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Pacing the cage
April 23rd, 2008
Beginning to feel the need to be out in the field again; walking, shooting, exercising my eye and my passion.
I’m in a bit of a hiatus right now between assignments. I head to Florida tomorrow, then in July to Hawaii for a week to teach photography – at this point it’s not until September that I head back to Kashmir, and then a month in Kathmandu, and if plans go well Christmas and some of January in Cuba. In between there somewhere are a few weeks on assignment with World Vision and I’m already beginning to wonder where they’ll send me this time.
So as I wait, I’m flipping through Lonely Planet’s The Travel Book, and my shelf of LP country-guides, and dreaming. On a tangent, one of my favourite movies is High Fidelity and it’s given me a tendency to make spontaneous top ten lists, but I’m rubbish at lists of albums and songs, so I make my own. Back to the subject at hand; here is my current top ten list of countries I would like to shoot in again, of for the first time.
1. Cuba.
I want to get there before US foreign policy changes and the embargo lifts. Don’t get me wrong, it’s high time the embargo was gone, but I want to shoot there before that happens. Hopefully that’s happening sooner than later.
2. Lalibela, Ethiopia.
One of the coolest places I’ve ever been. Possible THE coolest. I was there for Orthodox Christmas a couple years back, but my time was far too short. I’d like to go back for a couple weeks around the same time, or for Timkat.
3. Vietnam.
Ever since reading Anthony Bourdain’s assessment of Vietnamese cuisine and culture in his book A Cook’s Tour, I’ve wanted to go.
4. Mongolia.
I loved Mongolia, but want to return in the summer. Two to three weeks exploring the steppes and living in a ger would suit me just fine. If I could go during Nadaam that would be a bonus, so long as I could get out of UB for the festival.
5. The ’stans.
All of them. Or any of them. But not in the winter.
6. Iquitos, Peru.
Loved it, but it’s been a long, long time and I’d like to go back with the eye I have now. Iquitos is the largest city in the world inaccessible by a road, and there’s just something about having a beer in the cooler evening breeze while watching the Amazon river float by. While there a side-trip to Machu Picchu.
7. Galapagos Islands.
Three words: blue. footed. boobies.
8. Tibet.
I’m hoping to make a short detour while I am in Kathmandu in October, but if I do it’ll be too short. I’d love to take my time there.
9. The Sudan. Or Mali.
10. Rural China.
Way, way out of the way. And a couple days hiking on the Great Wall.
Of course, these will have changed by tomorrow morning. So – you have two weeks and money to burn – where would you take your cameras?
*I’ll be in transit all day tomorrow, and Friday is taken up with clandestine meetings with big, important people. I’ll post late Friday, or sometime this weekend. Until then, talk amongst yourselves.
I LOVE Hi-Fidelity. Such a great movie. I love the line about re organizing his music collection in “auto-biographical” order
Just what kind of boobies will you be shooting in Galapagos? Blue ones? hmm. I noticed you did not say Malaysia.
It’s snowing right now outside my window in Calgary so my list would involve HOT places…and yes Matt, Malaysia is right at the top (6 months to go). On the very top of my list are Japan, Turkey, Morocco, and India. But 10 is too small a number for such a list to end at….shame
Hey Davids gone now lets talk about him! OK I am really jealous of all the great travelling he is doing. I just got back from Oahu and loved the place, so green and lush. I know it isn’t one of the ’stans but it was my first time. There is something about seeing somewhere so different for the first time. Moab was like that as well, great mountain biking, though not very tough, lots of fun. I want to get to Italy as well as Costa Rica. Maybe couch surfing.
Hey now, play nice while I’m gone. And if you drink anything from the fridge, please replace it before I get back.
I’ve spent two summers in Morocco and my heart is still there. This summer I will be in Israel and Jordan. In the future, Turkey or Iran
Tibet’s definitely on my list too!
Egypt. That’s where I’d go. I have a colleague heading there in September, and he knows the place really well. Man, that’d be fun. And it’s only double the money I have in the bank account…
My big travel news is that I’m on the schedule for Bolivia next spring. I’m pretty stoked about that. They’ve promised that I’ll be able to travel every second year here. If other gigs go well this year (fingers crossed), I may be able to do more on my own too.
I have my own #1, but sort of for the same reasons. I still have a lot of family in Zimbabwe, and I would love to get over there somehow before Mugabe is overthrown and life starts to become something approaching normal. The conditions there MUST be recorded and remembered, and I don’t see how it’s possible to get in there with the current crack down on photographers and journalists. But, maybe there will be a small window after the election…
Another great post, David.
David, if you find yourself going to Vietnam you should look up Kevin German on Lightstalker or his blog, wanderinglight. He’s a freelancer that recently quit the Sacramento Bee to go out on his own. Kevin is currently living in Saigon.
Hey, I just went to Cuba last week… only had 24 hours in Havana though and was accompanied by a slightly grumpy husband and reasonably happy two-year-old… hoping to post some photos to my site within the next week or so.
I think Italy’s next on my list, because Cuban food is not so good (too many shortages), and Turkey for some reason.