The Phường 28 island (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). Island number 30 (out of 100), country number 26 (out of 25), month number 32 (out of 100.)

A few kilometers from island Phường 28 in Ho Chi Minh City is the War Remnants Museum dedicated to what we in the West call “The Vietnam War”. (The museum was previously known as “the Museum of American War Crimes”.)

I went to the island Phường 28 to reflect on the impact that visiting the museum had on me, because the visit there was profound.

The many pictures and facts about the atrocities of the war shakes you to the core. What human beings can do to other human beings is truly depressing. But it was the meeting with the blind young man playing piano in the gift shop of the museum which affected me the most. A man born without eyes due to Agent Orange and other chemicals dropped by the Americans.

A victim of war when he was just a fetus in his mothers womb.

Listening play his piano so beautifully became such stark contrast to the museum.

He did not speak English but I talked to another young  women did, a women also born disabled due to effects from the war.

I asked her if she was angry at the Americans for how the chemicals that they had dropped had affected her.

She smiled and said: “No”.

The actions that humans who hate can do is horrific.

But tact of forgiveness that humans are capable of is inspiring.

I – like all of us – have met many, many people in my life. But I can honestly say that I have seldom been more moved by a random meeting with another human being as when I met this young, blind man behind his piano.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

May we never lose sight of the fact that we all belong to one humanity and may we all begin to see that we are all one instead of thinking in terms of “them” and “us”.

Fredrik Haren, aka “The Island Man”, plans to visit 100 islands, in at least 25 countries, on at least 6 continents – in less than 100 months. The purpose of this “World Tour of Islands” is to get a better understanding of the world, a deeper understanding of the people who live here and a broader understanding of life. The Phường 28 island  was island number 30, country number 26 and month number 32.
(Countries visited so far: Austria, Canada, China, Egypt, France , Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Mauritius, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Vietnam, United Kingdom, USA, Italy and Malta.)

(Island visited in September 2018, text published August 2019.)

Share:

The Island of Malta (Valletta, Malta). Island number 29 (out of 100), country number 26 (out of 25), month number 29 (out of 100.)

The small island of Malta is part of Europe and the EU. But geographically is is actually closer to mainland Africa than to mainland Europe. (It’s just 497 km Tunisia but 677 km to Italy.)

Historically the island has belonged to all kinds of rulers: The romans, Morrs, Knights of Saint John, the French and the British and visitors from Africa, the Middle East and Europe has arrived on the island for at least 4000 years. Malta is an island that is connected to many other parts of the world.

It is now an independent nation and a member of the EU.

At the time that I visited Malta the Italian government had just announced that they would not allow ships with refugees from Africa to dock in the country.

People on both sides of the political spectrum are upset.

Some because they are angry about all the African refugees coming by boat to Europe. (“They have to be stopped!”)

Some are in shock about how the refugees are being turned away, or worse, die at sea. (“We have to let them in!”)

But to think that it would be possible to stop people from one continent from trying to reach another is naive. Humans have travelled across from Africa to Europe for tens of thousands of years, and with technology it is just getting easier and easier.

On the other hand: to instantly allow any person in Africa who wanted to come and live in Europe to do so would most likely create a huge strain on the European political system and society at large.

As a Swede I am blessed with one of the most generous passports in the world where I can travel almost anywhere and to most countries I can do it easily and without even having to apply for a visa.

I dream of a world where every person on earth is allowed to travel anywhere without a visa.

Unrealistic?

Of course not.

For most of human history visa free travel has been the norm. And a beautiful result of the European Union is the ability to travel across scores of national borders.

A “World Union” where all countries let all citizens travel all over the planet is a goal we should thrive for.

Not necessarily because we should encourage more people to move physically, but to move people’s minds.

And not necessarily to let anyone, anywhere move anywhere right away.

Uncontrolled human movements sometimes get out of hand. That is why the Chinese government put limitations on who can live in their cities and thus have less slums than, say India.

Or why a tiny, crowded country like Singapore control how many people are allowed to live in its tiny island.

But the vision should be a borderless planet with as few restrictions as possible.

As a first step we could restrict people’s right to settle down, but let anyone come as a tourist and/or to do business for, say one month where the default is that you are allowed to come and restrictions are only put in place when needed.

As a person from Sweden who already have the right to (more or less) travel short term to anywhere I know the feeling that creates: A feeling of immense freedom.

Not being able to travel when you want to is best described as having your spirit in jail.

We should thrive for a world where as many people as possible are allowed to let their spirits free.

As I leave Malta to fly to Sweden I make a vow to work towards a more borderless world.

Fredrik Haren, aka “The Island Man”, plans to visit 100 islands, in at least 25 countries, on at least 6 continents – in less than 100 months. The purpose of this “World Tour of Islands” is to get a better understanding of the world, a deeper understanding of the people who live here and a broader understanding of life. The island of Malta was island number 29, country number 26 and month number 29.
(Countries visited so far: Austria, Canada, China, Egypt, France , Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Mauritius, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Vietnam, United Kingdom, USA, Italy and Malta.)

(Island visited in June 2018, text published October 2018.)

Share:

After I visited Tiber island I went to the Leonardo da Vinci Museum not far from Tiber Island. Da Vinci, one of the greatest problem solvers and inventors of humanity. And yes, he did create a bunch of war machines, but he is remembered more for his positive inventions, his beautiful drawings and his general creativity.

When I stood in the “multi-mirror-cabinet” that Leonardo invented I reflected (literally) over how human creativity has helped propel mankind to something better.

Now it is time to take the next step and embrace a mindset of true human thinking where we develop solutions on a global scale for the benefit of the human species and of earth as a whole. Grand thoughts perhaps, but they feel appropriate standing on an island in the eternal city.

(Countries visited so far: Austria, Canada, China, Egypt, France , Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Mauritius, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Vietnam, United Kingdom, USA and Italy.)

Share:

North Island (Wellington, New Zealand). Island number 27 (out of 100), country number 24 (out of 25), month number 26 (out of 100.)

It is easy to think about New Zealand as isolated from the rest of the world pinned as it is on most maps in the lower right hand corner of a world map with just Australia next to it and hours of fly time over water to any other continent.

Actually according to some experts New Zealand is not separated from the other continents but instead part of its very own continent – the continent of Zealandia. Zealandia is a vast landmass that is almost entirely submerged by water and which broke free from Australia 60–85 million years ago with the New Zealand island and a few other smaller islands being like “top of icebergs’ sticking up above the water.

I find the notion of New Zealand being part of a continent that is mostly under water fascinating – and it suddenly give the name “New Zealand” (= New Sea Land) a very profound meaning.

New Zealand was originally settled by humans who emigrated from Taiwan via Melanesia and the Society Islands and finally arriving in New Zealand. Humans who under centuries travelled from island to island. Epic “Island hoppers” …

I visited New Zealand for a speech I was invited to give in Auckland but decided to fly down a few days earlier to go to Wellington and visit an old friend.

This friend, Derek, used to live in the USA, then moved to Singapore (where we got to know each other) and then he moved down to Wellington five years ago.

For two days we hiked in nature, went for walks, visited restaurants and talked, talked and talked. Good friends having a good time.

Both me and my friend have hopped continents for where we call home more than twice, and perhaps that is why we could feel close friendship even after not really seeing each other for years.

When we have the mindset that friendships are based on our connections to other people – not by geographical distance, but by emotional proximity, then we become more open to being close to people that are living far away from us.

When we get used to the idea that continents are not separating us – but rather binding us together – then we start to see earth as that one, big landmass that it is (some of it covered by water, some not.)

In a way Earth is a big version of Zealandia – a big chunk of land that mostly is covered by water.

When we fully understand that concept we stop looking at people as living “somewhere else” and start to understand that we are all just living “here”. And we start building bridges between each other how ever far away from each other we are.

That is what hiking with my good friend Derek thought me when we spent a few days together in New Zealand.

(Island visited March 2018, post posted September 2018.)

Fredrik Haren, aka “The Island Man”, plans to visit 100 islands, in at least 25 countries, on at least 6 continents – in less than 100 months. The purpose of this “World Tour of Islands” is to get a better understanding of the world, a deeper understanding of the people who live here and a broader understanding of life. North Island was island number 27, country number 24 and month number 26. (Countries visited so far: China, Sweden, Maldives, Austria, Nigeria, Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, USA, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Mauritius, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Iceland, Canada, Mongolia, Myanmar, South Africa, Norway and New Zealand.)

Share:

Jag Mandir (Udaipur, India). Island number 27 (out of 100), country number 23 (out of 25), month number 26 (out of 100.)

The small island Jag Mandir is almost completely covered by a palace. It is located in the Pichola Lake in Udaipur in India and has been the home of many Indian emperors over the 500+ years it has existed.

Standing on the island more than half a millennium (!) after it was built was like riding in a time machine. Even with all the modern technology of modern Indian life surrounding me at the visit (mobile phones, petrol engines on the boats etc) you could not but feel the energy from centuries past vibrating around you.

The islands most famous resident was Prince Khurram who later became know as Emperor Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan, which means “King of the World”, was the ruler during the Mughal-era and he was indeed one of the great rulers of the world. Shah Jahan who lived during the 1700:th century had to his disposal an army of 1,000,000 (!) men.

It has been calculated that “Mughal-era India’s share of global gross domestic product (GDP) grew from 22.7% in 1600 to 24.4% in 1700, surpassing China to become the world’s largest”. (source Wikipedia).

Perhaps the most interesting fact about Shah Jahan and the island of Jag Mandir is that when the emperor was young he lived on Jag Mandir and I learnt that the design of the palace on the island inspired Emperor Shah Jahan to later in life build his most famous structure: The Taj Mahal, one of the Wonders of the world.

Standing on Jag Mandir I reflected about this: How one place on Earth can inspire greatness in another part of the world years later. About how a man who was given the title “the Kind of the World” went looking for inspiration in different parts of the world.

We are all Kings (and Queens) of the World. As long as we make an effort to be inspired by ideas/concepts/habits/things/etc created by other people around the world.

We are all Kings (and Queens) of the Human Island if we are open to ideas from everywhere.

(Visited Feb 2018, uploaded Sep 2018)

Fredrik Haren, aka “The Island Man”, plans to visit 100 islands, in at least 25 countries, on at least 6 continents – in less than 100 months. The purpose of this “World Tour of Islands” is to get a better understanding of the world, a deeper understanding of the people who live here and a broader understanding of life. Jag Mandir was island number 27, country number 23 and month number 26. (Countries visited so far: China, Sweden, Maldives, Austria, Nigeria, Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, USA, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Mauritius, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Iceland, Canada, Mongolia, Myanmar, South Africa and Norway.)

Share: