Blessed is the farmer! Blessed are those who possess and settle, those who are diligent and virtuous! I love, respect, and envy such people. But by trying to imitate their virtues, I lost myself and became something I am not. I wanted to be a writer but also a citizen. I wanted to be an artist and a dreamer but also possess virtues and enjoy my hometown. It took me a long time to realize that one cannot be both. I am not a farmer but a wanderer, not someone who keeps what they have but someone who seeks new things.
Hermann Hesse was forty-three years old when he published <Wandering>, a collection of essays that included <Farmhouse>. It's refreshing to read his confession that it took him many years to realize his nomadic identity. I remember a time when I was torn between a life of settling down and a life of wandering. Still, I didn't wander for long, and as soon as I graduated from college, I embraced life as a nomad rather than a farmer, so I guess I was pretty lucky. I say lucky because this realization didn't take any effort on my part.
It's a bit of a stretch, but it was a connection, a single connection, that led me to this precious realisation. I found that connection on a wanderlust trip to India after graduating from college 15 years ago, when I drifted into Ladakh, nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India, visited Spituk Gompa and came face to face with monks holding their breath as they painted sand mandalas. It wasn't until I dropped the rest of my journey and stayed in Ladakh for a few days to watch the wonder of it all that I realised that Ladakh had been home to a previous life I had lived.
My hope became conviction. I went from wanting to live as a nomad to needing to live. As Hesse said, a nomad is a discoverer, not a possessor. I wanted to find something new rather than keep what I had. That year's connection led me to return to Ladakh a few years later to open a café with a friend and spend three summers there. To remember those stories of discovery, I wrote with my friend, and we compiled them into a book. That way, I am synchronised with the four seasons of Ladakh and am always there, even when I am away from it.
And so, the road to Ladakh's high desert, the Choonza Road, opens up.
Location: Ladakh, India
Date : May 15th to May 25th, 2023 (10 nights 11 days)
Application deadline: 1st round - April 30th, 2023
Cost: Stay fee of 1,000,000 KRW + Creation deposit of 1,000,000 KRW worth of Steam Power