Kennst du das Land, wo die Citronen blühn?
Know’st thou the land where lemon-trees do bloom?
(“Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship”, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
Ours is the land of lemons, and not only.
Lemons, of which Sicily abounds, because, according to the German writer, you have not really seen Italy if you have not seen Sicily. Lemons as on Lake Garda, with its famous lemon groves that so much struck J.W. Goethe on September 13, 1786, while he was sailing from Torbole to Malcesine.
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I visited Laos in 2018, and I would like to bring out the memories as they are, letting them flow like a river, a waterfall. Like the water that has so much marked this experience.
I remember that while reading 'Lonely Planet - Laos' in preparation for departure, what struck me most was a statement about a characteristic of the Laotians, the 'móoan', translated into 'fun'. Theravada Buddhism, practiced by most people in Laos, emphasizes detachment from human passions, and karma - more than devotion, prayer or hard work - determines one's fate in life. Following this principle, Laotian people tend not to worry too much about the future and to feel sorry for those who "think too much". Avoiding any excessive psychological stress remains a cultural norm. Unless an activity contains an element of "móoan", or ‘fun’, it will probably lead to stress.
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Some have defined Tai O as a small "Venice of the East". To me, it stirred other memories instead. There are places that immediately take us back to others, to which we feel we belong. We recognize them as ours, we love them, we always want to return. We develop a special and sometimes inexplicable 'connecction’, and to them we reserve magical and personal moments. Other times, we need to talk about, to write about these places because, as Joan Didion said, 'A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively...'
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My Apulian summer is as white as the lime that covers farms, bell towers and churches that dazzles even at night and shines under the moon; as white as the houses of Old Gallipoli, Καλλίπολις, the "Beautiful City", an island surrounded by a wall built as a mean of defence from invaders.
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What happens when you adventure in the Ghetto at the Centre of the World: an incursion into one of the most talked-about, infamous and peculiar buildings of Hong Kong. From trade centre and market for rich merchants, to a backpackers’ dream of cheap hotels… and shady businesses. And now, in a city with prevailing Chinese and expat traits, the ghetto becomes a sought-after world on its own, a blend of different cultures we’d like to understand more.
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