From the moment of birth, the hours were woven like braids, snaking like channels to the sea of the living. At seven, naive and tender, the seed of this summer's odyssey was planted in a wood-paneled den, yellowed with lamps at dusk, when the television with foil antennas revealed a scene from India, and I was enchanted by the kaleidoscope of sunlight peeking through its jungle foliage. It sought my heart, and for one hundred and sixty eight months, I have dreamt of it spellbound. Bombay, Jaipur, New Delhi, Agra, Varanasi, Calcutta, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Pakse, Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Ha Noi, Sa Pa, Ha Long. India, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. I murmur these to sleep, like a sacred prayer. A crescendo orchestrates itself in the instrument of my veins, even my blood is singing. I lie delirious with thoughts foaming and blooming and bursting forth from the throne of my consciousness, so elated to be alive.
If you are miserable, you can lose nothing but your misery, the risks you believe it takes to forsake the comfort of your familiar misery, are only imagined, they are nothing, forget them. Forget things themselves: currency, materialism. Forget society’s close-minded judgement of success and responsibility. In this, you will lose nothing but burdens. I am responsible to my soul, responsible to who I am, responsible to that which I have found meaningful. We are not slackers who seek to enrich our souls, instead of fatten our pocketbooks. One day, we will be ashes and dust, and then what will you remember?
Postscript: Please forgive this entry being poorly written, I had so little time to write it. I depart tonight for Asia, and am shooting mostly 35mm film, so can’t share those pictures until I come home in August and develop them, but I have resurrected my old iPhone and will attempt to post pictures, closer to real time, to Instagram (@susannacoleking) and from there to Facebook, plus updates there. I will be working on a book to be filled with prose and photos (if any come out well) from my travels. Henceforth, I will be on hiatus from blogging for an indefinite period of time, but I will be back, please be patient with me. Also the winner from the giveaway in the previous entry is Jordan Harper! Thank you to everyone who entered, you're all so kind, and I wish I had the time to send even more postcards. One last thing, if you haven't already, please read this.
Photos by Elliot Michael Fairhurst
