Travel-inspired Tales: caves

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Haiku Shot #1

Rosie's Haiku Shots

Thought I'd take a shot at it...at this fascinating Japanese verse form that is succinct, yet juicy and tender, and rich yet not opulent.

At first what I wrote was rhyme, not haiku at all...but I thought it was haiku. I liked my first attempt. However, after reading up a little about the form, I try to adhere to certain traditions, but again, a novice makes all kinds of blunders. So excuse me if what I'm passing off as Haiku might not quite fit the bill. That is why I call these my Haiku Shots.

My first 'haiku' was actually a set. Each haiku fitted the basic 5-7-5 syllable pattern. I sought inspiration from my travels, and the title gives you a notion of the place which sparked the idea for my haiku. If curiosity gets the better of you, and you want to see the actual posts of these places, just click on the title.

Alugu Caves

Caverns echo loud

Immortals' celestial tales

Thrilling, tragic, tense!

Elixirs of Life,

legends and myths abiding

in spectral rivers.

Battling dragons' fire

Tales of victories sublime

Fantasies live on...

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Alugu Caves

The Alugu Caves, (Alufu Dong) is situated 165km from Kunming, in Luxi County in Southeastern Yunnan. It is a network of karst caves made up of 18 magnificent chambers and a surreal underground river. The caves were actually part of the ocean beds during prehistoric times. Seismic action caused the caves to be pushed upwards to dry land. These limestone caves had provided shelter to the Alu tribesmen during the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

Today, the huge caves are a major tourist attraction in Yunnan. More interestingly, it is a source of inspiration to poets, as the rock formations of stalactites, stalagmites, stone pillars and karst grottoes play on the imagination of poets and visitors alike. These landforms have been given imaginative names. There were of course dragons, celestial immortals and other shapes with mythological references. The underground river is called Yusun River. The still,dark waters there are populated by a species of fish the locals call 'Blind Fish'.

These photographs below are accompanied by my own attempts at haiku , inspired by my magical, mystical journey in the Alugu caves.