On the road: FAR APART

Sunday, 30 September 2007

FAR APART

I met Sue. We sat on a bench in Kobe, eat chocolate and shared travelogues as we had done so many times before. Sue was on the road, travelling. Her backpack and umbrella that she had found in Kyoto were by her side when we met.

"We can sleep on the roof tonight, but have to do some chores for it at 1 o`clock", she said with a smile. The stories that she told me of her last trip to Shikoku island - true amazing stories illustrated with pictures from her camera - brought back so many good memories of the road. Sue`s eyes were shining. In her world everything was perfect - she was on the road, she had made new friends and good memories, she was living in the now and knew nothing of tomorrow.

I could not share her memories and her experiences and could not help feeling guilty about it, living the life I was living - having money coming "out of the wall", having a place to stay, an extended visa, meals three times a day, a bed, a piano, badminton matches with Beatrix, Natasha and Farrukh, walks by the sea (without my backpack), a bicycle to take me wherever I wanted to go, having a certainty of tomorrow. My eyes were not shining and Sue noticed it. I was living my dream, learning Japanese language, being in Japan - why couldn`t I smile speaking of it then?

Perhaps because travelling together always meant sharing everything. When one was happy, the other one was happy, when one was sad, the other one was also sad, when one was ill, then the other one was also ill - every success and every sorrow, every meal and every drink, every comfort and every discomfort, every day - we shared everything.

It is hard to recognise each other travelling apart, without being able to share a memory of yesterday or a hope of tomorrow. We live in two different worlds. Kobe and Osaka are by boat just 29 minutes apart from each other - how far this actually is!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: hey carina....here sue's mama i got your blog from her....thank you for charing this expierience whit sue and a little bit with us....we follow the whole trip on google earth and read many books about the passing countrys.I hope you enjoy your lessons japanees....and meet sue several times ???I hope she travelled safety without you...a warm hug
from belgium Annemie; October 01, 2007
Carina said...: My dear Annemie,

"I know you will be alright wherever you are," my Mother once said to me before one other yourney. Still saying that I knew she would be worried.

I feel the same about Sue, but I also can not help being worried not knowing where she is or what she does 24 hours every day. It is so hard to be without a travel companion after you have had such a great and long companionship.

"Children grow up and leave their nests - it is the most natural thing in the world", my Mother once said to me. Still saying that I knew she would be sad if I actually left.

I feel the same way about Sue having her own journey since one month ago. I see that she is happy, I see that she is doing well, I see her free and independent and without any worry, I see her making new friends and having many opportunities opening for her.

But still...it is such a paradox to feel happy about her being happy, but also to feel sad of the fact that we are not travelling together any more.

Now I just hope for another crossroad. I know that you share that hope.

Thank you for following our journey!; October 04, 2007
Anonymous said...: dear carina, i wish you a very happy birthday thans for those nice words sending me from so far....
warm hugs from belgium
annemie; October 05, 2007

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TO VILLA ANGOSTURA

This is the story of how I unexpectedly discovered another paradise corner of the earth. The truck driver Pedro was merciful enough not to let me out on an empty crossroad in the middle of the night and brought me home in Junin de Los Andes. When the next morning I was looking at the map, the idea of going back in itself became alien, even after Pedro and his wife Olga had said the road to Villa Angostura be empty and dangerous for the lack of pavement. These landscapes I saw when traveling from Junin de los Andes to Villa Angostura on May 12th were thus a true surprise present. The photos were taken thanks to my kind ride - Jorje and Lucia, who stopped every now and then to record at least a tiny bit of what we saw.

AS SOUTH AS POSSIBLE

A good-bye to Chascomus (in the province of Buenos Aires) on the 8th of May ment a new beginning - a return to a round zero where past was just a story and future a white sheet, yet to be written. I met people and got to know them for the given time - for however long the journey lasted. At night there was always a safe place to stay as if prepared, and not once I experienced hunger. I was on the road in total for seven days arriving to my destination in Punta Arenas on May 15th.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Confucius

Kenji Miyazawa

not losing to the rain
not losing to the wind
not losing to the snow
or to the heat of the summer
with a strong body
unfettered by desire
never losing temper
cultivating a quiet joy
every day four bowls
of brown rice, miso
and some vegetables to eat
with everything
never letting emotion
get in the way
watching and listening,
and understanding
and never forgetting
in the shade of the woods
of the pines of the fields
being in a little thatched hut
if there is a sick child
to the east
going and nursing over them
if there is a tired mother
to the west
going and shouldering her
sheaf of rice
if there is someone near death
to the south
going and saying
there's no need to be afraid
if there is a quarrel or a suit
to the north
telling them to leave off
with such waste
when there's drought,
shedding tears of sympathy
when the summer's cold,
walk in concern and empathy
called a blockhead by everyone
without being praised
without being blamed
such a person
I want to become

2001: Summary

Destinations: 1) Louvre Art Museum, Paris, France; 2) "where the green meadows reach the snowy mountain-tops, and in the sky you can see the weather forming", North of Scotland; Travel companion: Piia Taremaa (until Paris). In the second part of the journey I hitchhike on the wrong side of the road and end up in Italy. Scotland is cut off once again when I spend the night in a British prison in Dover, as I enter the country illegaly (unknowingly). After my deportation to France I seek to find the tundra in the North of Sweden and Finland. Duration: 6 weeks. Budget 100 DEM

2005: Summary

MY HITCHHIKING CV