Balibaba | Nothing Is Ever Really Lost

“Nothing is really lost, or can be lost. “

While going through the pictures of my very recent island trip, I can’t help but repeat this phrase in my head over and over again.

It’s definitely not a sad post and the trip is the best yet, but somehow Walt Whitman came along and all the sunsets just seemed a bit more sentimental.

Nothing is really lost, or can be lost.

I shall remember that.

Soon I will be entering the last year of my 20s and a stressful yet much-needed change seems like the only way to right all my wrongs for good (If only it’s possible, but that’s the spirit anyway).

I have so many things written down on my life to-do list. I keep adding more but crossing very few off. Even though everything takes time and each of us has one’s own pace, I would like to speed things up a bit.

I know I don’t update that often here and one thing that I want to change is to make this little corner of my world a daily show. A habit more than a hobby. I have things written everywhere from my notebook to my note app, napkins, even supermarket receipts. Sometimes I want to keep those thoughts quiet. But I guess typing my thought out loud can’t be that scary. I never re-read my stuff anyway, once I hit publish, apart from the “Intellectual property,” I don’t own it anymore. It’s all yours, and I appreciate so much of you who drops me a line, both English and Chinese, sometimes even the language I don’t understand and telling me to keep going and keep writing. My humble heart is so grateful for your support.

I’ve noticed that I write about Travel way too often than any other categories. That’s something I want to improve. And I am so guilty as charged to only write in English. I had said to myself before I started this journey that I won’t just simply translate each post from English to Chinese or vice versa. These two languages of mine, equally beautiful (debatable), yet so different in many ways. I don’t know about you but my writing is entirely different from one another. But fear not, they both sound like the Juliette you know:).

I also promised myself, to never write something like 10 things to do in where and where (not that there’s anything wrong with it, in fact, these kind of writing are great and very helpful for those in need, and I enjoy reading them myself), I just wish that when you are reading mine, it feels like I’m your friend, returned from an exciting trip, and now telling you all about it over coffee or dinner. And I encourage you to discover your own path and secret gems when you are on the road. Isn’t it wonderful to have your own unique experience rather than tap places off like everyone else?  Of course if you need something or tips before going somewhere, I would share with you, fire away!

Back to the trip, do you know that it’s actually winter in Bali now? At least in Uluwatu. Of course, it’s still sunny and hot weather, and if you spend hours at the beach you will still get a gorgeous tan. But in the small details, in the leaves of the trees, in the field of wild weed, you know that this land is resting and nurturing for the coming season, and at night your scooter ride can be as chilly and a leather jacket would come handy.

I had a great deal of fun driving around the island. We got lost serval times, when I say lost, I meant failed to reach the destination that we set in the beginning, nothing and no one can really be lost right?  Wherever we end up, it’s either the sunset at the cliff that moves you. Or when we look up, the full moon shines over our head and sends its blessings.

We had quite a few surprises along the way too. Wifey took us to one of her favorite, Blue Point Beach, only to find out that the beach was covered with high tide and there’s no way we can lay down and get a tan, staff were there to ensure everybody’s safety but the place is so gorgeous, the rock so dreamy that it totally worth the trek down.

On our last day, we went down to our favorite of all time Melasti Beach, which is just 10 mins drive from home. As I was driving down, I thought I took the wrong turn and came to a different place. Again, there’s no more beach, the tide was so low that we got to see what’s under the ocean, I even identify the rock which cut my leg that time when I was in the water! Nevertheless, we were so psyched and spent hours discovering the rocks and keeping saying “Geology rocks!” like a bunch of 12 years old out for a science field trip.

The very first time I came to this magical island was in the name of love. And it has been in the name of love all along. I only had the sweetest memories here, the memories that close to my hopeless romantic old soul’s expectations. The memories that wake me up in the middle of the night, and the memories that make me smile at any given moment.

I was talking to a friend the other day when I was in Manchester, he asked me a question and I replied back in broken sentences and he said to me, darling you just wrote a poem there. I am not sure if it is a poem but I was having Bali in my head when I wrote that in the 15 seconds of time.

“I will wake up around noon, fall asleep at 5.

Going for coffee by the beach and write.

Afternoon walk, barefoot, with you and the dog.

And when the sun starts to set, we watch the day to die.

You will understand why.

Why I sit on the porch and cry.

And sign:

‘What a wonderful thing to be alive.’ “

All photos by me shot in Bali, Indonesia.