Naturally.
I was looking the link Imtiaz had posted Twitter this morning on El Teide, and felt compelled to write something about it. If there’s anything I love it’s a good time lapse movie of some nature video. I have an incredible fondness for documentary series like BBC Planet Earth. I know I’m not doing any of this justice. But, seriously just watch the video. Hell, watch all his videos. This guy Terge Sorgjerd, he knows what he’s doing. The colours in the Market video, and the song choice… fantastic. My favourite frame is the one of the old man in the blue shirt, filmed in a mirror. Or how about those fishes in the bucket? Perfection. Someday, maybe I could make a video like that. That, would be a dream come true.
So. I’ve realised lately, more in my wanting to live in the present, how much nature is connected to the whole experience. The last time I felt that focused, I was in a jungle hiking with my family and friends. For a good 6 hours, I thought about nothing but the task at hand. Similarly, one of the best holidays I’ve ever had, was Nepal in 2006. The stunning beauty of the mountains, the constant greeting of Namaste while being completely winded (smokers who don’t exercise, beware!), and needing to pull through to get to our nightly accommodation. Just the complete, quiet peace I felt sitting in front of Machupuchare every morning, eating muesli and honey, and petting one of the million black dogs aptly called Kale.
One of the happiest times I had in London was reading Into the Wild during Christmas break (I am aware that reading about nature, doesn’t equate to being in nature, I just think it is a useful lubricant to enjoying it when one finally does go “into the wild.”). I remember it vividly. Train journeys, long car rides in Norfolk, sunsets, seals in icy cold winter sea water. Fish and chips by a pier. Cream tea in a tiny bed and breakfast (you know with me food will always get a mention). The long solitary train ride home, and just being completely blown away by the sheer beauty of the sometimes (romantically) desolate patches of snow-covered English countryside. And Edinburgh. Ah, Edinburgh. Incidentally, this trip to Scotland, and the journey back, was I think it the beginning of my slow love affair with London. Yes, the two are related.
Anyways. I digress. But, I get it, I get why all these people, they do this, they convene with nature. Even if it’s just looking out the window at a park. I mean, there is an incredible opportunity for beauty in something as tiny and insignificant as that. The market video isn’t so much nature, but it represents a side of this life I lead… a life in Southeast Asia which I have battled with all my life. To live here, to move, to miss the familiar, to ache for connection. To be Malaysian, without wanting anything in return, to travel this region and seek solidarity with it, its people, its food (!), its landscapes and its culture repeatedly. I mean, the scenes in that video, minus the train riding through, would be common in Selayang market, or Chow Kit market on any given weekday at 5.00. Different languages, different faces, but the familiar would shine through. And that is comforting.
I made a promise to myself this year, to see more of Southeast Asia, to go back to my “roots” so to speak. I want to see more of Borneo. My last trip there just blew my mind. I’ve been to Sarawak before, and loved it. But, Sabah. Wow, now that is a whole other kettle of fish, but warrants a better post than this one. Cambodia. Burma. More of Indonesia. More of Thailand. Laos! It has to be done.
I suppose these events —- coming home, appreciating the landscape I now live in (and by landscape I mean both natural, which was the point of this post, but also everything else), to fall in love with my region, and even beginning to run again, which given the work I do, seems like an important thing to do for myself. It seems like one consistent, progressing narrative, and I’m glad it lets me see beauty in the unexpected, and to work at being present for each moment I experience.
