’, dark clouds above and oil tanks near the shore serving the petrol supply of the island

on the eco-trek around Sibetan village

boy catching dragon flies with a rod – they are being used to feed birds

I have met somebody who fascinates me and who confuses me. I am not sure what is going on, and whether this is supposed to be for the future or not. I am still into another big story and know I should rather rest and look inside myself. I should build my career and slowly figure out all private issues before starting anything new. I should give my old and big love another chance. Passively, only accepting good and proven action, no bad things anymore. On the other hand I have been patient enough, for long time, without results. I am tired. It might all have been already too much that it could ever be forgiven. And now it is the first time since long that there is somebody who can relax me. It doesn’t fit into the plan. But it is somebody very special, for reasons I cannot yet figure out. Somebody who deserves much attention. Can I provide that? Can I provide anything else then being egoistic now, return to the hedonism and the ideas of the past? Further, the paradise setting always bears the danger of a certain transience of this always somehow ‘touristic’ reality. No clue what we need to do. What’s going on with me…?

Ellen’s legs and a greenish-orange play of the evening-sun after a relaxing session in small waves