Fabulous India – #26

Hello everyone!

Lots of things happened in our lives (including an incredible road trip through Europe) since I wrote last time – but it will all have to wait as I’m here today to tell you about an amazing trip to India that I embarked on recently. So if it sounds interesting, carry on reading!

Harsil village
Monkeys of Rishikesh

It all kind of started a couple of years ago, during covid times. My friend Belinda and I were organising one of our Ubud women’s dinners. It was a regular event where we were connecting moms from our kids’ school from across the world, women of different nationalities, ages, backgrounds… We were using Belinda’s amazing conversation cards to keep the discussion away from kids/husbands/mosquitoes/mould and other overused topics of our Bali lives. I found myself seated with two exceptional women – newly arrived American artist and art teacher and long term Bali resident, entrepreneur and eco activist also from the US. The question on our table was simple – ‘What was your latest adventure?’ Not a difficult one you might think, especially for someone who lives in a cool place like Bali. Yet the three of us stayed quiet, pondering the question and our lives. We all realised that while we can think of countless recent adventures of our husbands (shipwrecks, stowaways, Mongolian steppe..) – we could not think of a single adventure that was not from 20 years ago! Yes, we do have an occasional snake in the garden but generally life in Bali is very comfortable and you do not find yourself taking too many risks as everything beautifully slips into the tropical routine. The conversation of that night stayed with me and nagged at me occasionally, keeping my eyes open to opportunities.

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Ibufen-Ibufen a.k.a. My Chinese Vipassana, Other Travels and the Carbon Footprint of It All – #19

WARNING – IT’S LONG!!!

dearest friends,

i have been more out of bali than in bali in the last 2 months. i love travelling but – being part of green school community – it has become increasingly more difficult to ignore the consequences of my actions. some of my amazing fellow co-parents (apparently those who have more understanding of number science than i do..) took time to calculate their carbon footprint and inspired me to do so too. the results are very depressing. an average green school family’s carbon footprint is roughly the same as 32 balinese people. so yes, they do not have any waste management to speak of and some of them might be throwing their rubbish on the floor or down the river but we are much worse for the environment, air travel being the biggest culprit of all. the answer is a complete change of lifestyle and i must admit i’m not ready for it as yet. my account balance might push me in the right direction sooner than later but luckily – and again big thanks to more enlightened and diligent friends – there are some little ways to help the planet. i’ll share more at the end of the post, now back to my travels – with guilty conscience!