Traveling and Writing

Traveling and Writing

This website is about traveling and writing. Being on the move and being emotionally moved. Two different but interconnected things. Traveling is sometimes a way of muddling through, writing is even more difficult. Traveling and writing - the art of breathing and reflecting. I write about temples, pyramids, cities and ruins, forests and mountains, valleys and rivers, volcanoes and lakes. I tell about small happenings of daily life.

In the year 2000, I wrote a booklet about my travels in South East Asia, entitled 'Met de Hoed tegen het Licht.' In 2005, I traveled in Central America and wrote 'My Ruta Maya,' published on my website. Recently I traveled to West-Papua (Indonesia) and wrote a booklet ' Zeven dagen in de Baliemvallei.' I developed a style of writing half way between prose and poetry. Moreover, I write haiku on the road. On this website, haiku and pictures are combined. In a way, the pictures block the haiku in order to create a kind of silence in between. These haiku intend to be power stations of words and images. They are a sublimation and a denial of reality.

Traveling is a way of being and thinking. At times, the traveler is a nomad who leaves his home and makes the world his home. His ideas become flexible and volatile. On the move, he experiences life as a stream of consciousness changing by the ever alternating and moving impressions of his new environment. The traveler doesn't compare, but tries to be receptive and open. He needs to be 'innocent' and to listen in order to hear and see the world. Traveling is an art of the mind and an effort of the body.