6 months of growing up on the road !
Yep, its official, I just realized that TODAY is the day when 6 months ago I landed in Hong Kong and started the chapter of my life becoming another modern bum, roaming the horizons of South East Asia, letting time pass and being an observer, a humble man on his way to find all that is given to those who can wait, think and fast. Packing the bag - bag packing - backpacking, however you call it there’s so many ways to perceive it. Its a strange emotion that grips my senses thinking of the past months, most of the experiences in the memory are dissected into chapters and stored in different places and under different names somewhere in the cerebrum, bearing different smells, emotions colors and further details. There has been a lot of everything, but not too much of anything. It is almost impossible to reflect upon all that has happened without sinking deeper into this never ending story, where each page is a tale in itself and depending on the mood it reminds different moments and subjects withing. The freedom behind the steps forward decided your next destination, be it a small village with nothing but a few houses, or an empty dusty road leading to something that on the map is supposed to turn into a forest or a jungle. Maybe even a river, that has long dried out, you might find mountains that have been stripped naked of its beauty by the human hand. And as long as nature is around you there is so little you could care. At times yet you are reminded of some obligations, like expiring visas and borders to cross, obliging you to pass crowded cities to get things that villages don’t stock up on or just escaping the wilderness to be sucked back into the flow of life to enjoy yet again the escape from it. Travel has filled my lungs and limbs with tingling experiences and has changed more in me than I had ever thought is possible. I never went on this trip to find answers, but got more than I could ever think of.
Traveling so often is not only about the change of your physical location but as well about the travel within. Even though the trip has started together with Marco we soon both realised that to be swollowed by Asia it was better to be alone, to experience it and reflect upon it without the ability to escape into a comfort zone of the familiar, of the friend, of the language that is at times putting a boundary to the simple folk around. After reaching Laos we continued alone and the winding roads have been so different to both of us. Marco is now in Australia, saving money to continue the trip further, maybe in South America as he said. Hey Maricon, its been a damn good time we shared together. Nothing can make people as close together as traveling. Another truth I learned while on the road and at times under pressure of time is the direct approach to people. If someone rubs you the wrong way you dont stay close, move on, get to know others and enjoy any good company to the fullest as so on the morrow the roads split again and you are left but nothing more than just a taste in the mouth. Who want it to be bad? While others stay diplomatic and in the company of repulsive fellow travelers I am the first to leave the table to see whats happening elsewhere. I start to think that life’s to short for introductions.
I guess theres no end to the philosophy of travel. And each one of us has its own way to thread the path leaving memorable moments behind, whether be it in the same city, same street or crossing continents chasing the dream being a bum or sleeping at 5 star hotels. I had often thought what the idea of traveling hides within and find different answers each time I try to dissect it. There is not one truth but many, to each his own. And all the answers that we so often need or find crucial to us, are already within us, but the pace of modern living has tuned out our ability to listen to ourselves with constant media and marketing bullshit trying to wash the brain and to distort the flow of the free thought movement. If there could be one advice, that no one cares to take, it would be to go to the nature and listen to it. The music of the natural surroundings, the flora and the fauna and yourself exposed to the elements, as if nature and evolution taking you back to where you belong to. So many of us are afraid of loneliness and prefer to stay in company be it nice or not. Which leads me to the temporary conclusions that people who cant bear silence and loneliness cant bear themselves.
Hope it wasn’t too much bragging, all I cared to say is that I am well and fine, the road is still winding, bringing new and undiscovered horizons and many more fantastic people to meet on the way. I will try to make some minor updates to blog, as quite many of you have been left with nothing but a dry stick. I am currently finding myslef in Pulauh Weh (http://k41.pbase.com/g1/57/626557/2/110656506.Zo2HCaRI.jpg), a small island on the tip of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Camping, snorkeling and fishing, laying traps to hopefully get wild boar, enjoying the village in the morning with the strong black coffee mug in the hand retrieving to secluded places later on and the silence within.
