One of the strangest experiences as a traveler is to visit a place that later vanishes. I’ve visited two countries that no longer exist: West Germany and Czechoslovakia.
Uwe and I once stood on a part of the summit at Mount Etna on Sicily. A few months later a flow of erupting lava buried the very spot where we’d stood. It’s in the nature of Nature to be transitory. Nothing lasts forever.
Maybe that’s why Sicilians pray when they drive by spots where the lava flow stopped just short of towns. Every single time an Italian car passes, the driver makes the sign of the Cross. I laughed – but they sure know something about life’s fragility.
Some changes are somber. In 2009, before Myanmar briefly opened up to the world, Uwe and I spent a month exploring the country. Once known as Burma, Myanmar was closed off to the outside. We needed special permits to be allowed into several places.
We explored spots that seemed to have sprung out of fairy tales, like this market in Sittwe.
We took off our shoes to enter temples.
Those areas of Myanmar are shut tight again. It feels like a book of fairy tales that has been closed and locked away. All the mysterious creatures can’t be seen anymore. But the ogres and demons and the special people with their magic remain…
When places vanish from our consciousness, they aren’t really gone. Sometimes, they are simply hidden.
As you drive past the spot where they were once visible, be sure to make a sign to ward off bad fortune. And make sure you acknowledge the spirits now unseen…. but very much still there.
NOTES: © Jadi Campbell 2021. All photos © Uwe Hartmann. To see Uwe’s photos from our trips go to viewpics.de.
Click here for my author page to learn more about me and purchase my books.
Oh this brought back some wonderful memories. We loved Myanmar.
Alison
When we were there, I kept telling Uwe I felt like we had stepped into a time machine and then gotten out in a parallel beautiful exotic universe
Thank you for this. The closest I can come is a small coastal village on the Sea of Cortez. When I returned years later, it had been discovered. Destroyed. High rises everywhere, and no more village.
It is far more distressing to see places that have vanished due to human avarice.
Quite a coincidence that they’re involved in those natural disappearances. Surely the Universe has more emotions reserved for you. Undoubtedly, the photos are the ideal framework for the description they make of their trip. We come out winning since we accompany them when reading your magnificent story. Greetings Jay.
Uwe’s photos capture the details I miss!
You have an exceptional photographer by your side.
Thank you so much for sharing these stunning pictures of a place I’ll probably never see.
There was something magical everywhere we went in Myanmar. We still talk about that trip.