Great thread, Johnny!!
My perfect day would have to be in the mountains. Waking up in the pre-dawn hours, crawling out of my tent to have tea, as I watch the sun rise over the Himalayas, and the mist rolling over the brims of still dark valleys, like steam from a witch's cauldron. I would spend the day trekking through the Himalayan hills, up stone steps built hundreds of years ago, past lime orchards and bougainvelea covered thatched roofs. The air so rarified that it makes everything intensely clear and pristine.
As the day became hotter, I would stop for lunch under some trees over looking the terraced millet fields stepping down toward the rice paddies on the edge of a lake. In the middle of the lake is a small island reached by walking on built up paths through the rice. On the island is a small school, with a grand old tree in the middle of the yard, which is filled with laughing, playing children. The cicadas buzz in the background and I close my eyes for a moment as I sip tea flavoured with fresh lime.
As the day became even hotter, I would continue along the tree lined paths, up and down the ancient stone steps, through tiny villages. At one point, I would stop on an outcropping, the majestic Annapurnas towering before me, so close that I could reach out and touch them, their perfect snowy peaks floating infront of a sky so purely blue it's beauty makes my heart ache.
Ever higher I would climb, stopping every so often to take in the luxuriant land around me. My afternoon rest stop would be in a small, grotto shaded by baobab trees surrounding a small pond, where a little girl in a grimy green blouse and black skirt, knees skinned and hair in pigtails and a mischevious grin, would be watering her water buffalo. The sun through the leaves would make everything a delightful shade of green, so cool and restful.
After walking through intense heat, along a path of brilliant white stone, beside a blindingly white cliff face, I would come to the village that would be my home for the night. Already, the sun would be so low that it would be quite cool in the shade of the red clay and thatch houses. Hot and sticky from my day's trek, I would dunk my head and bathe off the dust under the village pump, emerging refreshed and happy.
Dinner would be Nepali curry at a table facing the Annapurnas - Macha Puchre (Fishtail), Annapurna 1, Annapurna 2, Annapurna 4 and Annapurna 3 - as the sun set. Then, after dark (which falls rather suddenly), a game of liar's dice or cards, before an early bedtime in anticipation of another wonderful day tomorrow.
I have lived this perfect day. It is still my perfect day. And I hope with all my heart to experience it again.
Many hugs,
Kat
