Bali and Turtles - The Wombo Combo

Life in Bali has not just allowed me to satisfy the wanderlust craving in mine. It has also allowed me to reflect on the life I once lead, and how I should be grateful for the littlest things in life.

With regards to the turtle conservation program, it was a superb one since it combines a 1-week orientation program together with your remaining weeks being put into turtle conservation activities. The 1 week allowed me to settle down, adapt to the culture and life there, and mingle around with other volunteers. Various opportunities to explore around were offered together with simple culture and language classes to ensure that all flows smoothly during our remaining stay. It was indeed a relaxing, zen-like first week which constantly reminds me of my childhood days in Malaysia and how we should strive to preserve all these rich cultures in our respective homelands. It also reminded me about how life should be about interacting with people you meet and not just being on technology most of the time.

Then, with regards to the turtle conservation effort, this really challenged me from the physical and mental aspect. Physical in a sense that a lot of muscle and energy is required to carry buckets of water, transport the turtles around, and wash their enclosures. Mental in a sense that we need to be prepared to get dirty throughout the day with the numerous enclosure cleaning and rubbish collection we do on the beach on the weekdays. Coupled with the scarce resources we have on the island at times, we really had to be appreciative of the littlest things we had. It made the volunteers appreciate each other's presence more, thus leading to banter, card games, and drink nights.

All in all, even though things are not fully developed yet in Bali, it has led me to reminisce about life in the olden days, and to be more grateful than ever with all that we have in our home countries. We must strive to preserve culture, encourage individual interactions, and most importantly help out in causes which are similar to that faced in Bali. :')