Film Killers Taj Mahal and Sossusvlei

Have you ever been to a place that its beauty is more than a “wow” for the first sight? As soon as you see it, you drop your jaw and start to wow. Every single step, you wow again. And you move forward for one more stride. Still you find yourself wow again. You feel like a fool that can't utter something meaningful.

I have.

Years later, when I was reorganizing the slides I took in 1995, India trip, and in 1997, Africa trip. I still felt the pulsations I had at that time. These two astounding sites were Taj Mahal in India, and Sossusvlei in Namibia. I took approximately 50 photos for each of them.





Have you never been there, you would just think it was me being undisciplined. Who would take so many pictures of the same thing? However, the truth is, once you get there, you cannot help raising your camera and starting to shoot. It is wonderful. So you take one or two. Well, maybe more, because you are afraid that the ones you just take aren’t prefect enough. Then you walk forward. Now you begin to wonder if the sunlight is brighter than a second ago. So you think you'd better shoot more. And when you just finish some, you suspect that the sun shines in a different direction now, therefore you don't want to miss better shots. There you go! You come home with over 50 photos of it, only to find that none of them shows the sensation you have at the scene.

(Taj Mahal)


(Sossusvlei in Namibia)

As for Taj Mahal, its gorgeousness attracts your attention, no matter where in the city’s corner you are. Its elegance and sophistication, be it dawn or dusk, bright or dark, are just like highly generated magnet, constantly emitting its glory to catch your eyes. Back that time when people were still using traditional negative films. I asserted that film companies, such as Konica and Fuji, should have sponsored the preservation of these two places for they have been attracting thousands of billions of tourists and killing countless films, which has been of great help to their profit.

Now even afterwards I have traveled to a lot more countries, I still think there are not many places like them. Therefore, Taj Mahal and Sossusvlei are both highly recommended. As for the control of shooting photos, since now people have digital cameras, the cost of the negative films is not an issue any more.

City of Eternity--Varanasi

Ever since I arrived in Varanasi, I had started to get sick. Especially the headache was killing me.



Varanasi’s history could be dated back to thousands of years ago, so it deserves the name “City of Eternity”. It has long been a populated big city. Until now, while talking in the street, it is almost impossible not to bump into someone physically. It was hard for me to imagine which city would be more crowded than it. My friend Nick was so into Varanasi. He stood there and shouted loudly: “Look! This is true India. This is true East.” Not me. Thank you! I am Eastern and I grew up in a packed traditional market in Taiwan. I have been very sick of being in a crammed place. And not only that, here the local people tracked you down and followed you everywhere, which really pushed me to the edge. I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown.


However, Varanasi had an undeniable attractive attribute of itself. The distinctive culture was built along the Ganges River. So if you want to see the true spirit of it, of course, the river was the must-visit.

Early morning, when it was still dark, we headed for the riverbank. To our surprise, we were not alone. People, old and young, men and women, also came out with their family and strolled down to the riverside. They had cups or mugs in their hands, some even with some kind of sticks, of which I was told were from a special tree and were used as their toothbrushes. Some people carried bottles or jars in order to take the divine water home, and some brought flowers for their rituals. And we were the very small part of this huge human stream flowing into the riverbank.

We hired a boat, sculling from the middle of the river, so we could see the waterside. Local people with colorful dresses were doing all kinds of activities you could think of. Some were bathing and chatting; others were brushing their teeth and taking care of their kids at the same time; and still the others were practicing a prayer, with drinking the celestial water as their endings. I looked at this brown holy water. Tree branches were floating, and the scullers were spitting into the river once every three seconds. More than that, there were two dead bodies drifting in front of everybody but it seemed no one cared. I thought about sputum and germs and bacteria and viruses; yet, they saw eternity in their eyes.

I dropped my jaw and stared at those devout people from all the castes. In a place that was so close to Gods like this, everyone appeared to be so humble. And the caste system seemed to be out of reach here. I was so touched by the sincerity and devotion of every single face's. Imagine myself to travel through the time and being in the same place two thousand years ago, it must have been the same picture. And in two thousand years from now, will it be still the same sight? No wonder hundreds of millions of people have been obsessed by this exotic country and coming here to seek for the mysterious eastern dreamland. Even for me as an Eastern, I could not help submitting myself to the enchanting sunrise in Varanasi and falling into the ancient sweet charm. Just like what I read in a book, like it or not, once you have been in India, you will never forget it. For it is a place that makes you remember your every day.