Travel is all about fun and laughter, right. That’s what I thought. I travel to have fun, to enjoy, to meet people, to party and sometimes to get drunk... until I get to these places that slapped me in the face and woke me up.
Hiroshima, Japan (Peace Memorial Museum)
As you walked inside the museum, nothing seems to be special. It’s just an ordinary museum that showcases some relics of the past. I followed wherever the crowd was going, and tried to read everything that was posted on the wall. Until one particular poster hit me. I could not exactly remember the exact line but it says something like, ‘For we shall not repeat the evil.” I was overwhelmed. The statement is not nationalistic, doesn’t bear any hatred, might have a little regret but most importantly there’s a conviction that the place where one of the biggest tragedies in the world happened will serve as the same place where peace would flourish.
Varanasi, India (Burning Ghats)
This was the first time ever in my life where I saw many people grieving (silently) over their departed ones. They burn one body after the other. Families waited for their turn to bid their final goodbyes to their loved ones thru the process of burning. And ironically, the place where I always see and feel death, would be the same place where I was when my grandma died back home.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia (S21 Genocide Museum)
Murray, the guy that I told you about in my previous article asked me not to miss S21 when I go to Cambodia. I didn’t know about this place back then. I only knew about the Killing Fields. I entered the museum which used to be a school turned into a prison during the Khmer Rouge era, and just went through the rooms one by one. I read the notes on the wall and took a lot of pictures. And the more posters I read, and the more pictures I looked at, the heavier the feeling became, until I wasn’t able to hold myself together anymore. Tears fell off and I immediately went out. I lit a cigarette and I burst into tears. I could not believe how cruel man can be. I calmed myself and continued on.
Travel is not just a medium to get drunk, laid or whatever. Most importantly, it’s a medium where we can all learn who we were, who we are and who we want to be.
How about you? Have you been to a place that made you cry?
Tragic events and locations can certainly move one to tears, but so can the milieu of a magical place or moment. Between my sophmore and junior years in high school, I spent three months backpacking throughout the eastern and southern parts of Africa. The experience so moved me and forever changed me that I did not want to return back home to the USA. I bawled like a baby for most of the return flight home.
ReplyDeleteHi. I've been reading your blog for some time now. This post however didn't allow me to be silent. I guess I did go to a place that made me cry, when I visited Terezin, in the outskirts of the Czech Republic. This was back in 2006, when I spent 3 months in the country. You can find my blog posts and pictures here, here, here, and here.
ReplyDelete@jody: oh, ive been dreaming of backpacking across africa too... maybe someday...
ReplyDelete@linguist: thanks for sharing your adventures :-) ill definitely read them.
bigla akong napaisip kung anu ang mga places din that made me cry. hmmm----not literally---but it touched my heart imagining how it was like during the war in that place---Mount Samat.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I think of karma I always remember Varanasi.
ReplyDelete@maja: that's what i heard as well... some people told me that varanasi is the land of instant karma
ReplyDelete@anton: got me curious about mt. samat
I missed the genocide museum but reading it from fellow bloggers makes me down, bute pala d ko xa napuntahan baka mas lalo ako ma-upset. But that 2nd picture in India is indeed very sad Flip. :(
ReplyDeleteFlip, i was actually standing outside the genocide museum because a couple of friends actually wanted to go. i just stood there, and never went in. actually if a spot meant anything to do with killings, or anything tragic. i'd skip it. i'd rather load up and chat with the locals. somehow, the more i analyze it, the more i realize it is because i want to remember the place not of its awful past but of its exciting future ahead.
ReplyDelete@gael: 2nd picture, dogs eating whatever's left from the body... reality isnt it... we're just a bunch of meat... which made me asked myself? is life really overrated?
ReplyDelete@jerik: never did i think that i would cry just by visiting those museums...
nice post :) thanks for sharing :)...i cried tears of joy one night on the charles bridge in prague :)...
ReplyDelete@ivan: you're welcome... thanks for dropping by :-)
ReplyDelete