When wandering around the street aimlessly results in being invited into a kind local's home for a warm cup of tea. Watching the sun rise over 100 pagodas. Being gifted a stranger's last pack of coffee powder so we could sit down and enjoy each other's company- even if we didn't speak the same language. Meditating so long every day that even the Burmese fall into deep snoring sleep, making the whole meditation hall giggle with confusion. Long talks with monks about our deepest wounds and joys. Cows in the street. Being handed an exhausted mother's baby on a sweaty bus in India, so she could lay her head down for just a moment. No, I didn't know who she was. She just gave me the baby and lay her head down to rest.
Asia was many things, but more anything, it was human connection in the purest, kindest way. The kind of love and generosity that cracks you wide open and makes you want to be a more loving, accepting, curious human. Less ego, more from pure, unbridled joy. Below I've attempted to capture the magic in the humans + places I had the honor of meeting during my 6 month solo travel in Asia.
