Urban nights

Paolo Conte in his lectio magistralis for his laurea ad honorem suggests an interesting exercise: to imagine the time of the day drawn in a painting. What time is it in the Dance of Matisse? And what about the scream of Munch? Or the Mona lisa?
I think it is interesting to apply the same idea to cities. When is a certain city splendid, interesting, charming, unique? At what hour?
While working a little bit around different cities i realize that in my memories what i recall in urban space is not so much its feature but a specific moment.
These moments are often evenings because darkness increase intimacy not only towards people but also toward our surroundings.
For Tokyo, I remember walking back home through small similar irregular alleys. These formed a labyrinth that probably Borges would have liked. There, for the first and only time in my life, i completed an involuntary circle and after 2 h found  my self in the same exact spot, confused and speechless.

Beijing, despite all the destruction that was made in the last 30 years, has a specific moment in which it is splendid. It is around 1 am during winter nights. Inside the second ring road. At that moment, with a dark bright sky, one can see the shadow of the hutongs on both side of the alley. The branches of a tree will extend above the roofline. Silent and naked.  The moon is shining above. Silence all around and a thick cold air.

Phnom Penh has change a lot. Probably, according to most, in the better but I still remember that in 2010 most of the streets at nights were dark. That darkness was different. That darkness showed abandon. That darkness was a scar but it also showed possibility and hope. It always reminded me of the first scene of the movie Sur.

And one more tip: you might consider to hire personal bodyguard to feel safe.

 

 

Homo sapiens sapiens sapiens sapiens sapi…..

Tens and tens generation lived before me, defeating natural cataclisms, famine, wars. Turning rocky soils in to farming fields, finding the right name of gods to pray. Killing ferocious animals. Accumulating enough stock to be able to survive winters.

Finally today after all their efforts I can sit on top of this pyramid and live withou historical and moral obligations, with a lot of free time that i can rightously spend on facebook or on an online videogames.
Human evolution has reached its peak.

un luogo angusto

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Esistono in ogni città del globo luoghi immersi nella penombra i cui nomi si ricordano appena. Dentro queste piccole stanze ci sono spesso solo gli sconfitti della vita oppure quelli che si credono voncitori senza aver letto bene la fine della loro storia. Comunque sia, sono questi luoghi che danno vita a storie che stentiamo a credere. A racconti che diventano quasi mitici.
Questi luoghi, a seconda del luogo in cui si trovano, hanno nomi diversi, izakaya, osteria, khaja ghar ma tutti hanno la stessa atmosfera di luoghi di decompressione di confessionali laici.

in questi luoghi ho incontrato sconosciuti che, sospinto dal senso di ebbrezza, ho creduto fratelli. ho ascoltato discorsi di banale quotidianità che mi sono sembrati profetici.
nonostante l’incommensurabile imperfezione di questi luoghi forse mai ci siamo sentiti così vivi. Poichè non più intrappolati nella sequenza di azioni quotidiane, nei nostri corpi, nelle relazioni sociali ma bensì spiriti liberi. liberi dal passato e dal futuro e quindi, almeno in quesgli istanti, eterni.

Trekking in a painting

Mardi trekking. May 2016. The path is on the crest of the mountain between clouds. The view changes every few minutes. Often is more what we dont see than what we see but thats what makes it a bit special compared to other ones.

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Cycling in the hills

In kunming we spend the day looking for bycicle to rent. After some weak bargaining we manage to find one. One of which had to be assembled due to the extra large size required by Mr L. 

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Happy for the results we decide to visit the kunming Park-zoo . A few thousands of Chinese dressed in bright color clothes seem to have the same idea. The animal cages look like guantanamo prison camp. Chinese seem not to mind and keep taking pictures.

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Are that we even take a ride on the panoramic wheel. Kunming seems endless and skyscrapers are every where. The gray sky gives a gloomy feeling. Urban China is sometimes a worrying vision.
In the evening realizing the unusually cold temperatures we walk around looking for gloves and caps. Unfortunately global shopping areas in this season do not such items. We will find them only the following day in a stall under a highway bridge.

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Day 1
E cycle for 20km to the outskirts of the city to the southern bus station. We cycle along high ways, through neighborhoods that collect and recycle garbage. We still for stream buns. The small daughter of the owner points at its screaming “foteigners” . Than she observers that we have different eyes and tries to throw a piece of flour dow at us.
We reach the bus station we take a bus to shiping.

Cycling in the hills

In kunming we spend the day looking for bycicle to rent. After some weak bargaining we manage to find one. One of which had to be assembled due to the extra large size required by Mr L. 

image

Happy for the results we decide to visit the kunming Park-zoo . A few thousands of Chinese dressed in bright color clothes seem to have the same idea. The animal cages look like guantanamo prison camp. Chinese seem not to mind and keep taking pictures.

image

Are that we even take a ride on the panoramic wheel. Kunming seems endless and skyscrapers are every where. The gray sky gives a gloomy feeling. Urban China is sometimes a worrying vision.
In the evening realizing the unusually cold temperatures we walk around looking for gloves and caps. Unfortunately global shopping areas in this season do not such items. We will find them only the following day in a stall under a highway bridge.

image

image

Day 1
E cycle for 20km to the outskirts of the city to the southern bus station. We cycle along high ways, through neighborhoods that collect and recycle garbage. We still for stream buns. The small daughter of the owner points at its screaming “foteigners” . Than she observers that we have different eyes and tries to throw a piece of flour dow at us.
We reach the bus station we take a bus to shiping.

Salvando il mondo in tenda.

Dopo qualche giorno a Kathmandu mi aggrego con un gruppo che già conoscevo per montare delle tende nel distretto di Gorkha.
Partiamo con non troppe informazioni e con la promessa di avere l’appoggio logistico e tecnico di quasi mezzo mondo: dalle nazioni unite al’esercito, da NGO locali a famiglie montanare. Così ci dirigiamo a sud verso a Chitwan dove nel sotto una tettoia di bambù e lamiera una decina di nepalesi da giorni sta cucendo gli orli a 4000 m2 di tessuto.
Arrivati non ci è difficile capire che 2 tonnellate di tende non possono essere trasportate sul furgoncino che qualcuno aveva prenotato, così nella migliore tradizione asiatica del “trial and error” aggiustiamo l’aspetto logistico affittando un camion dai colori sgargianti e con le solite scritte che sono un misto di bullismo, brand internazionali e religione.
Come di dovere nella società dello spettacolo-social vengono scattate foto ad ogni momento. Oggi ciò che importa è la documentazione visiva cosicché si possa condividere e magari ricevere tanti “mi piace” da amici e parenti annoiati davanti al computer.

Dopo 3 ore di viaggio seduti sul retro del camion arriviamo a Gorkha scarichiamo e ci uniamo al gruppo che campeggia nel giardino di un hotel.
In questi giorni in Nepal quasi tutti dormono in tende più o meno arrangiate cos’ sembra essere un enorme festival hippie.

Nel primo giorno ci dedichiamo alla Sacra Arte del Meeting. Incontriamo rappresentanti delle nazioni unite, esperti logistici, passanti e altri gruppi che stanno agendo localmente. Come quasi sempre accade, le conclusioni sono molto poche soprattutto perché ci sono molte parti coinvolte e la situazione nei villaggi più lontani non è ben chiara.
Propongo di aggregarmi al viaggio che l’esperto logistico sta per fare a poche ore di distanza ma per non ben chiare ragioni non mi viene dato il permesso. Io sospetto di un minicomplotto dei miei compagni di viaggio ma al momento non ho ancora prove per dimostrarlo.
Così senza aver nulla da fare mi appisolo per un paio di ore nel giardino dell’hotel. Il mondo si può anche salvare partendo da una pennichella.