burmese sunrise :: 22 november 2006

it's one of those moments where you look up in the sky and you think, oh, there must be a god, or you think some philosophical cliche, i'm just a small blip in the universe, or this is what makes life worth living. you dig for the words to describe the moment, but you can't. then everything becomes quiet.

somehow the clouds are aligned like perfect pillows.
the first break of orange morning light expands the sky like a balloon.

you click click click the camera, but nothing can capture this moment. it's a greedy moment. no one else is around. only 4 other passengers on the boat down below, and the crew is watching tv.
yeah, this is all mine.
one of those moments that i don't want to share with anyone else. this morning on a boat ride on the ayeyarwady river from bagan to mandalay, at 6 am, this sunrise is mine.
all mine.

it feels like the sun has just kissed me for the first time. in this world, it's just me and the sun coming up.

if you travel long enough, it becomes harder and harder to be amazed or in awe of anything. but sometimes you have to remind yourself, to wake up and open your eyes and absorb all that you can in this short life.
there's no need for reminder at this moment. the sun, the clouds, and the ayeyarwady river were in poetic harmony.
i might be toiling in a new, unchartered sea of bs here, but goddamn, this could have been my greatest sunrise ever.


and oh yeah, the sunset 12 hours later wasn't so bad either.

but for a real bad bad man, see Dónde está Ché Pelotas?