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Life’s greatest adventures often unfold without any planning whatsoever. They take us by surprise showing up completely out of the blue, and if you’re willing to be spontaneous, magical things can happen.
Let yourself go.
Home is where the road is
As I traveled back to Java, the thing that struck me (again) was the massive attention you get as a European. It’s not possible to walk in the streets without hearing “Hello mister!” from random directions or without kids calling out “eh ada bule!” (“Hey there is a bule!”) and giggling away. ‘Bule’ literally means ‘albino’ and is now colloquially and most of the time neutrally used for addressing a European or Caucasian.
While I realise that it opens many doors — I get to make contacts effortlessly and I even seem to receive a special treatment by official or security personnel — I sometimes find myself annoyed by seemingly being reduced to an outer shell. It feels weird to take a picture together before you haven’t even exchanged names, to be asked for hanging out just because it’s ‘chic’ to have a foreign friend.
The attention I get reminds me of the one in India. The only explanation I can come up with is that this excitement about Europeans arises from Hollywood actors and a protruding beauty ideal of fair skin and light-colour eyes, connected to a deep-rooted notion from colonial times that Europeans were somehow more advanced or superior.
Asked or not, I became part of many selfies or even interviews. As I walked through Kota Tua in Jakarta, various school kids approached me to interview me for an English school assignment, which usually involves set small-talk questions and getting filmed. Seeing their excitement makes it hard to really feel disturbed, and it gives a taste of what it must be like to be an actual celebrity.
My plans to ship to Australia have been changed and delayed a few times, yet in the end it turned out to be good just this way and I wouldn’t want to have missed out on all of the past months’ encounters (and meals). In the end, I didn’t have to look any further than Bali to find a company that could handle my bike and so I could enjoy Ubuds atmosphere a bit more.
It’s kind of funny how you set an intention, give it some time, and rather suddenly you reached what you wished for and the bike is loaded. What will expect me anyway? I’m looking forward to what comes and yet I’m already feeling I will be missing Indonesia.
Having spent about five days disassembling and thouroughly cleaning the R to meet with Australian quarantine/biosecurity regulations, the Black Beauty is now strapped and bubble-wrapped, ready to be sent on a container vessel to Down Under.
See you in a month!
Main-Post, a regional German newspaper, got interested in my story. I consider it an appreciation of my journey to get interviewed and see they are printing a whole page about it. Even if it seems difficult to break down my so-far experience of 18 months in one interview and article, I hope to get some messages across:
1, the world, in all its variety, is much brighter and less cynical than we tend to think based on media (you knew that, right)
2, plan less, accept more, embrace whatever comes and act from there.
Here’s to the next leg of the journey. Thank you @dave_globetrotter @barbara.k.herrmann @mainpost.de
Taking a summer break from travelling. Ironically, it indeed feels a bit like being on a holiday when I don’t have to move places every other day. It’s easy to settle back into a used environment and yet I continue to see the beauty of Germany, maybe more than I did before.
On that day, I was touring an area in North-East Bavaria, which is known as “Franconian Switzerland”, featuring picturesque fields, rocks and rivers. The latter were most welcome as the temperatures peaked at 38 degrees.
For now, it’s not yet that I miss riding a lot, but when there’s another BMW in the family, temptation is there.
