Friday, August 19, 2005

La Japoneisa: EARTH CELEBRATION Day 2

EARTH CELEBRATION
Day 2 (19th August 2005)

THE PLAN AND THE SECOND PART OF THE JOURNEY
The exact plan remained rather unclear for quite some while, veiled by everybody's individual visions determined by individual quotas that we all had to meet in order to succeed.
The end result resembled a packet of sardines in a tin on a very slow assembly line; all of us, Bo, Wayne, me, Ren and Ren's little brother and cousin, squished in Ren's mum's red seven-seater on route 19, marked by endless rows of traffic lights (mostly in red mode) everywhere where it was possible to put them, pensively proceeding forwards in a sluggish sort of way.

Only two or so hours into the journey I realized why there were so many traffic lights on the motorway. It was not a motorway. Doh!3 but again, you are listening to the person who thought that the kettle was a rice cooker.
We headed for Nagano, through the beautiful mountains covered in mist, alongside the river lined by huge grey stones, the scenery so picturesque that I had to admit the fellow travellers lucky that I didn't drive, for if I did, we'd very probably end up at the bottom of that beautiful rocky river bed, staring at the hills together with all the happy fishes and frogs.
We were doing quite well, timewise, considering all the traffic lights and all the people, er, women (oh, I really shouldnĂ­t be saying this) who did not understand basic rules en route, but two hours later we were still two hours away from Naoetsu and two hours away from the last ferry's departure and so after a mutual consensus we agreed to pay the 2000 Yen road tax and fiiiiiiiiii of we were and oh how wonderfully fast we were, sparkles left in the smoke of the fire ball we've had become.
Arrived at Naoetsu, deloaded all the backpacks, bags, fags, surfboard, two bottles of okinawan shochu, sleeping bag, hats and plastic food bags, bought the tickets, boarded the boat and sunbathing on the top deck, with closed eyes and finally peace in our hearts and harmony in our souls we were carried on the sleepy waves of the Japanese sea, accompanied by flocks of seagulls scaving for food, towards our future.



"TWO LUCKY BUGGERS"
As we were approaching the port at Ogi, Sado-ga-shima, we spotted a little tent-town among few trees, possibly a park, right by the port. We had heard that it was possible to camp-no-fee but that was on a beach, and this seemed like the last sort of place someone would like to sleep, with the seaweeds and dead smelly fishes, away from all the action and fun and life. And so we stood around a bit, looking helpless and lost with all the luggage hanging off all possible hanger-like places, hands, fingers, necks and rope loops, then we talked a bit and stood around again to finally decide that, since the last bus (transport organization??) to the campsite has already left, we shall take the taxi. But consisting of six elements we'd have to take two taxis (too expensive) and still there was the surf board (the inadaptable element). And so as Ren decided to walk to the campsite with the board I had decided to join the two of them for after spending the whole day in various rather uncomfortable positions in the car, legs on the front window, legs outside the window, legs crossed, legs folded, legs under the dashboard, legs legs everywhere and all the time knowing I had legs and that there were two of them, I felt a desperate need to move and loosen the awareness of possessing two legs.
As Bo later mentioned, she didn't even realize how they suddenly found themselves in the taxi with two kids and all the backpacks around and on them, and off they were to the campsite which none of us really knew where it was.
Ren, the surfboard and I started walking the direction we were pointed towards but then we saw lights back in the port and heard music so we decided to have a quick look before we'd continue on our journey.
It turned out that the lights were the centre of all the 'fun and life', it was the flee market, right by the fringe-performance stage, with people talking and laughing and walking around in the fairy-lit-darkness, it boasted with lively colours and foreign smells, it silently screamed out the excitement of being and becoming.



In this Babylon Ren, about whom I have heard so much though whose real intriguing him was slowly unfolding in front of me and would flaunt itself every time in a different light, managed to find some friends, two girls, who were very sweet and cute and offered us a lift to Sobama beach, where we in the end had to drive by ourselves since they couldn't leave their stall. Upon our arrival to Sobama we found out that Bo and Wayne had not registered and rolling further down the road we found them walking towards the beach which apparently was not a part of the camping site thus was for free, and where they'd built our tents. "You will love your tent!" told us Wayne when we got out of the car. Fine, I thought. "It is a great tent!" he said again and something in his eyes, or perhaps his smirk made me think. They led us to the camp and there we saw three tents, all good. Then we came closer and I could suddenly see what he was talking about and burst out laughing. The tent we found in Mason's shed was so cool, iglu-style construction though with no walls, only a square floor to which the sticks were attached and were covered with a little bit of a roof. The Palace.
We dropped our bags, Ren and I covered one quarter of our Palace with a kaya (mosquito net), another one with Ren's rainbow hammock netting and ran hurray back to the flee market where 'the poi people', accompanied by the sexi bongo drummers with long dreads and no shirts on, were just beginning their fascinating performance, their game with fire.



And everybody seemed in peace that was shining in their eyes, inner happiness was read on their smiling lips, swaying, dancing or just sitting in silence the people with their music found their way into every single heart and I among all felt in the right place, in amity with all the world around me I felt this immense serene love I wanted to reveal and share with each look, each movement and glimpse.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home