The main notable activity of my day was the exhibition I mentioned yesterday. In Europe, I got a bit museumed out, and in Asia there is an ever-present risk of being templed/shrined out, so I'm trying to throw in a few random interesting things to mix it up. The exhibition is called "Dialogue in the Dark", and it's a 90 minute exploration of the senses in complete darkness being led by a blind guide (quite literally the blind leading the blind!) You can see why getting a guide that can speak english is important, which is why I couldn't do it yesterday. Our group was a real mix, consisting of me, a german, an indian and an argentinian, plus our guide Henry. It was an interesting experience. We start off in utter darkness without having met our guide, and from the start he is just a voice. The tour takes you through different situations blind people face: getting on a boat, visiting the market, going to the cafe, etc, but set up to focus your senses on touch, smell and sound. After the initial disorientation I adapted quite well, although it's a lot easier to have confidence moving around when you know there's no real cars that can hit you. At the end of the tour they have a real cafe staffed by more blind people where you can buy things and enjoy them in the darkness. Overall, an interesting and fun experience, but obviously not one that can be documented with photos.
Tomorrow, barring bad weather, I'm planning to get up early and start the day hiking, and see where things lead from there.
1 comment:
Sounds awesome! Gonzalo and I went dining in the dark last year (with a blind waiter), but I like that this is a whole experience that promotes awareness.
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