Journeys in time and space: Finding home on road in Guizhou

This summer, during my personal travels, we explored the stunning Guizhou, a province known for its misty karst peaks, cascading waterfalls, ancient Miao villages, and tranquil lakes. Each trip I embark on is fueled by a strong desire to live fully, understand more, and gain knowledge — seeking to immerse myself completely in the experience.

As Emily Wilson translates in her opening to Homer's The Odyssey: "Tell me about a complicated man. Muse, tell me how he wandered..."

While I am not sure that I am a "complicated man", after a long and joyous summer of wanderings, we now gather again and immerse ourselves in our current realities while in all our hearts we carry the echoes and warm memories of where we have been.

Such stunning memories I have of Guizhou ...

Max Caruso at the Shuilian Cave of Huangguoshu Waterfall. [Photo provided to eguizhou.gov.cn]

The waterfall and the threshold

Our first visit took us to Huangguoshu Waterfall, China's largest, 77.8 meters high and 48 meters across — a roaring curtain of water that one can actually walk behind.

The Shuilian Cave offers an eerie yet mesmerizing experience: stepping into the spray, you feel the deafening sound resonate through your body, transforming the world into a blur of white noise and wet stone. Coming out on the other side provides a rare, multi-sensory perspective — a view few get to experience.

Standing there, drenched!... and taking in my surroundings, I thought of thresholds and how we step through them, unaware of their power ... seeking and anticipating new perspectives, new experiences, new understandings, and thus, new emergent versions of ourselves, emerging transformed.

The bridge and the passage

At Xiaoqikong (seven small arches bridge) Scenic Area, we walked through a landscape of water whose famous turquoise color was slowly re-emerging after recent floods. We could see the turquoise seeping into the receding muddied waters — nature's transfiguration in action. This magnificent UNESCO World Heritage Site!

The bridge is an ancient passage and gateway. Bridges connect; they invite you to pass through, and thus we connect the separate, the other, to foster passages possible between worlds.

Max Caruso at Tianzhong Cave in the Xiaoqikong Scenic Area. [Photo provided to eguizhou.gov.cn]

The majesty of Qianlingshan Park

In the heart of Guiyang city, we drove through beautifully chaotic streets — traffic tangles, honking horns, sellers hawking their wares, humanity heaving here and there; the symphonic cacophony of a summer morning. Upon arrival, we pushed through the surging humanity winding its way in the park, coming and going, arriving and leaving, searching for cheeky monkeys or ponderous pandas.

Seeking respite from the crowd and the sun, we walked toward a secluded cafe through a cool tunnel carved into the mountain. As we re-emerged into the light, the startling beauty of Qianling Lake unfolded before us — her calm waters inviting, silent and mirror-still as barely a breeze whispered.

After a refreshing latte, with soft music, quiet voices, and a stunning view of lake and mountain, we hired a boat. For forty precious minutes we drifted on the edge of quietude. The mountain rose behind the lake, ancient and paternal. Dragonflies rested on our bow, then flitted away, dipping momentarily into the cool waters. We immersed ourselves in conversation or rested with our own thoughts.

Perhaps this experience is akin to Homer's concept of nostos — the homecoming that doesn't necessarily occur at the end of a journey.

The village and the Other

At Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village, the largest Miao settlement in the world, we walked among stilted wooden houses cascading down hillsides, home to over 6,000 people. It is a living, thriving open-air museum of culture, language and philosophy. As a learner participant, this was a humbling experience — to immerse even briefly and attempt to know.

I cannot help but make reference to my profession. As teachers, we are learners first. As educators, we need to remember what it feels like to be the acolyte, the outsider looking in, the one who does not hold all knowledge nor all the answers.

I was reminded that we are all at some point the outsider looking in. We are all students of each other. The village teaches humility, and that wisdom is not possessed but shared.

Max Caruso visits Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village in Guizhou. [Photo provided to eguizhou.gov.cn]

The Tianzhong Cave

Our journey then led us into the heart of the earth itself, to the Tianzhong Cave. Apart from the surprise that awaited us, moving into the cool dark cave was blissful release from the summer heat. As we descended into its silent floodlit chambers with myriad colors bouncing off the walls, I was reminded of another famous cave, the lair of the Cyclops in Homer's Odyssey.

Unlike Odysseus, who faced a beast, we found only a massive, 10-meter-tall stalagmite that names this cave, standing silent like a frozen bell. No monster lurked here, just the deep quiet of the underground, a place for peaceful reflection rather than cunning escape. The vast halls, which could hold a hundred thousand people, resembled a stone cathedral, inspiring thoughts about the slow, mighty forces of nature that carve such marvels over thousands of years. Truly awe-inspiring.

The return

Homer understood that an odyssey, no matter its scope, is transformative. The journey one seeks is a personal philosophical curriculum, a teaching from many and variously unique viewpoints.

Parallels: as we embark upon our journeys, we are always coming home.

Our return home was not simply the culmination of our journey. As I write this article, I realize that, despite the comfort of familiar surroundings, nothing is quite the same.

Indeed, I have walked behind a waterfall, crossed an ancient seven-arched bridge, stood in a village steeped in ancient culture, supped with her people — and felt the welcome and warmth of this China that continues to grow in my heart.

The year ahead will have its waterfalls, its bridges, its tunnels and its villages. There will be trepidation and calm, noise and stillness. There will be moments when we find ourselves in places we never expected. Our journey connects us together, and every step we take brings us home.

"Traveling, it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller."
— Ibn Battuta

And in the sacredness of the present moment, may we find the courage to step forward, embrace the new, and welcome each other home.

This story is written by Dr Max Caruso, co-principal of Wuxi United International School.