Liberdade do coração

It took me around 8 years to follow my dream of a really long journey.As i grew up in South america and then moved back to Germany when I was 11I guess I always had a strong desire to go back, to experience more, to see more of other countries. I travelled a lot, but that where mostly short trips in Europe or business trips, so not really satisfying me and my idea of being free of the normal everyday life. I also must admit that I kind of liked my comfort bubble and the security of my monthly pay check. But the older I got the more I missed something and my desire to leave grew bigger. It never really was important where to travel to...it was important just to do it.
When i finally decided to leave to Australia I got the most different comments to it.
" Wow thats great"
" I wish i could do that"
" Thats cool, but aren´t you afraid of having trouble to find a job again coming back?"
My ex-boyfriend asked me:" Why do you have to do this journey?" The only thing that I could respond was:
" I don´t know, but I know that I have to do it...i´m following my dream"
And that's what i did, and it was the best decision of my life.
But to be honest it was also a very tough decision for me...it took me 2 years of serious considering, half a year of planning and 2 months of second thoughts before just going into uncertainty and adventure.But even then..as I was always sensible, I had my plans, followed them without big hesitation and was always a step ahead in my itinerary.It was when I arrived in Australia and met Scott when I got to know another way of thinking and living. I was always worried, about finding a job, about money, about missing my family and friends back home, about being alone, about travelling alone, about breaking down with my van...the list goes on and on.
He said to me: " Don´t worry, you´ll get everything you need right when you really need it. Just let go"
Just let go.
So easy to say, so hard to really do. But he was right. I learned more and more not to worry so much, to let go, to be positive and to enjoy life.
To enjoy the moment.
And i noticed that everything changed.I got everything i needed when i needed it, Sometimes I had to wait a little, but when it came to me I realised that I wasn´t ready for it earlier anyway. A lot of times the universe wanted to teach me how to be patient....with little signs...like always having red lights when I was in a hurry, having to wait for replies from facebook or email, people not attending their phones when I wanted to talk to them ( NOW, of course!). After a while I just had to laugh about myself, so I just sat back and waited.
And like this I met the most interesting people on my way, each and one of them teaching me their ideas about life, freedom, enjoyment and love.  Each of them becoming a part of me.
I also met people that showed me how i don´t want to act and be, but even that is important, because even if you don´t know where you´re going..at least you know where you don´t want to go.
Do I know where I want to go now? Do I have everything sorted out? I thought I would by the time ending this journey and going back home. But I haven´t.
First I was really nervous about it, but now I just let go again.
I don´t have everything calculated, I don´t have my life figured out, but I know now that I move with the time, I am passionate to live, passionate to cross, passionate to get to know what´s behind the next curve, the next mountain, the next lake, the next sea.Passionate to get to know new people and ask them how they feel, what their passion is and what they think.Because the most important thing about life is the people you meet. They become part of you and your heart and shape you to a better person.
In the end life is a journey with an unknown destination, so I enjoy the way, listen,observe, share, taste and feel.
I pay with a smile that comes from my heart and the only thing I expect is one back.

So whatever you dream about, whatever is on your mind over and over again, whatever your heart is longing for, don´t let doubts, critics, age, money, your family or society keep you from following it.
Just do it!
Take the steps in the direction of your dream NOW.

with love, J

Sri Lanka: tea, trains and temples

Our first day in Sri Lanka was rather hectic as we had to organise visas for Joanna and Andrew, i had to find a bank which does cash in advance and so we were running around from our arrival in the morning till the afternoon. But as soon as everything was done we sat down, ate something and planned our next steps. As Colombo the capital wasn´t really our favourite place to be we bought tickets for the next morning to go to Kandy, a nice little town further to the east and a wonderful train ride away. 

The trains in Sri Lanka are the best way to travel, it´s slow, but the landscapes are one of the most beautiful a saw on my journey. The trains are really old and slow, but that really makes the journey, they are the ones where all windows are open and the doors too, so you can enjoy the wind in your hair and the excitement of standing or sitting in the doors seeing how the train slowly moves deeper into the mountains.

In Kandy we had a very weird couchsurfing experience and decided to head to Adam´s peak the next day. It is known for the Sri Pada, the "sacred footprint" a rock formation near the summit. In Buddhist tradition it is held to be the footprint of Buddha, in Hindu the one of Shiva and in Muslim and Christian tradition the one of Adam.

Unfortunately my kidneys began to hurt so much again that i hardly couldn´t walk and so i decided to stay in the train and head directly to Ella, a nice little town surrounded by tea plantations and mountains, which sounded like a good environment to relax and get well.

Indeed it was a good decision and despite of having to say goodbye to Joanna and Andrew it was nice to be alone again. My days were very simple filled with easy morning walks, light and healthy food and a lot of sleep.

Like this i was ready and fit to leave the mountains after 4 days and head to the beach where i spend my last week in Unawatuna, a small town at the beach. The beach, sun and some surfing made me feel better instantly and with the good mood coming back to me i met nice people to hang out with. I also met the Canela boys again, 2 days before they left in direction of Mauritius. This is the best about travelling, you meet some people again on your way and you instantly feel like meeting a family member again. They know you, you know them, the normal small talk is not necessary and you go straight to the deeper conversations and get to know more layers of the other person.

But then the day arrived and I headed to Colombo to take my flight back to Germany. It was a weird feeling, but I tried not to think about it too much. I enjoyed the last crazy bus ride that took about 4 hours, the last crazy sweating all over and the funny music videos they played on the bus. To ensure a save travel and brakes that work the bus driver ´s assistant donated 3 times 2 rupees to a Buddha temple and prayed for a smooth journey. It´s nice to see this little rituals, and secretly you also pray for getting there alive ;-)

But of course, I never had a doubt, everything was fine and I arrived on time to  check in.

Alone standing in the queue was kind of hard for me as I was surrounded by Germans all complaining about the smallest things. It is sad how people just think they are on top of everybody else, you can feel their egos growing bigger and bigger demanding to be treated as if they were more special than others. Luckily I had really nice women sitting right next to me and so I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I will find people that share my interests and views of live all over the world and also in Germany.

One more time I closed my eyes to fall asleep with a big smile on my face feeling excited to see my family again so soon.

Malaysia- 9 hours at the Kuala Lumpur Airport-Transit

Normally i wouldn´t write about this..but this was the most hilarious night on my whole trip..so worth to be in the blog. As we landed at 9 pm and our flight to Sri Lanka was at 6 am we thought we´re just gonna sleep at the airport..no problem..but what are the odds..exactly this night the shops and restaurants all closed from midnight to 4 am for cleaning and fogging. What the hell is fogging? Yeah..same question here. Nobody really could tell us so we just arranged our camp in a quiet corner of the airport...just to be told an hour later that we have to leave the building as they are gonna spray anti-bug spray. So yes..they just kicked everybody out and we collected our belongings and went outside to look for a nice spot to sleep. (Do they do that in Europe or cold countries too?? I mean, here it was nice and warm but in other countries you will freeze to death...but i also guess that this countries don´t have a problem with cockroaches)
Approximately 15 minutes after having set up our camp again a non visible cloud of toxic whatever it was overfall us and under coughing and rubbing our eyes we fled into the night. We found our dream spot between the car park and the drive through area for the buses on a green grass patch with palm trees. Wonderful cosy and distant enough to the poison.
Well, you can guess what happened next....exactly..after 1 and a half hours it began to rain.
Extremely tired and feeling like bums having all our belongings on a carrier we couln´t help but bursting into uncontrolled hysterical giggles. Back to our original place as the airport was fogged we kind of dozed for a while before finally checking into our flight to Sri Lanka.
What an experience!

cosy corner @ KL airport

cosy corner outside KL airport

the best spot with own palm tree

But now for real..bye Southeastasia, hello Sri Lanka.

Java

Java--what a contrast to his neighbour island Bali. The first thing that is different is the religion, that is Muslim. So on the way to Mt.Bromo we passed a lot of mosques and women with headdresses. The smiles and the friendliness stayed though. I must honestly say that Java was a row of bus-rides for me. The traffic was horrendous and we needed twice as long to get to our destinations as estimated.

window shots

entertainment on the bus...Karaoke..yey!

But in the end we finally made it on a rainy night to Bromo, were we got up at 3 am to climb the viewpoint for the sunset.
Unfortunately the weather wasn´t on our side and we just had a beautiful white cloud wall in front of us. But never mind, after a big breakfast we drove with our guides into the crater landscape and it began to clear up to surprise us with a wonderful view.

Next destination was Yogjakarta, a 8 hour bus ride away...well, it turned out to be 13 hours and we were exhausted! Luckily the guy from the guest house we found woke up to our knocks and we had a little refuge for the next 4nights. Yogja was all about art, beautiful cafes and a relaxed atmosphere. The temples around are fantastic according to the pictures i saw, but i got knocked out by a bad kidney infection and stayed in bed for my last days in Indonesia.

We spend the last day exploring the little alleys of Solo, the town we flew out to Sri Lanka.
So this is goodbye to Southeastasia, thank you for a great time!
Soon more from my last destination before flying back to Germany,

xoxo, j

Bali- an island of smiles, spirits and reunions

After 3 fantastic last days in Bangkok with Matt and his creative energy i left to the airport in the middle of an underground party, body painted from toe to mid thigh and highly inspired from the positive and creative vibe of the Overstay.

This mood hold on for a while, but as always when I arrive in a new country I feel a little scared and alone..that I was deadly tired didn´t help here either. But I pumped myself up with positive energy and made friends with 2 girls to share a taxi into Kuta. The worst town on this island with millions of tourists, mostly speeding trough the narrow streets or very drunk after dark and Balinese that think your are a dollar machine. I organised myself as quickly as possible a motorbike,packed my backpack for 2 weeks and left the rest in my guest house before heading down to Uluwatu. The south of Bali has a wonderful relaxed charm with a beautiful warm energy coming from the people that come here to enjoy the surf, the beauty of the sea and the companion of new travel mates.

 After 4 days of surfing, good conversations and cruising around with my scooter it was time to meet Scott again. The 3. time since I began my travels, our paths seem to cross for the purpose of sharing our experiences on our spiritual journeys and to point each other the right way. Ubud was the perfect location for that with its magical, cultural and spiritual mood. Only 3 hours together throw me miles further than i´ve been before and i´m sure we will meet again soon.

Another happy reunion took place in Ubud as I discovered on Facebook ( thank god for that!) that Joanna and Andrew, my travel companions for the Nullarbor stretch till Perth (Australia) were on the island. So after nearly one year we met again and as we had the same itinerary of what we wanted to see and do in Bali  plans were sealed with a fresh mint-lemon drink from Dewa Warung.

Driving through Bali is very magical as you smell the incenses that are being burned to please the gods on nearly every corner and the beauty of the little shrines and the women passing with massive offerings on their heads fill you with a deep respect for their culture. 

The little offerings are worked beautifully and filled with rice, cigarettes, gum, sometimes some money and placed either in the shrines that are high above the ground to please the gods or on the street to tell the demons to be less mean that day. To open the channel to the gods or demons the incenses are lid and as soon as the offering touched the ground or the shrine it is considered to already been accepted. So don´t worry if you step on them or fully destroy them by running them over with your bike, that happened  despite al  attention on where we were going.

Another reason to feel the magic is finally abandoning the busy streets and driving though the tiny roads that lead your to the rice fields surrounded by jungle with their mesmerizing and powerful colours of all types of  green. It just makes me so happy to breath the fresh morning air, see the sun rise and feel the dew on my feet and hands walking through the rice fields.

Rice terraces 

offerings

women bringing offerings to the temple

reunited in Ubud

On our way to Lovina in the north of the island we took one of the smaller roads, which brought us deep into the jungle and was beautiful to drive until we passed the highest point and the street downwards was full of holes and gravel. So it took us twice as long down that up, as we had to be really careful, change shoes ( better to put the sneakers on as driving around in flip-flops), Joanna had to walk half of the way and i sweated like crazy, especially after slipping twice with the motorbike and falling to the side. But we finally made it safely and rewarded ourselves with a nice bath in the nearby hot springs.

The next destination was Tulamben at the east coast, a perfect diving and snorkelling destination, and as we were tired and our bums hurt from the endless hours on the motorbike we stayed for 2 nights and dived and snorkelled the famous US Liberty Wreck that is accessible right from the shore. An amazing location with crystal clear water and colourful corals that I haven´t seen until then as the visibility in Koh Tao, where I did my open water was horrible due to the wet season. 

Back to the mountains was the call the next morning though, and driving over the pass to Kintamani with its famous volcano Mt.Batur was surprisingly chilly because of the hight. I have no idea how I am gonna survive being back in Germany after nearly 7 months of high temperatures..but I guess I have really nice and warm clothes in one of my suitcases.

Well, we decided not to climb this volcano as we wanted to go to Mt. Bromo in Java, so we found ourselves a nice cottage near the Batur Lake to make friends with a pig, have a lazy movie afternoon, a bath in the local hot springs and a visit to a fish farm the next morning.

Heading back to Ubud was quit a mission as it began to rain out of buckets 10 minutes after starting the journey, so we stopped to wait, waited..drove a little, stopped again, waited..and so on...3 hours later we arrived wet and grumpy and hungry, but in our favourite guest house with the best hosts ever. Another treat after this rather exhausting day was an Italian baguz ( means good in Indonesian) pizza and salad..with real dressing!!! ( how exciting, I tell you! the Asians don´t really eat salad..and if..then with soy sauce..;-/ )

We still were discussing about going to Lombok, the Gilis or Nusa Penida...but after 2 days of thinking and reading and talking to people we went for the cheapest and less travelled route that promised to be a lot less touristy than the other places : Nusa Penida.

And here we go, another reunion, this time totally out of the blue, with Dan, that I have met in Thailand at Panya. The world is a town!He showed us his favourite Warung and Andrew organised a boat to take us to the Manta point and 2 other snorkel spots for the next morning. I can´t possibly describe how it felt to swim along with these amazing animals that cruised only finger widths away from us back and forth to filter the water through their gills. It was scary, mind blowing, exciting and fantastic at the same time. The snorkel spots later could despite all doubts for my part still astonish me even more with the underwater world as it presented us the most colourful corals and fishes of all sizes with a visibility of around 15 meters.

swimming with manta rays at manta point

crystal bay

This adventure was amazing and after the exhausting bike ride through the country we settled in Uluwatu for the last days. A wonderful guesthouse right at the cliffs was our new home for 4 nights and time was dedicated to surf, just sit and watch and have great conversations with our neighbours. I found myself surrounded by powerful and energetic people that opened my eyes yet in another direction. That is after all the best about travelling, to share the visions, thoughts and ideas of other human beings.

afternoon chill mood

our guest house: Bali rocks!

It was hard to leave this magical place, and even if I know nothing..one thing I know for sure, I will come back one day.

xoxo, j

Panya project..experiments with Permaculture

After hearing about Urban Permaculture for the first time in Australia i knew that it is something i want to learn more about. Leah, my friend from Surfers Paradise organised a whole information evening at Mandala Café where i was introduced to the awesome ways, tricks and tipps to grow food in your very own garden or balcony .Yes, thats the thing..you can have a garden even on concrete ( thats why it´s called Urban)

Well, i got so inspired that it was crystal-clear to visit Panya project, where Leah was living as a long-term volunteer for 6 months during the same time i was in Thailand.  

I had no idea what to expect, but the positive, warm and open atmosphere from the first minute on convinced me in a heartbeat. 

So, you are surely still thinking..what is Permaculture? Well, i actually didn´t know exactly either..but everyday i found out a little bit more.

The idea is to develop sustainable human settlements and agricultural systems with the attempt to model them on natural ecosystems.That means you look around and try to use everything that is already there and include the positive aspects in your design. So you would built houses on the shadowy sides that don´t have the best soil for farming anyway...you would consider sun and shade..your hills and valleys.

Each element of a design is carefully analyzed in terms of its needs, outputs, and properties.

But it´s not only about the building and farming..it´s also a way of living in a community, sharing skills, being there for each other and trying to be in peace with nature.

the toilets..when one toilet is full it will be closed for 6 months and then you have the finest compost ever

open air shower

bananas for brekkie anyone?

the garden

dinner together

permaculture..that´s the whole circle of the community life

It can be quit disturbing too, as you find out so many really bad things that are happening around the world and you get so angry. And then you begin to think. And then you begin to see things really clear.
Like what am i eating when i go to a restaurant? Where is that corn coming from and is it GMO ( genetically modified) ? What do they put in the food to make it taste so yummy ( MSG here in Thailand). How does my shampoo affect the water?

I can´t go to Mc´Donalds anymore..or Burger King..or drink Coke without a bad conscience. Because it´s not only that the food is really cheap and bad for you..it´s more that now i know in which terrible conditions the animals that provide this meat are living and dying.There are countries as big as Europe with only 13 slaughterhouses, where 32000 pigs are being killed in an hour. If you want to know more: watch Food Inc.

But i want to tell you a little bit more about the fun part living in a community. The mornings began with Yoga and a really healthy breakfast before doing different jobs on the farm. 3 to 4 jobs where announced every day from the long-term volunteers that run the place and you could choose what you would like to learn or help with. The selection can go from making bricks, plastering houses, building doors, making beautiful things ( that means decoration), gardening, making compost, flipping the compost, digging a ditch for a new water connection, weeding, pruning...you can see..the list is never ending and there is always something to do.

Lunch and dinner are quit a big event and people are mixed in groups for 4 different jobs that change everyday ( cooking, pot wash, tidying& sweeping and meta ( that´s my favourite one..you can make either other people happy with little attentions like flowers, little notes or just a big smile and a hug or you can make yourself happy with whatever you need that day)

whats my job today?

in the mud pitt preparing the soil for brickmaking 

gardening...one seed in each little pot

brickmaking

The afternoons are free, so were spent either with reading, listening to music, making music, trekking ..and most of the time visiting the neighbour farm Pun Pun that had the most amazing smoothies and cookies in their their little café ( all organic of course).

yummy smoothies and home-made sweet bread

cycling the countryside

dying clothes with onion and some flowers

excurtion to the next bigger village

walking the dogs 

 A perfect energy boost for the offered skill share workshops that were offered by the volunteers after dinner .Here a little selection: Natural Dying, Poi, Capoeira, Tango dancing ...or watching a movie. 


Yeah..it was a busy time, and out of 1 week that i wanted to be there suddenly it were 2 and i could have stayed even longer if i didn´t had my flight for Bali booked and my Visa for Thailand nearly   expired.

This time at Panya teached me a lot and i´m not done with learning. Go and visit the Panya Project ( www. panyaproject.org) and change your way of living.

Thanks Panya team, i hope to be back sometime ;-)

Pai..between mountains, clear fresh air and Christmas feelings

If you don´t sleep the whole journey from Chiang Mai to Pai you´ll  have an amazing view into this beautiful mountain range that i already forgot that can exist.Pai was located deep in the mountains so we just drove up and up and even a little more up. I was amazed by every curve this little minibus took just to see more of the mesmerizing greens behind. I couldn´t wait to get to Pai and breath the promising fresh air.

Pai is a nice and relaxed little town, focus here is on art, music,good food, yoga and massage.And exactly that´s what we did. We got ourselves a cosy family hut for 3 near the river, went on a stroll over the market to get some street food and tea and went home to have an early night..YES..you read that right...we had TEA for dinner and went to bed EARLY.But to my apology: I was really sick..and i couln´t speak. My voice just left me and i only did the handsign thing which sometimes turned into a whole bodylanguage dance to express what i wanted to tell Ana and Matt. It was quit funny because either they just interpreted everything exactly like i wanted to say it ( mostly Ana ) or were making fun of me and just saying something completely different ( well, you can guess that that was Matt ) or just handsign back. This is the best part anyway..if you can´t talk people also don´t talk or just whisper back to you..really funny.. i had to remind them that they actually could just say what they need to say.

one little part of the Phi Phi crew together again ;-)

Well, and the other thing that happened was that it got really..really cold at night. I´m not kidding, I had to buy a jumper and a scarf so i wouldn´t freeze to death. And getting up in the morning to go to our Yoga class turned out to be a real challenge as getting out of bed  or -even harder-going to the toilet was rather challenging.  It felt kind of like that..

But this cold evenings brought back memories of Christmas..all the lights were lit, on the streets you had a little market every day to buy jewellery, scarfs, food , tea.... i was wearing a hat and a big scarf and walked arm in arm with my good friends through this magical place.
Just a perfect place to get some rest, fresh air and healthy attitude towards body and soul after the weeks of party, buckets,dancing and craziness in the south of Thailand.

Market feeling

Ana and Matt left after 4 days so i did the big walks to the Wat and the Waterfalls alone, enjoying my own company for a while.I couldn´t talk anyway..right?!
But as always when you are travelling alone..you are never alone for too long..i met Sarita from Australia and we had the loveliest 3 days together just hanging out, riding our bicycles through the mountains and ending the days with a good Chai tea.

enjoying good street food with Sarita

not to forget the best Chai in Pai

After a week it was time for a new adventure and so i took a 3 hour journey to somewhere in between Pai and Chiang Mai to visit Leah, a friend from Australia. She is currently living at the Panya project, an organic farm which experiments the concept of sustainable living and permaculture since approximately 6 years.

More from there....
xo, j