Project: Orinoco

I’ve written about this before but allow me to once again wax about something I seriously want to venture into.

It’s called Project: Orinoco.

Basically, I want to visit all the places Enya mentioned in her song, Orinoco Flow. I’ve done my (Internet) research and as far as I could dig, no one’s done this before, so that makes it a little more exciting for me.

Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia

There are 20 sites in the song, namely:

  • Orinoco River, Colombia and Venezuela
  • Tripoli, Libya
  • Yellow Sea, between Korea and China
  • Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
  • Palau, Micronesia
  • Avalon, British Isles
  • Fiji, Fiji islands
  • Tiree, Scotland
  • Isles of Ebony, England
  • Peru
  • Cebu, Philippines
  • Babylon, Iraq
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Cali, Colombia
  • Coral Sea, Australia
  • Ebudae (Inner Hebrides), Scotland
  • Khartoum, Sudan
  • The Sea of Clouds, possibly Mount Huangshan, China
  • Island of the Moon (Comoros); also an island on Lake Titicaca, Peru & Bolivia
  • Ross Dependency, a region of Antarctica

So far, I’ve visited only two of them: Bali, Indonesia and Cebu, Philippines. Unfortunately, my hard disk containing photos of my Bali and Cebu trips crashed last year. But that’s not going to be a major hindrance in documenting this project. See, I’m going back to Bali and Cebu this 2012! (And I will make sure to back up my photos, yes.)

In addition, I’m going to visit (hopefully) two more destinations later this year, thanks to Cebu Pacific’s P1 fare seat sale last month. I’ll definitely write about it when it happens. But for now, I need to save up big time then apply for a Visa!

Realistically speaking, I know I won’t be able to experience all 20 places in the song. For one, I’m not too keen on visiting Iraq, for Babylon’s sake. (Plus, my passport is not valid for travel in Iraq!) I’m also not sure about Khartoum, Sudan and Tripoli, Libya. Tripoli, Greece or Tripoli, Lebanon are more viable destinations but the consensus is that Enya’s Tripoli is the Libyan capital. And finally, I know it can be done but I’m not sure I’m venturesome enough to join an antarctica cruise to visit the Ross Dependency. Enya, couldn’t have you picked easier places to visit? You make it sound so easy when you sing about them!

So yes, this is my lifetime project and I’m dead serious about doing it, much to my friends’ and family’s amusement. “You want to go to China to climb Mountain What? Do you even know how to hike?!” Yes, I need to go to the Huangshan Province to climb the Yellow Mountain (for “the deep sea of clouds”). No, I don’t know how to hike but I heard there are cable cars!

You know how we’re all supposed to have a mission in life? Well, I think I may have just stumbled into mine. And that’s to sail away, sail away, sail away.