In mid 2014 I quit the job I loved and travelled the world for a year. I was heading back to Singapore from Dubai, the long way home. After a 14 hour direct flight from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro, I stood at the end of a bus queue in the terminal, wondering to myself: “What are you doing? Backpacking in South America, without a plan. Alone”. I had bought my ticket just days before. Travellers that I would meet later told me that they planned for months. “Brazil is almost like a continent. How do you know where you want to go?”. “Lencois”, I would answer. “It's a desert with lakes. During winter, in the North East of Brazil, the valleys collect rain and pools form in the valleys until they disappear again at the height of summer”. And they listened, amazed and jealous.

2014年中，我辭掉所愛的工作，開始了持續一年的環遊世界。我本來要漫漫歸途，從杜拜回到新加坡的家里。杜拜直飛里約熱內盧14個小時后，我站在巴士隊列後面問自己：“你在做什麼？獨自一人、毫無計劃來到南美徒步旅行。”我前幾天才買了機票。後來遇到的旅行者告訴我他們提前計劃了好幾個月。“巴西幾乎像一塊大陸。你怎麼知道你想去哪裡？”“倫索伊斯”，我回答道，“這是一個有湖泊的沙漠。冬天，在巴西東北部，山谷收集在山谷裡形成的雨水和池水，直到它們再次在夏天里消失。”他們聽了，感到驚訝和妒忌。

It was as magical as I had made it out to be. Soft undulating curves that went on forever, murmuring last summer's secrets under the wind, like a Resnais film.

I bumped into people I had met on the way to Atins that afternoon I arrived on the beach. “Come for a walk”, they said. “We have a guide”. “Yes, why not”, I thought. Even the pretty white dog that was following me agreed. What I thought would be a nice leisurely evening walk became a four-hour hike up the dunes. The sand was too soft for us to wear shoes. And every time we took a step, we would sink. Ankle deep in the sand as soft as cream.

它和我想象的一樣神奇——柔軟起伏的曲線延綿不斷，風下竊竊私語着去年夏天的秘密，就像一部雷乃的電影。

到達海灘的那天下午，我去阿提斯的路上遇到了一些人。“過來散步吧”他們說，“我們有一個嚮導。”“好的，有何不可”我想。即使是那隻跟著我的漂亮白狗也會答應。原本想著是晚上輕鬆悠閒散步，却變成了4小時徒步沙丘。沙子太軟不適合穿鞋，我們每邁出一步就會下沉。踝深的沙子像奶油一樣柔軟。

After we watched the last rays of the pink sunset slip into the sand, we found our hard earned dinner in a hut where we met other travellers, an American stylist, a German student and a Greek dentist, amongst others. We exchanged stories first, names last. And then it was another two-hour walk back to the posada. The only twist was that we had to walk back in complete darkness on the riverbed. “No light! No light!”, the guide urged. It was terrifying at first, to put a foot down where you couldn't see. After an hour the guide stopped. “Look!”. I lifted my eyes and saw the sky, swimming in stars, like freshly poured glitter in black syrup. The constellations were so dense that I could make out the shape of our planet, from the convex carpet of the stars. And from that, I saw the eternity of our universe, in a single minute, quietly storming in the burning infernos.

看著最後幾縷粉紅日落流進了沙丘后，我們在小屋裡享用辛苦得來的晚餐，屋裡遇到了其它旅行者，其中有美國設計師，德國學生，希臘牙醫等。我們先交換故事，然後才是自我介紹。接著又是兩小時步行回波薩達。唯一的困難是我們不得不沿著河床走進完全黑暗的世界。“沒有燈！沒有燈！”嚮導催促著。開始有點害怕走進完全看不見的地方。過了一個小時，嚮導停了下來。“看！”我抬起眼睛看著天空，在星星中遨遊，天空就像倒入了閃閃發光物體的黑糖漿。星座非常密集，凸起地毯狀的星群让我可以辨認出地球的形狀。而從那裡，我看到我們宇宙的永恆，短短一分鐘內，在燃燒的地獄中靜靜地卷起風暴。

It was another 10 countries after Brazil before I reached home. I was in shards by that time. My body was in splinters but my memories were in technicolour. Streets streamed into each other, like the stories I had collected along the way. “Where did I meet you? When?”. Some places stuck out (Medrano y Sarmiento). Some people too (pancakes and a leek pie). Since then I’ve often returned to that night. And all the things that happened in between. It seems like forever, since that night in the desert of lakes.

巴西之後，在回家前我又去了十個國家。那時我陷入了记忆碎片中。我的身體在碎片里但是記憶卻多姿多彩。街道影像湧入彼此，就像我沿路收集的故事一樣。“我在哪裡見過你？什麼時候？”一些地方顯現（梅德拉諾薩爾米恩托）。一些人也出現（煎餅和韭菜餡餅）。從那時起，我常常回想到那天晚上，還有想起這之間所發生的事情。那晚在沙漠湖泊里的一切好像已成為永恆。

Mandy Tay is a photographer/videographer based in Singapore and available for worldwide commissions. www.mandytay.com

Mandy Tay是位於新加坡的攝影師和電視錄像製作人，可接受全球性的委任工作。

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