The Garden of the East

Bali. At the age of 20, for the first time so far from home and completely independent. Before departure, so many doubts and questions about what it would be like, but in the end... what a pleasant surprise!! On this occasion I paid for my total inexperience in travelling but, as often happens, when taking your first steps towards new experiences and passions, mistakes are often made. That summer the choice had fallen on Bali because the prices were really attractive and the destination seemed to me sufficiently exotic and interesting. Too bad that, as a true beginner, I left everything to chance, completely ignoring what the island could offer and what I would absolutely never find. Having landed in Denpasar, you immediately feel the atmosphere of the magical East, so mystical and mysterious.

Along the island's roads the lush nature almost tries to suffocate you; palms, colourful flowers, rice paddies and plants of every kind justify the description of "garden of the East". Anyone who goes to the tropics for the first time, like me, also expects a... dreamlike sea, but this is perhaps not the most suitable place. In fact, besides the long beaches and the majestic coconut palms that almost plunge from the interior into the sea, the scenery of this Eden is not completed by a crystal-clear sea. Indeed, the volcanic island has given rise to seabeds of rock and dark sand that do not allow the water to be clear. Apart from this, everything remains that makes Bali a truly unique place.

Its real beauty certainly does not lie in its coasts but in its interior, painted by the soft rice paddies, by the pagodas and temples that multiply across the territory, by the highlands rich in lakes and volcanic craters, by its charm that has not yet been undermined by the arrival of mass tourism, and by the mysticism and mystery that envelop everything with the scent of incense. UNFORGETTABLE: the thing I will truly remember forever is the smile and the extreme helpfulness of the local people. For an outsider like me, feeling so accepted and almost pampered by people so far from my culture made me feel at home from the very first moment. ADVICE: if I could go back, I would certainly have informed myself better about this destination, as it has a lot to offer.

20 days in Bali is perhaps too many, and I would certainly have visited its twin Lombok for the sea and its wildlife, and some island of North Sulawesi for its tropical paradises. I will always remember Bali as the island of the Smile.

PORCUPINE FISH: as every evening, the low tide made the sea retreat 2/300 metres from the shore and, as always, the shallowest coral reef re-emerged until the following morning. Passing by I noticed this porcupine fish that, in two fingers of water, was looking for a way back to the open sea but would have had no escape in that pool.....; I really don't think it could have survived long out of the water; I picked it up, took a souvenir photo, the spines were not as pleasant as one might think, and as soon as I managed to get close to the deeper sea I released it, making sure it headed back out, and so it did.

For me this is just a nice memory; at that moment it had seemed like a good thing to do!