Beyond Seeing

One the of the things I love about travel is the opportunity to build a world of new sensory experiences such as these:

• Scent: The combined smell of smoke, dust, and dried grass in the air Botswana. The smell of jasmine in Jordan. The acrid scent of leather tanneries deep in the markets of Fez. The dry earth smell after a sandstorm in the Sahara.
• Touch/Feel: The feel of a hot, humid air in Cambodia. The feel of hot sand running through fingers in the dunes of the Sahara. The stinging sale water of the Dead Sea. The icy wind of Antarctica.
• Sound: the combined sound of thousands of heavy drops of water falling from leaf to ground in a rain forest. The jingle of goat bells and the call of a herder at dusk in the desert. The sound of millions of tiny pieces of ice washing in and out of a shoreline in Antarctica.
• Taste: the taste of a sharp cheese and sweet mango served with every breakfast in Costa Rica. The heavy cardamom spice of Turkish coffee. The fresh cool mint laden salads of Jordan.

As I'm walking around any day, a particular scent, feel to the air, taste or sound has the power to conjure up some far away place..

Today, I walked out of my apartment to the feel of Nepal. I woke early, just before sunrise. The temperature was just below that of my body, and a scent of dry earthy smoke lingered in the air from some unknown source. The sky was a cool blue with just a touch of peach and the air had the stillness the just precedes the wake-up of nature.

Comments

[Fantasy Writer Guy]

Mmm. Sharp cheese and mango. Funny, I was just telling the roomate this morning how I ate rice, beans and hot sauce for breakfast every morning when I was in Costa Rica! Delightful place. Wonderful memories.