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"I read what seduces me, I write what perverts me. "
- Heather Cai -
---Hotel in Bangkok, 2014.4 | 曼谷酒店
Do you believe that traveling is the best for education and re-education? I do. If ever I get married and have two kids, I'd rather educate them by traveling than spending a fortune to lock them up in a Chinese school or send them out to a mall as Smombies.
---Street Snapshot in Bangkok, 2014.4 | 曼谷街拍
But who likes traveling with kids? After spending a couple of weeks with my little sister's one-year-old son and my brother's three-year-old daughter, I'm glad that I'm still single and free.
---Street Snapshot in Bangkok, 2014.4 | 曼谷街拍
Sometimes I wonder, what if I never climbed out of the mountains to catch a view of the sea? Would I still enjoy the freedom of being single? Or would I have married early?
---Grand Palace in Bangkok, 2014.4 | 曼谷大皇宫Alas, once you started traveling, higher and higher, further and further, would it be easy for you to stop being curious? Would a frog jump back into the well? Would I revert to being a country bumpkin, after traveling to 10 countries, 20 provinces and 100 cities in China? How would it be possible to understand one's own motherland without traveling? Do you think you know China just by being Chinese? Why do I feel the more I see of this world, the less I understand? Can you imagine finding your true self from a tree or a Buddha in a distant country?
---Grand Palace in Bangkok, 2014.4 | 曼谷大皇宫
In April 2014, I went abroad for the first time. It was to Thailand - five days in Bangkok. Everything was exciting, even before the plane landed. The curry fish tasted different. The landscape became flatter and greener. The taxi driver spoke with a tone as warm as the weather. And the hotel air splashed hotter with more colors, shapes, patterns and music than anywhere I've seen in China.
---Grand Palace in Bangkok, 2014.4 | 曼谷大皇宫
Even a daily greeting of "Sawatdee kaa!" with a devout smile gave me confidence to dive into a 1.2m-deep pool, and made me believe that I could really swim. But later when I nearly drowned in a deeper pool, I started thinking that maybe swimming needed more than just confidence.
---Thai Museum in Bangkok, 2014.4 | 泰国历史博物馆
Forget about the pool. Let me take you to the Kaoshan Road, Pattaya Walking Street and Nana Plaza. The straw hats. The orderly chairs. The jackfruit trees. The ice cream. The laughing gas. The scarily delicious scorpions and the disgustingly tasty beetles. When night fell, ladyboys would loom over you. When midnight came, GoGo Girls would appear with shorts pulled so high there was not much left to imagine. But I'm sure the guys did.
---Thai Museum in Bangkok, 2014.4 | 泰国历史博物馆
And when you released the night excitement to wander round the Grand Palace, the feelings were rather refreshing. You had to cover yourself almost like a Muslim woman. You got to watch the pigeons chasing freely on the grass. You would notice all the buildings have sharp needle points and the colorful tiles would gleam in the sun. You might wonder why the bell looked loftier in the sky. At last, the wall paintings took you to explore a proud kingdom built with the creativity and craftsmanship of Thai people.
---Thai Museum in Bangkok, 2014.4 | 泰国历史博物馆
However, what intrigued me the most was the Thai Museum. Entering the gate, you felt a sense of humility. Seeing the rooster-like statue of a Thai woman, you felt a sensation of a mixed mother creature. Staring at the intricate Thai Ceremonial Headdresses, you felt lost as if you just recovered from an intense phobia. After viewing some history of the war, the civilization, and some interesting items, like the steam train given by England's Queen Victoria, you came to feel the slow development of humankind. Especially when you studied each Buddha head that symbolized one's wisdom and knowledge, you began to see the color of the walls look brighter. Even my companion said "Look, there are 37 more rooms in this museum, and each contains 100 Buddhas - can we skip a few?", I couldn't but keep studying.
---Thai Museum in Bangkok, 2014.4 | 泰国历史博物馆
How did you feel when you first left your country? What fascinated you the most? Have you become more of a homebody or a traveler? Is it better to travel hopefully than to arrive?
---Heather has traveled to 24 provinces and 104 cities in China, 2011.5-2019.10
About Heather Cai:
Heather is the daughter of a subsistence rice farmer from Fujian Province, China. She tells stories from her experience as one of the poorest. She writes her dream to share with the world, a very personal place. She has now written two English literary novels and is looking to being published in the UK. Her passion is a splendid cocktail or milkshake of word, image, music and art. She likes collecting books, DVDs, papers, stones, shells and leaves. She desires for all forms of natural beauty. She is currently living in Shanghai and serving as Sergeant-at-arms (SAA) for Shanghai Leadership Toastmasters Club.
Copyright © 2018-2019 Heather Cai. All Rights Reserved. 所有版权归作者所有！
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