Back to Life in T.O.: The Power of Photos & Unlocking Memories

This weekend, amidst dealing with a long-lasting & lingering congestion, I took out sometime to look back at the past several years and reflect on the countries and places that I have travelled to and visited. Flipping through a photo album is really an amazing thing to do. I never spend two seconds in looking at a photo. I soak in the moment and perhaps even escape through memory, imagination or both. Here's a reflection of the memories that were unlocked as I turned the pages of my photo album.

Central America, 2001 & China, 2003

Photos speak a million things and capture snippets & moments in time as though time at those exact moments had stood still. Adventures wouldn't be adventurous without fun, wild and crazy stories to tell! As I flipped through the pages of my Central America photo albums I remember being so proud to have conquered many of the pyramids of the Mayan ruins we visited but also recalling very vividly that going up was certainly the lesser battle of then having to drudge up the courage to make my way down! Reflecting back on my impulsivity and drive to accomplish the job of actually making my way up, I neglected to seriously contemplate that in the end, I would need to head back down. I'm afraid of heights so please understand that it was very horrifying and spine-chilling to even entertain the thought of descending. Tikal, Guatemala was the most poigant of all pyramid climbs....There I was, atop Temple IV...in the dead heat of the jungle canopy I had just made my way up with my last step when I instinctively turned my head to look down. Let me just tell you that I totally freaked out! I was 25m up a steep pyramid! I panicked and immediately thought to myself, "God, help me because I can't go down!!" After trying to enjoy the gorgeous panoramic views of the jungle I knew the time had come for me to head back down. With my body in terrifying and blood-curdling mode, I could only take the advice given to me by a fellow traveller....climb down BACKWARDS. Every step from the first to basically the last 6 or so steps were meticulously traversed with finepoint precision. I tried my best not to look down however I had to peek with a side-eye look to see how close I was to getting back to ground level.

Similar feats of this sort where I would experience the simultaneous feeling of exhileration followed eventually by a nerve-racking exasperation was when I climbed part of the Great Wall of China as well as Mt. Huashan in Shannxi Province, just outside of Xi'an City. This is my unqiue way of inflicting self torture.

Jiuzhaigou National Park in Sichuan Province has been the most beautiful park that I've ever seen! I was mesmerized especially by the pristine blue colour of their lakes. The waterfalls and park atmosphere was just serene. I had to watch the movie, "Hero" again where Zhang Yimou films a spectacular fighting scene on one of the blue coloured lakes.

The visit to the Terracotta Warriors wasn't as alluring as I thought it would be however the mystical ambience that the place provided was enough for me to enjoy the sheer volume of soldiers and infantryman that guarded the first emperor of China in his afterlife.

I will forever remember the daunting 10km hike through part of the Great Wall (Jinghingling to Simatai). The small yet foreign bout of hyperventilaion brought on by altitude & just the ardous work of going up and down the paths that hugged along the mountain. As the path winded up and down the mountain, I was counting down every "look-out/signal tower" encouraging myself that there would be only a few more! As I've mentioned on countless ocassions, the only reason I fought so hard to complete the hike was because I didn't want to miss my bus back to Beijing and be left overnight on the wall! The Maglev train from Shanghai to the International Airport at a speed of up to 420 km/h was impressive as well as Qingpu in rural Shanghai which is a small town on the water (I believe that Mission Impossible 2 was partly filmed there).

I remember watching an episode of the Amazing Race after coming back from China and seeing that the racers on the show had taken a travel route that was very similar to mine & LD's! Wow, we could have been in that race! Ha!

Travelling overland, on mini-vans, old North American schoolbuses in Belize as well as by boat reminded me how rugged the infrastructure in some countries are. The photos that I took reminded me of many funny & memorable moments....mosquito bites, food...amazing foods, getting food poisoning, cockroaches, sweating in the summer heat, haggling, learning and meeting people of different cultures, trying pumbling issues with toliets, scooter accidents, friendships, getting golden tanned, carrying my heavy pack and living out of it for a month, finding accommodations, public toliets, overcoming the language barriers, & so much more....the smells, sounds and sights of the places I had ventured off to...so precious, so enriching, and so darn, adventurous!