Gili Air

I am beginning to upload images from the recent adventure to Gili Air is-land and Lombok. Word and image editing continues...

In summary: I sat down on Gili Air for eight days and then moved around Lombok for two. About 600-1,000 people live on Air. We should all live on air.

Meno, the next island over is quieter and Trawangan is the party island. Gili means "small island" in Sasak, the local language. 

Indonesia has 13,000 islands and 1,000 languages.

Men farm, build new bungalows, fish, commute to Lombok or work in the island tourist industry. Besides rentals - maybe 350 tourists at the max with small restaurants, the water business - diving, glass bottom boat tours and snorkeling provides income.

Women work in cafe kitchens. Some sell carved coconut bracelets, necklaces and fresh mangos, papayas and pineapples on the beach. Mellow hustle.  

I sat down every day near the sea. I walked around the island in 1.5 hours. Hot sun, clear blue water, strong southern coastal winds. No people. No motor vehicles. No engines. Only the music of water and sun mixed with the occasional bells from a passing horse cart.

Beaches are filled with tons of bleached out white coral. The men used to fish with dynamite killing the fish and coral. 

The distant volcano at Mt. Rinjani on Lombok played inside white and gray clouds.

Every day I sat near the sea, enjoying thick Lombok coffee, reading, writing in the trusty Moleskine, made images, swam inside a clear blue water aquarium, and snorkeled with large turtles. Hello.

It was stressful. Doing my work.

If I had more time I'd make it shorter.

Metta.

Water music

A photograph, the details of life, the random constellations of objects that surround us.

A plane to an is-land. A van through high, thick luminous green jungles, see sweeping oceans, gray monkeys along the road, sand and the Lombok Strait.

Waves, sand, water. A blue and white boat. 20 minutes after riding waves, all the deep currents you land on Air is-land's beach. You take a horse-cart along a sandy path.

Fresh sea air. No motorized vehicles. Music echoes from bells suspended from the horse's neck.

Water waves and bells. 

May 2009 bring you every happiness.

Metta.

On Christmas and beyond...

To survive until January 1st my true love gave me:

Three islands named Gili more...

She showed me how to swim with gigantic sea turtles and practice sitting.

How to dive deep exploring coral and amazing underwater life forms. How to explore below the surface of appearances. Like experiencing the Temple of Complete Reality on a Taoist mountain in Sichuan once upon a time. Climbing through primal forests with Mountain Girl. How the heartbeat was an eternal rhythm.

Then we were going up. Now we are going down.

How to breath through a mask. "What kind of mask? Is it hand carved from the wood of tribal memories?" I asked her. 

"Yes," she said, "it is a manifestation of long lost symbols, a primitive culture. It is a shamanic ritual, a dance trance. When you put on the mask you become the thing you fear the most, your basic human nature."

"Does this mean I will evolve into a being filled with the ability to scheme and deceive?"

"Perhaps. This is a highly evolved trait of human intelligence. Do you remember what you wrote about J. Joyce, how he went into exile with silence cunning?"

"Yes. He knew how to put seven little words in order. He was a cunning linguist."

"Well, this ability to scheme and deceive is your cunning, your instinctual learned behavior. It separates you from less evolved life forms like apes, plankton and sea enemies-anemone (fish eating animals) and androgynous androids in the deep subconscious."

"Are you a clown fish?"

"Look in your dream mask mirror."

Metta.

On the next day of Christmas

My true love gave me:

dangerous goods such as,

compressed gases,

flammable, non flammable,

poisonous ideas, corrosives,

acids, an extinct volcano,

dresden dolls in matching outfits,

an eviction votive candelabra,

genetically modified food, 

the time of day,

a recycled Chinese ideogram,

a punctuation symbol,

alkalis and wet cell batteries,

etilogic agents,

a one-hour massage using a bulldozer,

oxidizing materials 

explosive bacteria,

viruses,

mutant fireworks,

flares,

a radio active box of chocolates,

a book of poetry from the reality zone,

and dark energy.

Happy satirical giving.

Metta.

On the first day of Christmas

My true love gave to me:

519 plants,

279 fish,

88 frogs,

88 spiders,

46 lizards,

22 snakes,

15 mammals,

four birds,

four turtles,

two salamanders

and a toad

more...

Happy giving.

Metta.