The Earth is smaller now than it has ever been in years past.
With each travel innovation and technological upgrade, the globe
shrinks. Friends and family may be traveling on continents far from
home, while you explore distant lands. Miles disappear as planes and
trains grow ever faster, and worldwide communication becomes
increasingly more advanced.
For a recent trip to China, I wanted
to explore the principle of a journey being more a thought process
during travel, rather than the physical movement of time and space.
Knowing
that I have a very well-traveled group of friends, I decided to try an
experiment, which was eventually dubbed "The Wall Project." The idea
behind The Wall Project was simple: Collect souvenirs, trinkets and
currency from as many countries as possible and photograph them on
China's most famous site — the Great Wall. The project would emphasize
the fluidity of global culture, and bring mementoes of travels past — my
own, and those of friends and loved ones, which toyed with the concept
of a journey being more psychological than physical.
With the help of Facebook, I was able to collect 17 trinkets, from
every corner of the globe. The nations represented were Mexico, Haiti,
the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Poland, Cambodia, Peru, the
Philippines, Ireland, Kenya, India, Equatorial Guinea, Brazil, South
Africa, Greece, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Loading everything up into
my backpack, we boarded a crowded bus leaving downtown Beijing, headed
toward the section of the Great Wall known as Mutianyu.
The bus
reminded me of my project: Seated behind us was an Australian man and
his Japanese girlfriend; in the row of chairs across from theirs sat two
elderly Jewish businessmen, who were in front of a Canadian-American
couple, and a woman traveling with her parents from Singapore. A triad
of French women took up the rear. Each traveler was there for a
different reason, each with a different story.
Somehow, from the 7
billion human beings spread across the six continents, 20 people from
the far reaches of the planet had all ended up together on the same
crazy bus headed toward the Great Wall of China. "My bus is something
large in my mind. It is a cosmic bus holding sparks and back firing into
the Milky Way and turning the corner of Betelgeuse without a hand
signal." — John Steinbeck
The pollution-induced haze was heavy as
we caught our first glimpse of the Wall — a black silhouette against a
sky, which had become a sheet of dull, throbbing light. The first step
onto the Great Wall is ethereal — the feeling that your foot is touching
something ancient, something solid enough to withstand a millenia of
batterings from Mammon and Nature alike.
After hiking along to the
first watchtower, I decided to set up my trinkets for the first few
shots. Grabbing a wrought-iron butterfly I picked up while in Haiti, I
savored the irony of it. As I set up a carved-stone hippo on the
battlement of the wall, I thought of the friend who had bought it in
Kenya, and how it would have been a little over a year before that she
was in an African market, purchasing that stone hippo. I tried to find
the best way to make a South African armband appear in the photograph.
Each trinket carried with it a unique story. Each trinket carried with
it ghosts of past adventures. And each trinket carried with it the hope
of a future journey.
Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2012/07/17/2285766/the-wall-project-photos-at-the.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy
Pigeon Point Lighthouse and Hostel is a relic of old California. The uninhabited coast line, rusty light tower, and "surfer" feel of the hostel all contribute to a sense of nostalgia. The only visible man-made light aside from the lighthouse and the occasional stray ship, pours over the mountains from Silicon Valley. I'm glad places like this are still here. During my stay, I learned of another lighthouse/hostel only 20 miles up the coast, that I hope to stay in sometime soon. Even though it may be a relic of an old California, it's definitely not a dead California. Pigeon Point's beacon may be beaming for a while yet, calling to travelers from all four corners of the globe, inviting them to come in and watch the West Coast Sunset. 
