Bali And Singapore

I travelled to Bali and Singapore for a couple of weeks. I've got a short set of stories that use the rose, bud, thorn approach below.

🌹: There is an infectious feeling on the island of Bali. Time is not anchored in the usual structure of Monday to Friday. People are transient, days are liminal. This impermanence cultivates an openness and urge to be present in the moment. I felt this most strongly on the beach with Theo, where we bumped into an old friend of his. We partook in a guided meditation (by a truly gorgeous woman) under cover from the tropical rain and drank fresh coconut water after a warming swim in the light blue waters.

🌱: Mediocrity breeds apathy. After years of tolerating Berlin’s Scheinessenkultur and forgetting what quality ingredients can do for your taste buds, I rediscovered my love for food, particularly in Singapore. The city centre has hectic food halls dotted around that serve everything from Turkish kebabs (maşallah) to Korean BBQ. I ate like a king here and debunked in some senses the myth of Europe being the culinary centre of the world.

🥀: Though some poor money saving decisions did land me in rotten accommodation, the most painful thing was to see the exploitation of human capital in Bali. Taxi drivers barely make enough to feed their families on a quiet day and scooter taxis carry techies like me around for literal pennies. Life is too short to avoid this exploitation entirely, but I’m convinced that prolonged exposure to and excessive leveraging of this wealth inequality cannot be good for your character development. Real life doesn’t work like Bali does!