This was my very first YouTube video. Since my iPhone 6's camera lacked any stabilizing capabilities, I had to make do with holding it aloft with one hand while operating the bike with the other. This endeavor is quite easy. I swiveled it around to get the different alleyways because I wanted to try to get as much of my neighborhood as possible in the shot. Although I wanted to capture this image on my way to work in the morning for a variety of reasons, the main one being to share my daily life with my family back home.
Xiaolan is a small town in Guangdong province that lies on the northern part of
Zhongshan. As my excursions progressed,
I couldn't help but notice that, despite its rich history and abundance of
breathtaking sights, it looked a lot like many Chinese towns. The only way I
had ever seen China was in pictures, so all these locations and images I had
only seen in my thoughts and imagination.
One of my favorite parts of the town was deep in the center away from anywhere
a foreigner would witness; riding my little electric scooter along the canal,
with the only sounds being a little whine from the motor and some rattling from
the thing's less-than-stellar plastic panels keeping it together. Along the
canal bank, I rode it, a lot. The homes that lined the canal were not only of
varying shapes and sizes, but they also seemed to be rather old. Many of them
were less than ten years old, but they had been out in the elements and not
tended to so that they looked like they belonged with the ones that were
hundreds of years old, as I found out.
A slight foul scent wafted up from the still water of the canal, but it was drowned out by the scent of the trees that lined the banks of the canal. The metal railings that ran down the canal may have been there for safety reasons, but they detracted from the area's aesthetic value. Nonetheless, they were there. Access points to the water below would occasionally be located farther up the path; these would be in the form of stairs made of brick or cement that went down to the water's edge. About half of the boats in the sea were probably underwater and have been there for a while, waiting to be pulled out. The other half seemed to be doing nothing more than taking up room and waiting idly for their owners to shower them with affection and care, which they never received. They were very much like a puppy dog who excitedly awaits its owner's return but has no idea how much time has passed or that their wish will never come true.
I had to be careful because the trail got so narrow that I almost got stranded on occasion. Also, coming across a full-size car while cruising this trail occasionally caught me off guard. How in the world did it get there? It was puzzling.
Homeowners in the area often left their doors ajar during the day because they lacked modern conveniences like air conditioning. These passages captivated me because they provided a small window into the life of ordinary Chinese families; I found myself curious about the challenges these families faced. We nodded our heads in passing, smiled, and said "hello" since the people were so kind and inviting. Everyone, though, remained silent after that.
Among the many famous Chinese architectural styles, my favorite was the arched bridges that spanned the waterways. There was no denying that they were noticeable among the others. The fact that I used this path every day made me feel like I belonged to the community I lived in.. I was quite self-aware and mindful of how much of a freak I was; the fact that old women and angry uncles stared at me for long periods of time proved it. For all the months that I was on this commute, where are the innumerable photos and videos that were shot of me? Who or what happened to them is known only to God.
I rewatch this video often. I didn't have any goals for my YouTube channel at
the time, no skills in editing or filmmaking, and the video was shot a long
time ago. Despite this, every time I watch it, it reminds me that in our lives,
there are many things that are unfiltered. Raw foods are tasty. In a raw state
of mind, everything is possible and we have no idea what we don't know; it's being
at the start of something new. A key component of Walkabout is this humility in
the face of ambiguity. Despite its seeming monotony, going for a bike ride was
a fantastic adventure. This is due to the fact that, to me, it represented the
immensity of the impending events. I loved every minute I spent on that bike,
riding through that neighborhood.