EN2322 Creative Writing - start of assignment 1

My first memory of a Roam in China

25th Aug 2009, morning, an ordinary summer day. Changing gear, speeded up, overtook, a blurry city was getting clear and clear in my windshield, Chengdu, a destination of my 6 months journey. Chengdu was getting blurrier because of my tear was coming unconsciously.

Backed home, I didn’t step out of my original home for a week, more than a hundred rolls of film hanged in my room. All my memories in this 6 months, was faxed in those little frames. When I review it by an enlarger, a journey of roam in China was started again.

21st Feb 2009, morning, an ordinary spring morning, said goodbye to my friends. I pressed the throttle slightly, left Chengdu and started my first Roam in China. Things didn’t go easily from the beginning; my car was almost crashed with a taxi, when I stopped my car on roadside prepared for my first shooting of my trip. I heard of a screaming from tires and road against each other. Fortunately, the taxi driver braked immediately. If not, my trip would be finished in this 3 inch gap.

I started from Chengdu, passed through Szechwan, Chongqing, Hubei, Anhwei, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, Shanghai and returned to Chengdu. A China made second hand front-wheel-drive “jeep” was not only my transportation, but also my mobile home I lived for 6 months. I bided it from web by $20,000 only, I put a standard bed and a compact cabinet to replaced the back seat that supposed to be seldom used, the seat next to driver was added a table and a small refrigerator that a storage for food and films, every articles for daily use can be found in the jeep, it was more than enough to live 6 months. It was a reliable partner; it never stopped on roadside suddenly. However, I was unaccustomed to drive alone for a long time in the first week. But, I got use to it, and found out the best methodology of photograph self-drive- journey. Keeping the speed at around 60km/h, not only driving, but also I had to keep my eyes on everything around me. When I saw something was happening or an interesting guy was doing amazing thing, I can easily stop and picked up my camera to photograph the moment.

Everyday, I spent all daytime on driving and photography. When about evening, I would start to find a place for parking, safety first, the area near hotel, hospital and police station, were my preferable location. After dinner, I got into “home” and wrote journal, normally, that was nothing special I could write about what happened that day, drive, photo, drive and photo, but someday, something unforgettable happened.

(to be continued)