5 Things: The Beginning

This is going to be the first of, hopefully, weekly Sunday posts. Inspired by the brilliant Ashley C. Ford - every Sunday I'll write about 5 Things.

1. Mornings in Kuala Lumpur feel very different to the evenings. This could be because we're posted up in a serviced residence at the edge of the tourist street. Early, the sun is soft, the streets are clean. Come 10 or 11 in the morning, the first vacation drinkers make their way to the strip of shisha and taco joints, plopping into chairs that have only been pulled down from their overnight table-perch moments before.  But on the walk home from the workspace, neon and EDM flash against the dark sky. The pace of traffic on the sidewalks is like sludge as locals and travelers make their way upstream, fending off touts for happy hours, ladies' nights, and urgings to "have a look, pretty pretty." 

2. A sunrise visit to the Batu Caves found us in the uppermost chamber as the daylight filtered in. A strong contrast of natural beauty and the flawed human impulse to capture it - the caves house a few temples and too many trappings of tourist accessibility. Stairs, garbage bins and garbage carelessly tossed just to the side, loose electrical wires woven into the clammy, fern filled darkness - limestone cutting a lace edge across the brightening sky. A man sweeps, the whisper of a broom keeping time with the birdsong and the echo of drums from the ceremonies below. My friend Jessica turns, smiles, and says "green." 

3. It's dangerous to make a home in a place that isn't yours - geographically and emotionally. Danger shouldn't always be avoided entirely, but wariness is useful. 

4. Remote Year is an enigma. I spend equal time in awe of the dynamism and warmth of this group and sincerely nervous about the limited size/necessary intimacy of the year ahead. Who knows who and what and how I will be after twelve months of seeing the world with these people. We're having photos taken this week, to compare against images that will be taken in Buenos Aires in August 2017 - a trope I've only ever seen used to depict soldiers who've seen war. 

5. Greetings from the vastness of time and space: