It wasn't until I stepped out of the boat on the Padang Bai shore, that I understood the true meaning of this phrase! Last time I was here, was a week ago. I had just arrived Bali and took the speed boat from the harbour to the Gili Islands. Although the surroundings were the same, still everything looked different. It was as if I had arrived to a new place. I took a good look around. Everything was exactly how I left it. The harbour, the buildings, and even the people were the same ones that I had met one week ago. The changes were not in the external surroundings, but rather something inside of me. It was as if I now saw the world through new glasses.
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| Gili Air |
The intoxicating feeling that was still stuck in me, got me wondering if the last week had been real, or if I just had woken up from a dream? From I started my holiday in Ko Tao, Thailand, til where I now was standing, it all seemed like a far memory, as if months had passed by since I left Thailand.
A week on the Gili Islands, with no roads (only sandy paths), surrounded by blue ocean, packed with tropical trees, sleeping on the beach, showering in a local hut, eating local food and getting to know people with such big hearts, made it seem like lights years ago I left my comfortable life in KL.
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| Sunset at Singigi |
I now know that the person who left this harbour a week ago, is not the same person who has returned. The kindness that the people on this Island have shown me have somehow touched my soul in a way I didn't know was possible.
Even as I write about my trip, I'm not sure that what I have seen, smelt, tasted and touched were real or just a fantasy. I now understand why the locals called this place, Fantasy Island. Because as long as you are on the Island, nothing else exists and as soon as you get back to reality, you can no longer recognize the world you once left behind. One week seems like a lifetime. A lifetime of memories, that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
