I have longed for my first overseas voluntary journey for months. It was a breakthrough for me and the Bali Sea Turtle Rescue project did not disappoint! There were passionate youths from all over the world. I made friends with volunteers from Europe, Asia and more. That’s really a place for cross-cultural exchange!
Orientation week was conducted in Ubud. I stayed in a homestay with cottages, family temples and yards. The yards were the playgrounds for the children, the places for making handicrafts as well as the farmhouses for the chickens and dogs. I felt like I was living on a farm! With the cocks crowing nonstop, I got up by 6am every day! What a countryside living style! For the sake of bargaining a better price in the Ubud market, we paid much attention to learn the Balinese language – Bahasa. We also attended a cooking class, a Batik painting class and visited the Monkey Forest, the spiritual holy water temple and spectacular rice terraces.
We left Ubud on Sunday and started our long-awaited turtle conservation journey in Nusa Penida! Duties in the turtle conservation site included beach cleaning, coral and seaweed collection, crab catching, turtle toy making, tank cleaning, turtle feeding and etc. Prepped for trying everything new, I managed to chop the tunas on the flies-filled table and caught the fast-moving crabs! What a chance of a lifetime!
I was impacted when I found so much trash and plastic bags on such a paradise beach! Turtles die if they accidentally swallow the plastic bags! This is everyone’s responsibility to take away rubbish when leaving the beaches. On the day of turtle release, I was touched when two little turtles were disappeared on the horizon. The future’s not ours to see. I felt grateful yet with a heavy heart for their return to nature.
The rhythm in paradise was as slow as turtles. I had waited one and a half hour for an afternoon tea at the beachside café! Yet I still had to compete with the most efficient insert – fliessssssss. But the sunset glow over the Indian Ocean, shooting stars at starry nights and the beautiful scenery in Banah view, Broken Beach, Angel Billabong and Crystal Bay will remain in my heart.
