Oh dear, this blog is living in the past. Below are some photos from Amer Fort, a mere three days into my three-week India trip, which happened over seven months ago. My memories are stale now but a peek at my journal turns up: "My sense of wonder is alive and well."
Also playing catch-up is my friend Jenna, blogging about her first visit to North America, including our trip to the Bonnaroo music festival back in June. She posts at HARROW KIMCHI: A wee trip,
Mammoth Cave,
Nashville and Lynchburg,
Bonnaroo 1,
2,
3 & 4,
Middle America Car Views &
TORONTO-TOWN!
While we're on the topic of friend-blogs, my compadre Craig, is chronicling his days in Seoul over at CHAMCHI GIMBAP. It let's me vicariously enjoy Korea.
And, friend Jhaqui is snapping away in Toronto and posting on 500px.com/JHAQUI. Digging that black and white.
Finally, the magical Kerri spreads her travel love at the EXPAT KERRI BLOG and video wonders on her youtube channel.
Onwards! To the fort!
OK Korea + Harrow Kimchi = OK Kimchi
OK Kimchi was conceived when friend and fellow blogger Jenna proposed that we collaborate on a photo project. The result is an ongoing series of photos published in pairs: one from me, and one from her. We take turns selecting a photo from our time in Korea to which the other responds.
The exercise has been, for me, fun but also exhausting. Each addition by Jenna prompts me to revisit my archive, to pore through the thousands of images in order to further the dialogue. It is daunting, challenging but also rewarding. Memories are revisited, recontextualized, and in the act of pairing, I would say, newly synthesized.
The friends we made on the island the previous night suggested that we have dinner. We showed up with some whiskey which was immediately poured into another bottle containing various herbs, what looked like pieces of bark, and honey. The mix was rather tasty.
Our hosts rode us to a nearby fish market on their motorbikes. We came back with a wide array of various sea creatures, some still crawling. These were thrown on the grill unseasoned and served with a delicious dipping sauce.
It was decided that we must see White Sand Beach and the nightlife there before we left the island. We found a bar called Sabay Bar, sipped on Red Bull cocktail buckets while watching the excellent Filipino cover band, and danced under a full moon among the lady boys.
The next morning, these kids were playing around on the guesthouse grounds. Cute, non?
We said our goodbyes to the beach and our friends and jumped on the songthaew and the ferry and the bus and the plane and the taxi back to Bangkok.
We visited a friend at his pottery studio. Aside from making beautiful things, he also hosts tea ceremonies. We took part in what amounted to a tea marathon. Teas from China, Korea and Japan were carefully steeped and poured one after another and we drank while being regaled by our host until we brimmed with caffeine and stories.
The studio kitchen is also kind of awesome.
And has a resident slug.
