He said “watch out for the ants,” as we walked down the dirt path towards the river. Halted by confusion I looked down and saw a distinct moving line of greens and yellows cutting through our path. I stared in amazement as the leaf cutter ants moved in sync with one another, forming a line … Continued
After finishing college I couldn’t stay in the countryside any longer. I was living in a county full of people whose idea of culture is drinking cider and comparing tractors. I needed out. At the time London seemed like the center of the world. Every time I had taken a day trip there I … Continued
Taiwan: praying for a new place Jacob leads the way into the smoky compound. We’re in the most famous temple of Taipei city, which is also the first temple I have ever step into after thirty days in Taiwan. Rather than drawing a divination lot, I am much more allured to the exquisite carvings and the psychedelic colors on the wall. It is a splendid morning on a windy Autumn day. Finally, a cloudless blue sky after weeks spent in murky weather. An unavoidable overwhelming sensation dawn upon me. Moments of the entire trip lurked in my memory – pellucid turquoise waves crashing down on me in Kenting, standing on top of humongous stones in Hualien, gazing at the infinite night lights of Taipei on top of Mt. Yangming etc. This is it, this is the end of my trip, and the end of my long acquired freedom. “C’mon, I’ll teach you how,” Jacob interrupts my serialization of thoughts. After thirty days in Taiwan, he managed to persuade me into drawing a lot. No harm trying. He hands me two red moon-like shaped wooden pieces and teaches me step-by-step, but most importantly, he emphasizes, “keep the question you have in mind all the time”. Yes, indeed. My brain is congested at that specific moment, mostly with fragments and residues from the discontinued thinking session earlier on. I walk around teary-eyed, fascinated by the artistry of history left behind on the wall, overpowered by the strength and belief hold by people praying toward an idol. I kneel down on the soft padded cushion placed on the ground. “Keep the question you have in mind all the time.” Jacob’s advice echoed within for a while before this specific question hits me and I feel I need to have an answer to it. I proceed the steps with caution. The entire process takes less than ten minutes and in exchange for the lot – number sixty-six – I now got a pink slip filled with unfamiliar Chinese characters. Without understanding any of it, my line of vision turns toward an elderly man sitting behind a counter. I approach him with some skepticism and a mere tingle of hope. What I got in return was an affirmative answer to my doubts that has been waylaying itself under the mask of freedom. My eyes lit up upon the words pouring out of the wrinkled man’s lips. People are coming in and out of the temple’s front gate, and I stare at the picturesque sky in front of me. I am most certainly awe-stricken by what I perceived as a traditional superstition when Jacob finds me at the front door of the temple. He ask curiously, “so tell me, how was it?” I feel the piece of vulnerable pink slip in my hands and look at him and say, “I’m going to my next destination, my home”. Thank you for reading and commenting. Please enter the Gratitude Travel Writing competition and tell your story.
They were here again – the Paparazzi! We strolled confidently towards the melee, the crowds parted, camera shutters clicking. They began “I want one of you together”, “She wants her picture with you”. We obliged, we were ready! It was our 14th time playing Mas at Trinidad & Tobago Carnival. We recognised the looks of … Continued
Thank you, Bangalore, for your gentle blue skies as invigorating as a cup of filter coffee; your occasionally blushing sun; your fragrant rains from a refreshing sprinkle to ruinous raging downpours; and, your visually arresting cloudscapes like slow-moving frescoes painted on the sky. Thank you for your vibrance; houses painted in pastel orange, purple, green, … Continued
“THIS INSPIRES ME TO REMAIN THE DEMIGOD I BECAME” Each summer, before my college graduation, I had always joined the geology students in my school on their fieldtrips. On one occasion, I had the opportunity of enjoying the company of some legion men, a group of ex-service men from my country’s National Defense Academy (NDA) … Continued
Kronborg castle, with its boardwalk suicide ghosts that wear nostalgia as mourning dress- that was where Hamlet and I grew up. I came back to the country that had given us refuge during the war. Denmark with its warmth emanating mirages in the middle of winter, those stuffed date stands along the Strøget in Copenhagen, … Continued
There was no mistaking the intent behind that glare, the blaze of a malicious death-ray. We had inadvertently got between her, on the trail, and her baby on the riverbank, a regrettable error in the southern Kenya bush. She scanned our little group, stolidly selecting the one she intended to grasp in those giant jaws … Continued
I don’t know how I ended up in Narita airport that night, curled up by the window using my Jansport as a pillow and trying to find rest while a night janitor vacuumed not far away. I remember staring, fully awake, past the hum of jet engines to what I knew was the skyline of … Continued
After three days of constant packing, driving, and roadside camping, I was relieved to make a longer than usual stop in Byron Bay, a famous beachside town on Australians east coast. Slowly, my girlfriend and I had journeyed up from Sydney, stopping at Forster and Coffs Harbour along the way for a night before our … Continued