The sun, the sand the surf the wind... its my favorite place in the world I dont care where you drag me as long as you can promise me that somewhere I can see some waters flowing...
I am totally fascinated with the sea, the coast the watersheds, mangrove swamps, cave rivers, white rafts etc. For me basking under the sky lying on the sand waiting for the sunset is Nirvana, Shangrila, Eutopia, what ever you want to call it.
Much of my fieldworks are on the coast, specially that I worked with mangroves. Most of the time the places are purely isolated and untainted with urbanization, and globalization that makes them purely beautiful.
One of my unforgettable travelling experience is somewhere at the tip coast of the Philippines in a Marine Sanctuary where were doing our Phycology field, the place is so rural no commercialized hut, no overpriced water bottle, and we slept all together in one room with one bed with 12 people, defining the law on which no two matter can occupy the same space at the same time.. that's Physics.
Our back sores, we suffer mosquito concerts, and add to that the mysticism, and ghostly character of an isolated rural village, the idea of ghost, monsters and enchanted creatures that can snatch anyone of us and bring us to the unknown kingdom of far far away. That is a great sleeping experience..
Nothing beats a sunrise by the sea, how the dark starry sky turns into this fiery yellow, then suddenly blue sky... the smell of the ocean lingers, you can hear the soft gush of the wave on the coast, an early morning stroll by the sea on which the water gently floods your ankle is truly a wake up call.
The place is a marine sanctuary for giant clams,here we experienced sea snakes adoring us, walking for an hour on the sea at low tide.
But I will never forget our hike somewhere within the area, they say most of the places and experiences in travelling that are truly memorable are most of the time by an accident. Walking along a muddy hill, in our really good clothes ( since we came from a seminar) we went to this untrek cave river...you need to jump off around 10 ft and plunged to a cool unknown clear pristine water of around 7-8 ft deep, and you must land dead straight in that dive for the deep water is basically so small a slight angle can cause you an amnesia, cerebral hemmorage, can lead to coma, that can further lead to an eternal nap..so divine..
so there is mother nature offering me a slice of what she have, an adventure in exchange for a risk.. of course I take the risk. I dont care if the cave is infested with bandit sea snake, or I can turn the blue waters to red, all I can see is the clear water between the cliff I am standing..
A deep breathe, a dose of adrenalin and a straight jump and next Im under the river so deep yet so clear, gently I enjoy the underwater stillness, the cool water the silence and it seems that Im in a totally enchanted world on which at top I can see some of my friends also about to jump, so I need to move up and move on the shallower side.. I can see how my friends jump and get out of the deep part with an exhilaration of happiness..
And at the end of the day, the thing I would love to do the most,
watch the sunset and lay my head on the sand and watch the day ends and stare the starry sky.. waiting for a comet and to blow my wish ..
A life truly extraordinary can be as simple as 1+1 = 2 ( unless of course you add the complication of numbers,..)
