Closer…

To God. That’s what I felt when I saw these places. Breath-taking is not the word I am looking for.

Feeling closer to God.
Being one with Nature.
Beauty so magnificent that no amount of photography can capture it.
Tongue-tied because you are Mesmerized by the surroundings.
That moment when you feel you’ve seen everything in your life, and you don’t mind if it ends. Right there.
That moment in time when you don’t want to share with anyone, and also want to share with everyone you love.
You know fully well that you can never describe how you feel about this moment.
Your own particular place of worship. Your Zen.
Unending peace.
A time so beautiful that you almost choke with emotion.
A place and time when you lose track of yourself and everything around you.

What I am looking for is one word which will sum all these feelings. I felt all these, and so much more. So much that these places will always have a special place in my heart. And create an yearning to go back there again.
The first time I felt this was when I stood on the Wisdom Path on Lantau Island, Hong Kong and saw the vast nothingness. When I felt those large towering pillars containing excerpts of the Heart Sutra not knowing what they preach, but knowing that they are from the message of Peace. It was when  the mist slowly lifted and I could make out the ocean and the forests from atop the path. It was a moment of immense peace. I almost cried when I felt all these, and just took in all the beauty.

What I felt was so special and rare that I wanted to see if I will feel all this the second time I go there. And I did. All of this, and much more. This time there was a familiarity between that peace and myself. It was like we were greeting each other pleasantly, and I lost myself again. And that’s when I knew, this would never go. I would continue to be in love with this place.
And that’s how it started. My search for a place like that again. Something which will make me feel the same things again. Something that will transport me to a different medium and a level again.
Only after a complete 2 year span did I find that place. This time in Seattle, Washington. In Olympic National Park. On the banks of Lake Crescent in Bovine Meadow.
I got down the car, stared into the space and just stared. It took me a complete 15 mins to recover and let the beauty sink in. All three of us, we just stared into that beauty.

There was not a single sound except the sound of the waves splashing to the banks. Except the sound of wind that was making the waves splash. And the vast nothingness deep into the space between the two mountains. The varying colours in the water. The cold breeze flowing in from the snow-capped mountains across the huge lake. Just Beautiful.

I was literally crippled by seeing all this beauty, and I had to sit on a broken branch to take it all in.
And now all I yearn for is to go back there again. To share it with people I love. The husband. Some more friends. Whoever will appreciate this beauty. And for more such places.
Its like the whole travel bug has hit a new level. The search is not for places where I can relax. Or places where I can do sight-seeing.
The search is for the place that will make me forget myself, the world and everything in it. A place which will tell me that God and Providence exist, and what am I but a mere speck in the entire picture.
A place which will not just be a stamp on my passport, but which will mark a stamp on my mind.
A place which will reinforce my belief in this world and Providence.
A place which will make me feel all of the above feelings, and may be much more.
A place which will tell me that I can still feel. All those beautiful feelings.
A place which tells me that am not a cynic, but a romantic.
In short, I love to travel only so that I can rediscover myself in the beauty these places have to offer. To reaffirm myself that such beauty exists and I am lucky enough to witness it.
And travel, I shall…