 |
| Viet Nam & Cambodia |
Angkor Wat Towers
Cho Lon Market - Sai Gon, Viet Nam
The Mekong Delta - Sai Gon, Viet Nam
|
Trees at Angkor - Angkor, Cambodia
|
The Falls at Kulen
|
|
Sai Gon, Viet Nam
My travels have been enriching, enhancing, marvelous
education. They have taught me to be more aware, more sensitive,
more quiet. To appreciate the FLOW of another culture -
to gently dip in a toe to the stream of another and then
smoothly slip into the river, carried by the current of
another place and people. New perfumes, new colors, new
textures, new movements.
Cho Lon Market (Chinese market Sai Gon, Viet Nam)
I am shaken by the visual imagery. Shaken by the darkness
of the fruit isles. The small people squatting by baskets
larger than they - a great bounty and yet they are slight
and poor. Beautiful reds and greens and yellows in the
eerie light - the darkness. I feel so foreign - as though
I invade their intimate world with my camera. I thank them.
Angkor, Cambodia
Understanding between people does not come from politicians
but, from people to people - respecting each other - listening
to each other. Here I ride with a polite, gentle Cambodian.
He tells me of his peoples history and love of the Temples.
We talk about how things may change. Monkeys run about,
clouds gather, water buffaloes wade in the moats of Angkor
Wat. This is a beautiful and holy place. My heart is stirred
the wonder of it all.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
I have also felt physical sensations I've not known before. The Cu Chi
tunnels and Tuol Sleng prison broke my heart and choked my throat. Man's inhumanity
came roaring forth - screaming in my ears - filtering into my brain. My heart
aches. My body is sickened. I have to get away.
After the prison we are silent for the ride to the airport.
But not as silent as the thousands of faces that peered
back at us from all those photos on the wall. Not as silent
as the empty brick cells with their shackles on the floor.
Not as silent as the barbed wire wrapped around and around
like wrapping paper. The grass grows up, the buildings
are quiet.
 A country forgotten by many was once a glorious capital.
Wracked by the horrors of a war not so long ago, Cambodia
bears the scars of limb and spirit and stone. Yet the
pages of history reveal a time of cultural splendor at ANGKOR.
Traveling back 1200 years I stand amidst
the splendor of the ancients. Temple mountains soar up
through the jungle canopy. Between light and shadow their
presence looms, captivating me, fixing me in a sublime
moment. Breaking out of the trees the landscape shimmers
with water and reflections.
I travel in an attempt to discover ethnic
detail. And in my travels I am met with connecting threads.
Universal symbolisms and mythologies are quietly revealed.
Ethnic details speak more boldly. And yet what calls to
me across the ages is the same voice that speaks to me
as I travel today. It says "We Are One." |
| << back to main travels page |
|
