travels with tess

Coming here for the first time,
i recognise everthing.
the streets of Japan, the smell of Thailand, the people of China
where is Taiwan ?

Do we describe all countries, all things, all experiences by contrasting them with the known?
If so, then how do we find the unknown?
how do we identify it?

Do we try to classify it, assimilate it, relate to it,
and only when we have done all this and failed,
call it the unknown -
making it the now known, the newly known,
another image and experience to catalogue away
for next time.

If we recognise all,
can we still feel new?

In relating places to the familiar,
can they still be unique?

The answer must be yes!
or we would stop, rest and be content in the knowledge that all experiences are familiar and all places are known to us,
even before we reach them.

Yet still we travel, we explore, we step outside our sphere.
because only after you have identified the familiar,
can the contrasts appear.

Japan does not smell of Thailand,
the faces of the Thais are not chinese
Chinese people do not behave this way.

It is the combination of the known,
that gives Taiwan its uniqueness.
Through finding aspects i can relate to,
i truely value it as an individual experience-
new and exciting!

Often it is the slight differences
that we enjoy, in a familar situation.