In 2007 I left Paris rather suddenly; something was wrong for me in that city. I booked group travel on the Transiberian railway all the way from Moscow to Beijing. From there I continued on my own. The idea was to see and feel how a non-monotheist culture (mainly buddhist) apprehends life.

I went through 3 stages: the first one in awe, the second one extremely upset, and in the end I simply realised I knew nothing about what appeared to me to be another planet. Finally it became extremely pleasant to have, as much as possible, gotten rid of my occidental preconception and to be lost in a universe free of any background.

I traveled through Russia, China, Mongolia, Tibet, Thailand, Japan, Laos, Burma, New Zealand, with some stopovers in Europe in Norway, England, Ireland, Paris of course, and back to the Orient, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia…

I did everything on my own, not being very sociable but it changed my life. I was searching for an answer and I found the Time.

---

All texts and images ©emessel.

Would you wish to buy an item, please contact me at emessel@gmail.com