The Day That Reminded Me Why I Love To Travel

I woke up at 5am today to catch the early morning sunrise at Tegallang. I stumbled upon the rice terrace the other day and was blown away by its design, and knew I had to come back to watch the day begin there.

Afterwards, I went to the morning market in the village nearby. No one spoke a word of English, and as the only white guy there, I embraced the situation with open arms. It’s always an incredible feeling to be able to converse with locals in their tounge, and surprise them that a bule (Indonesian for foreigner) knows a bit of bahasa.

I saw a pickup basketball game taking place nearby, and couldn’t resist the temptation of making my presence known on the court. The fearsome white lightning!

After swatting a couple of what I presumed to be eighth graders, and spraying a couple baskets, I had my fleeting glory come crashing down when I split my big toe open from running barefoot on the concrete.

I rushed to a nearby “doctors office” where the students told me where to go, and sat down on the table as they rubbed turmeric root and some ointment on the cut, then used a pair of scissors to remove the hanging skin.

After some heavy gauze and wrap, I quickly made my way back to Ubud for some good old fun Sunday ecstatic dance. Jumping and moving about might not be the best idea on a split toe, I thought, but I’m a man who loves his dance.

Along the way, my motorbike got a flat tire, I ripped my sandals, and forgot my house key at the mechanics. A lot of expletives followed.

I gathered myself, and made my way off to the yoga barn to avoid missing a Sunday classic. After connecting with that space and letting loose, I went out to get coconuts with an old friend who arrived that day in Ubud, and shared travel stories / dreams for the future. (And got the pretty local Balinese waitresses number on the way out the door 😉 ).

It was one of those days that reminded me why I love travel so much. I think back to the range of emotions I felt. Moments and experiences that shotgun you through an evolution growth of some sort. You can feel your brain firing on all cylinders trying to make sense of what is going on all around you.

Constructing thoughts and conversations in a new language, experimenting with new foods, people, and situations that make the inner-introvert slightly uncomfortable (but invigorated). The feelings of frustration, followed by allowance, acceptance, reconnecting, releasing, and sharing all paved way for an incredible day.

At the end when I sat back to reflect on it, I thought to myself how we often think of ourselves as a physical entity, enclosed off from reality, when in it’s actually more so a vibrating wave of energy meshed in and co-creating the reality you experience in more intricate ways than could be imaged.

And as I took control of my frequency fine tuning with some breathe work and reflection, I couldn’t help but reminded that these were the type of days that make me love traveling so much.