Koh-Phi-Phi-Le
Koh Phi Phi Le, Krabi, Thailand, October 2011
michelle-king-thought-catalog

LOST GIRL IN BALI

Day-one
memories of pain and memories of light, witnessing how love is cut and dried. first time in a foreign land alone i understand that these strangers are not gentle with me, sentiment, in reusable phrases and gestures but these affectations of love do not imply that it exists. pack up, wrap up, deliver these kisses to the next willing stranger because i do not want them.

Seminyak-Beach
Seminyak Beach, Bali, January 2012

but i am so happy here, bali has a momentum that suits me – slow bossa nova in afternoon cafes, acoustic guitar riffs on the beach, laughter and pulsating music as night breaks, there is a space for every kind of beat that you feel like and good people who dance and laugh and sing like their spirits are on fire. bali rewards those who love life and camaraderie, freedom and change, it is the lightest place i know and i am here for the good times.

kuta beach sunset
1. The city is not a good place for humans
2. The world is vaster than the objects of my desire
3. Please take me away from here.
Kuta Beach, Bali, September 2011

TEMPLE OF CONCORD, ROMAN FORUM

Roman-Forum
Wishing i knew more about architecture so i can bring its stories home – telling you i counted Ionic orders, Doric columns, pretended to hold up porticos in pictures and tumbled down a crepidoma (which i am standing on in this picture) into a ramshackle hypocaust, keystones, Byzantine arches, Gothic ornaments, waxing lyrical like a 8th century builder. It would be very good to understand, or would my head explode in rapture? Most of the time i am collecting memories of grandeur i fail to appropriate into mere words. I need you to see all that i have seen.

AMALFI COAST, ITALY

Along the Amalfi coast, en route Amalfi town from Positano. The blue SITA bus will shuttle you along the drive (7.2€ buys a 24hr pass), holding you captive to beauty and exhilaration because this journey is a mere foot away from a sheer plunge into the rocks and ocean. I ignored my screaming mind and leaned across Sheena to film.

See, the road is a lover of the mountains, hugging them with sinuous lines and meanders. Each concave turn reveals resorts hidden in unique rocky coves, nestled within the folds of the valley. As it curves out, the expanse of the Mediterranean is startling and wonderful to behold, waves hurtling themselves against the cliffs, crests flecked with froth. The sea is so deeply azure it feels viscous, like it’s got density and strength. If i were to hold it, it would stain my fingers blue. It is liquid sapphire.

Where i always feel belittled before nature’s magnificence, here i felt a delirious sense of possibility. The world is so pulsating and tremulous with beauty and i cannot wait to take in more. I have never seen anything like this.


Free to keep breathing. Free to believe.