Last Weekend…
I organized a wedding…! A nerve wrecking job which took a month to organize but the end result was fulfilling… super!
Location: Villa Sinaran Surga.
It was a beautiful sunset wedding and despite the good result, throughout the whole prep time, had almost peed in my pants just thinking about the possibility of a thunderstorm since recent weather has been unpredictable.
Thanks Foo Nyan & Ai Lin for giving me this opportunity!
tpola
living abroad may be the biggest current lifestyle trend in human inhibition since many of us have opted for a better living condition because we’re so tired of the usual normalcy that we face on a routine basis where ever we were once based at. The monthly income is and will never be enough, working over time comes with no extra paid man hours, the annual leaves will never be longer than 14 days and the traffic jams will never cease. So you start thinking about the useless slavery and unhealthy lifestyle you’ve been lugged with for almost years now. Your imagination starts running wild about new possibilities and greener pastures. Many of our peers, good friends or relatives are either an hour or 20 hours plane ride away from where you are. And it gets you thinking about maybe perhaps of doing the same thing, and plus your folks sent you to renown university for a damn reason. so what would be the most common next thing to do? Go online and look for job prospects and research on the actual living condition of the selected places you’ve imagined yourself to be in, if you’re nationality is even accepted in some of these places or even just whether it’d be easy to apply for a letter of immigration.
What I find odd and yet so common amongst us is the idea that we all want to make more money and live better as though our current living conditions isn’t just good enough. Mind boggling but if you really dig deep, we humans are never really happy and contented with what we really are made of and lets face it, we just want more. An admirable trade in comparison to other living beings just because we have the capacity and the ability to think beyond. Our pure simple imagination is what makes us take that step further, venture onto new found land and marvel with the exoticism and the intoxication of possible new heights.
And yet there is so much positivity of taking chances despite the possible consequences. Settling in to a new place let alone a new country is always challenging but we secretly know that making it through with that little bit of integrity will be and always is the most rewarding and courageous step you would have ever taken in your lifetime. The money will most definitely be better than the last salary back home, that’s the reason why you moved to begin with but the abundance of knowledge and new personal ventures encountered is nothing compared to the money made. Those fall into a different category of livelihood, of emotional, mental and soulful growth no doubt all together.
I speak of these growth because I am currently fulfilling them. Personally I know they are nothing but good but where I will go from here is yet unknown.
Bali, Indonesia is currently my second home, of which I decided to nestle and make my new bee-hive with many of my common household items shipped from Kelana Jaya, PJ decorating this new space. Funny how I was longing to be away from home, I am now but I went through lengths to make it feel like how I have always been used to living. My comfort zone.
Although my home now looks very much like the one back home yet my window over looks paddy fields and clear skyline surrounded by an earthy soundtrack. Yes, this tourist island is where I am happily setting up my living-abroadness and no, I did not do this for money but fortunate and very much blessed to do it in the name of love. A cynical romantic sometimes need to do the most outrageous non normal thing in order to be extravagant. Talk about imagination huh? At least my grandkids will never forget this grandma.
Like many others, I grew tired of the living condition and wanted to break free of something that was holding on too tight, like the traffic jam started getting too suffocating, the datelines made tremendous hair falls and skin started cracking from fake cool air running on more than 12 hours daily due to the demanding unpaid working hours.
But why Bali and not a city like London? My goal in living abroad is a little different. Not only was I in love, I was madly in love with it’s surroundings. Bali gave me hope to be normal again with the abundant amount of all things natural, without any pretentious fallbacks, without having to chase after anything. Don’t hate me for having a simpler imagination but who knows, I might just hop on the next flight to San Francisco if one day my mind, body and soul craves for newer heights but for now I am happy and contented with this elevated highway of mine. The epiphany came on day when money drove me up the wall and I seriously questioned myself if all we were ever good for was to chase after money. This cannot be true and I became eager in exploring things closer to life than paper that keeps running out. Even if I had to feed on RM 2 ringgit meals. I have learnt to accept, a slow process I must say but I accepted anyhow and surprisingly my hair is shinier and my skin healthier and I am at my prime living this simpler lifestyle. I laugh more and love more and more disconnected to almost all things that left me dependant on.
I guess the main philosophy behind living abroad has a lot to do with one main point. To take a chance and take that different route once you’re ready. The world is your oyster, take that chance when you have it or when it comes. Do it slowly if you will but constantly check with your colourful self to keep track of yourself just to help you be in many good sides along the way. Living abroad is never easy and when the going does get tough, just remember, at least you took that giant leap and that constant huge faith in yourself is exuberating.
word of the day
“wordboner”
found this as someone’s username and thought perhaps the meaning if ever found in the thesaurus would sound like this:
wordboner
wo.rd.boh.ner
1. an erection of random words, used/created in a sentence. Also, using the same word repeatedly in a sentence.
2. primarily used by those who’d have a hard time describing. The doctor said i have some sort of growth which is not really normal but almost normal and nothing to really be worried about or paranoid but just normal.
everyone is moving but me. the box is getting smaller and the creepers are crawling in fast. everyone is still moving but me.
walking
i have made friends with some tree loving friends who live and sleep at Monkey Forest by walking on a daily basis from Nyuh Kuning Village to Ubud and this walking happened by fluke. and it keeps me healthy. each music that blasts through the headphones gives me some sort of confidence in the way i strut and the monkeys leave me alone, not bothered by my seemingly cool walk. it’s the music i tell you. without them, my walks would be sooooo dull.
anyway, to get to Ubud from where i am takes at least 30-40 mins.
the great thing about being in Ubud is that almost everything is pretty much reachable by foot though many seem to think that a lot of the places are too far on foot but honestly, it’s not really unless you want to try to get from one village to another, then perhaps it is.
i would usually drive a car by renting one. be warned, all cars here are manual and you can hardly find automatic operated cars. and renting cars can be relatively cheap. driving can be tricky especially if you come from a big city or any city in fact as all the roads here are very narrow with plenty of motorbikes. its definitely do-able, it just takes time. and i assure you that once you’ve concurred the driving style of bali, you can very damn well drive anywhere on this planet!
the best mode of transportation in bali is the motorbike. cheap to rent and easy to get around with. if you’ve never been on a bike or can’t ride one, try and get yourself on it you city folks so you can finally feel that luscious hair being blown by awesome motorbike ride kinda wind. if bald, better still, the wind just dries off all that sweat in a jiffy.
there are shuttle busses that go to major stops around Bali but hardly any public transport for those quirky or off the beaten track routes. there are taxi cabs but they usually charge a lot… so really your best bet to enjoy bali is by motorbike.
i’ve yet to drive one myself. i’ve tried twice and both times, failed miserably! hey, at least i can drive a manual car… but for now, i am absolutely loving the walks. there are other nice walking routes to take around Ubud, the rice padi route being the most common and yet every time i decide to do this, it is always always beautiful and i’m always discovering different shades of colour and light in the sky.
