Reflections on the Road: Asian Puddles

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember the first time I looked at a puddle and felt sadness.  It was a summer afternoon in Nepal, the 30th of July, 2004, and six feet below my eyes was a pool of monsoon rain.  Having been driven out of the sky hours before, it now sat in a temple courtyard, motionless in a dip in the brick-covered floor.

The temple itself was a bedraggled sight, crumbling and old.  Its bricks, both those on the floor and on the walls, were broken and cracked, and the people who lived amidst these bricks were, in their own way, broken too.  I had been speaking to several of them.  Twenty-six-year-old Barpati had shown me her 10-year-old son,  who had been left curled into a ball by a severe case of cerebral palsy.  I had also met the elderly couple who lived in the room next to Barpati.  Their quarters were no larger than many closets in the American suburbs, and they lived here because they had no children to care for them in their old age.

And now, surrounded by a worn environment, I stared into a puddle which reflected temple tops and monsoon clouds. 

 

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Our mood affects how we see.  But what we see is affected by other things as well -- the books we read, the music we hear, or a stranger's unexpected act of kindness.  The photographs below were taken while I was in a particular mood, but perhaps I've already said enough about the inner workings of my mind.  So let me just say that I have a coffee table book idea: a photographic look at the world as seen through the reflection in water puddles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOI AN -- This quaint town in central Vietnam was once a major trading port in Southeast Asia.  Here Vietnamese culture mixed with Western, Japanese, and Chinese to create a beautiful Old Town.  Whether by day or by night, the streets make for a pleasant walk, taking you through wonderfully designed buildings.  And if you're in the mood, you can rent a bike for under $1 and cycle 30 minutes to the coast to gaze out at the South China Sea.  For more photographs from Hoi An, click on my article entitled IN PICTURES: FACES OF HOI AN, VIETNAM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAIGON -- Renamed Ho Chi Minh City after the city fell to the North Vietnamese in 1975, many still call the city Saigon.  Even the buses traveling the long road to Hanoi -- a 49 hour journey -- are often marked "Hanoi-Saigon".  The city saw a tremendous amount of sorrow and death in the second half of the 20th century, but this hasn't kept it from being the most active, entrepreneurial city in Vietnam.  An hour after a monsoon rain swept through the city, I took a photo of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, built in the late 1800s, and thought of all the history the building has seen.  (If interested in reading more about my experience in this city, check out a piece published in March in the Christian Science Monitor, entitled THE TIMELESSNESS OF OLD SAIGON.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PHNOM PENH -- Like Saigon, this Cambodian capital has seen its share of tragedy.  But unlike Saigon, it does not feel as vibrant and forward-looking today and thus the tragedy seems more present.  Many of the sidestreets are still unpaved, and the potholed, broken roads are a metaphor for the country as a whole.  Tourists who venture only to the famous Angkor Wat in Cambodia's north will not experience what life is like in most of the country.  It is a paradox how a people who crafted the wonders of Angkor Wat could also give birth to the Killing Fields.  Of course, humanity is full of paradoxes.  To learn more about Angkor Wat, click on IN PICTURES: THE TEMPLES OF ANGKOR, CAMBODIA; to learn more about the Killing Fields, click on ENTERING CAMBODIA WITH A BOOK (REFLECTIONS BUILT AROUND LOUNG UNG'S FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LUANG PRABANG -- If the frantic pace of Saigon's 5 million people wears you out physically, and the brokenness of Cambodia's cities and countryside wears you out emotionally, head up the Mekong River to the Lao town of Luang Prabang.  A UNESCO World Heritage Site -- as is Hoi An -- the serenity of the Buddhist monasteries and the Laotians themselves will give you rest.  For more about the town, click on IN PICTURES: FACES OF LUANG PRABANG, LAOS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BERSTAGI -- I visited the Indonesian island of Sumatra several months before the December 2004 tsunami took the lives of more than 100,000 of its people.  Not that the ocean is ever a cause of worry in the highland town of Berstagi, which is many miles from the sea.  It does, however, have volcanoes, and on my solo hike to Mt. Sibayak I passed by a list of foreign visitors who in the past 20 years went up but never came down.  Some simply vanished, others were killed by the mountain.  In this picture, which is taken in the town market, you can see the volcano in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIJIANG -- Also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this picturesque town tucked into the mountains of China's northern Yunnan Province is another place worth visiting, even if you want to do nothing more than enjoy a walk.  In 1996, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale made a lot of buildings crumble, and some have looked down on the "new" ones that rose in their place.  But if the touristy section of town seems too artificial, all you have to do is walk a couple blocks off the beaten path to experience the unadulterated architecture and atmosphere of Lijiang.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AGRA -- Perhaps this picture doesn't belong in this essay since the reflection is not in a puddle of rain water.  But what the heck, it's the Taj Mahal.  Construction on this mausoleum began in 1632 and finished about 20 years later.  The Mughal ruler Shah Jahan built it as the resting place for his favorite wife.  Like Hoi An and Luang Prabang, the Taj Mahal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  A ticket to enter is about the most expensive thing you will buy in India, at least if you're a budget traveler.  I believe the cost was around $17.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PASSU -- Shortly after arriving in this tiny town in the far north of Pakistan, I took a photo of the Karakoram Mountains outside my guesthouse (as seen in this puddle).  A few minutes later I chased a goat out of my guesthouse room, then I photographed a dead rat in my toilet.  As you can tell, the region is rich in photographic opportunities.  The area is also full of hospitable and rugged people.  To meet some of them, click on IN PICTURES: FACES OF PAKISTAN. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ASHGABAT -- On October 6, 1948, at 1:00 a.m., two-thirds of the population of Ashgabat -- 110,000 people -- died in their bedrooms as an earthquake measuring nine on the Richter scale flattened the city.  (The official Soviet figure, however, was 14,000; but the city was closed to outsiders for five years while they dug out bodies and rebuilt.)  Now the capital of the independent nation of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat's character has been shaped by Saparmyrat Niyazov, the dictator who died in December 2006 and is better known by the name Turkmenbashi.  Among his baffling decrees:  In 2005, he ordered all hospitals outside the capital city to be shut, saying that the country's sick should all be brought to Ashgabat for treatment. 

 

In the center of Ashgabat is this statue of a bull with a broken Earth on his horns.  A woman is seen appearing out of a crack in the Earth and she is holding a golden child in her arms.  That child is Turkmenbashi.

 

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		Joel Carillet, Gather Travel Correspondent
	Joel's column, "Reflections on the Road," is published every other Thursday to Gather Essentials: Travel. His articles, based on extensive travels in Asia and the Middle East, seek to shed light on humanity, both our own and that of others.   They aim not merely to entertain and inform but also to develop a sense of connection between the reader and the world. Joel's writing and photography have appeared in several magazines and newspapers, including the Kansas City Star and Christian Science Monitor.  Currently he is seeking an agent for a book manuscript entitled Sixty-One Weeks: A Journey across Asia. When not on the road, he happily calls Tennessee home. Keep up with Joel's article series by joining his network, or subscribing to his content.