Towards a Bay of dragon and a land of lanterns

                                                                                Vietnam, Halong Bay [1]

             

Time to leave…Again.

Months ago, walking in a park in a early spring afternoon, a friend asked me where I would like to go next, which part of the world I would elect as my next destination.

Thus, We both found ourselves dreaming of ethereal temples of the East, travelling with our minds on wooden little boats at sunset, our hearths captured by a thousand silent prayers.

This was the way this trip was planned: maybe by chance, or because of the destiny, surely thanks to my resolution.

So I am now leaving for Bangkok.

From there, I will head to the North, to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, approaching the "Golden Triangle", dreaming of Burma from a distance. Then river crossing into Laos: a cruise on the Mekong, up to Luang Prabang , a fabulous city of wanders, ensnared between temples, wooden houses and mountains, that made the Buddha smile. Abandoned the idea of a 24-hour bus trip to Vietnam, on the 5^th of August I’m landing in Hanoi.

There, one of my dream will eventually come true as I’ll discover a stunning bay where a family of dragons defended the country from a foreign invasion. According to the legend, they cast jewels into the sea, which turned into dozens of islands, thus making Ha Long an impregnable fortress, a treasure of incomparable beauty. Then I might go for a boat tour of the island or I will just chill out on a beach, approaching a fairytale reality: I guess it will be hard to leave.

At the end, I will follow my the track again, curious to see the ancient capital Hue, and Hoi An, a small port of bridges and lanterns...Then I’ll head to Saigon (which is now called Ho Chi Minh city, but that with the former name holds a total different charm). Over there another journey will begin: I’ll continue my travels with to friends, moving to the Mekong Delta and to Cambodia.

Now the question is: “Will I be alone until you reach Saigon?”

Well, yes, but I do think we are never alone, if we learn to recognize the little signs of so many fellows, silent angels by our sides ...

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[1] Photo taken from: http://www.travelfish.org/browse-photo-gallery/vietnam/hanoi_and_surrounds/quang_ninh/ha_long_bay/73298886@N00/halongbay/5549599939

Travelling

"Welcome, take place: there is space, if you can adapt."

…The world whispers.

Your baggage prepared, the route traced, a map in your hands: time to leave, ready to go.

Maybe we will became friends with lute players, we will follow painters and loose ourselves in invisible castles, we will get to know the art of Indian massage, we will listen to fortune tellers who will look at our future unravelling our past…We will be fascinated by distant fires burning in the night, we will look at the sunrise on a fairytale island, listening to forgotten stories in a distant fragment of the world…

It was about "A furious and indecent thirst for life" that Ivan Karamazov used to talk…

Trapped in two worlds, the traveller is searching for his place: out of his universe, he studies the vocabulary of different lands, crossing the slippery limbo of the unknown, seeking for the cipher book of the universe, of understanding of another, he travels through the promised land to report back to those remained at home.

Man on the border, slave of his binoculars, observer from a distance ...

But he cannot remain still: he is always asking for more, his eyes widening, his look embracing the horizon. In his thoughts are visions of strange lands, sounds of unknown languages, memories of invisible worlds. Beyond the border in order to get rid of the everyday life.

Seeking for the essential, he has the look of butterfly, pledging to fly high. 

Courageous creator of himself, he believes he can capture dreams.

When I was seventeen I bought a painting of barefoot Buddhist monks walking on a path.

Since then it has become my metaphor for life.