Beginnings

In the Mekong headwaters

In the Mekong headwaters, the far northern reaches of Asia’s monsoons are tapering. By September, the rains will subside and the torrents will wash their way down through Yunnan, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, to swell into the sea at Vietnam’s great delta. A group of eight students and three guides will begin their journey a day’s drive north of where this photograph was taken. For three months, they will explore, float, dream, and investigate along the course of this great river system. The writing here is my personal story of this journey, a journey I have endeavored several times but have yet to fully document.

In the weeks to come, you will come to understand the purpose of our journey, just as we will begin to understand our own reasons for tracing the Mekong River from its source to its ultimate destination.  From the flanks of the Tibetan Plateau to the great rice basins where the relics of war continue to hold people’s hearts and minds, we will face the world with openness, looking to our inner being as a source for outer compassion.  I invite you to join us on our journey, and me in my reflections on the state of this great river.  Welcome to The Written River.

-Max Woodfin