Trains, Rain, Spirit & Splendour
Part 1: Insert 1
IN TRANSIT – 1st Full Moon, 28th December 2012
On Board the first plane. Already other’s stories are
emerging and merging with mine. I imagine there will be many tales to fill me
as I journey. The girl with the thick black hair and the bright eyes is following
her heart to Argentina, there is something I deeply respect and am simultaneously frightened by as I survey her choices. Will my heart do the same I wonder?
We drove beneath a full silver moon to reach Cape Town International Airport, the
mountain range above Noordhoek, a breathtaking silhouette. We were indeed being
guided by the sky and now, into that seemingly infinite space, I will fly; fly
and find freedom and love and magic and all that comes with it. It hasn't struck
my yet, the alone-ness. I wonder if it will.
It’s been hellishly quick so far. I made a silly mistake and
didn’t realise that lacto-ovo vegetarian meant that I choose to ingest
dairy and eggs and not the other way around! This is of course mildly confusing
for my body, but I think from now on its really mind over matter for all that I
encounter. [I thank the ‘Mousebird’ card from the Bird Card Pack by Jane Toerien & Joyce van Dobben for this http://www.birdcards.net/].
We have already begun our descent into O.R.Thambo Airport in Johannesburg and all that seems to occupy me are the devastating expanses of farmland instead of lush life, and surprisingly, just as I write that, the land turns to rich velvet green and I laugh to myself.
How do we find harmony with Mama Earth? Balancing cultivation
with exploitation? I often wonder to what extent our intensive farming is
excessive. Who’s mouths are we really feeding? Oh right. It’s not just
the raw material, its products and by-products and pharmaceutical
organisations. Goodness Mama Gaia I pray that what all us eco-warriors are
doing will help bring you (and us!) back into balance! I love you my South
Africa. It was an odd thing to stare out at your rising fire orange sun and
breathe a sigh as I murmured a silent goodbye
to Mama Mountain. Already so far and the journey is yet to being! How delighting.
I choose to be present though. In each moment. This is not
some dream, this is the reality that I am choosing to create.
____
Like walking into paradise, golden beige
seats and smooth cool air, music to soothe the soul and soften the travel
frenzied temperaments, this is the beginning of my adventure. You have done
well Ethihad Airways, you truly have! I met a man and his wife going to Mumbai;
they advised me to go to Backwaters in Kerala. I met a family of Indians from
Durban on their way to Chennai, Mumbai for a family holiday. The older woman
was beyond sweet! I spotted someone kin like as well; golden dreads and big searching
eyes, all clad in Indian already, she was with a young British couple. Everyone
is on their move to the East. It’s so strangely beautiful. My own little
paradise has begun…..
___
Sleep doesn’t come easily. Weird positions. Stomach filled
with the unnecessary evils of cheese. Headache. But still this un-tameable excitement.
The reality of it persists!
IN TRANSIT –Abu Dhabi – 29th December
Rasgulla! Egg shaped syrup soaked pods that oozed odd white
moisture. Oh wonderful introduction to India.
 |
| Abu Dhabi Aiport Roof |
I met four Goa bound travellers each from England. The kind
clad woman with honey dreads and olive coloured jersey, one mild-mannered
curious young lawyer from Plymouth and a couple with a Birmingham accent. We
teamed together for a while, trading stories and tips about our adventures and
finding solidarity in our hunger and our exhaustion as we moved along each
flight (Now currently stuck in the regal Abu Dhabi airport, waiting on our
delayed flight to Mumbai).
 |
| Olive Jersey Traveller |
We finally boarded and the Plymouth lawyer and I talked about finding and following a sense of adventure as we stared out over the dark expanses of Saudi Arabia, lit up by the unnervingly structured trails of street lights and desert blackness.
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