looking back

gili trawangan dwarfed by mount agung 40 miles away.

if you're brave enough to cross the strait of lombok using the infamous fastboats, alluring you across the sea are 3 very small sandbanks named the gili islands.

just boats, bikes & horses are your only way of getting around here, & even then there's traffic jams.

vishnu, shiva & brahma remain on hindu bali's mt.agung, watching over the ocean from afar, as the gili islands practices islam (like most of indonesia's population). flower offerings & grandiose temples are replaced by the call to prayer & eloquent mosques, & the tourists must quickly adapt.

the slow life on these atolls offers visitors the chance to party, relax or even explore their first psychedelic journey. whilst drugs are strictly illegal (with death penalty still in force) in indonesia, magic mushrooms & marijuana are sold from makeshift bars & beach shacks up & down the islands circular shore. it's a common sight to walk past a bewildered backpacker processing the last 5 hours spent trapped in an introspective wormhole. tourists come here like children to candy to get high & enhance their bali "trip"!

i came here first when i was 24 years old, when sleeping was not a priority & choosing between a 3$ hostel or 6$ hostel ment i could have lunch or dinner or both! but somehow financial decisions were never questioned when it came to drinking, that always seemed to come from a refillable money pot.

now at 32, an egoistic part of me shamefully thinks i've peaked in maturity (let's re-assess this in another 8 years), so i look back tutting & shaking my head at the 24 year old nick who came here for the fast life. we all like to have fun in different ways, & i'm discovering with age that this changes too.

as i look towards mt. agung towering above a distant land, similarly, i wonder what else i'll look back on in the years to come, & feel so very far distant from the previous versions of myself...

by yogiwhale