At Allepey Beach, I saw this heron, gazing out at the ocean. Occasionally it would take a few steps closer to the water, but when the waves start rolling in, it would run back to higher ground. This continued for hours. I wondered if this was a way of getting food. Was there fish or crabs coming ashore with the waves? I don’t know for sure, but it was amazing to watch. There were moments where it would stand in one spot and just stare out at the sea for a very long time, regardless of waves rolling in. And I wondered what it was thinking. What does it see? What does it smell?

Taken from a houseboat in Allepey, Kerala, India.

As I sat in the comfort of my boathouse and looked over at the fishermen catching their dinner, I wondered how simple their lives must be. Everyday you fish for your meal, and you sell the remaining catch for money. You spend your life among the waters, surrounded by beauty and bliss. But it also made me wonder, is the simple life really as simple as it seems? Probably not. But I guess I’ll never really know unless I live it

Taken at the Madupetty Dam, in Munnar, Kerala, India.

While driving up the mountains towards Munnar, we made quite a few pit stops which were known to be popular tourist areas. The sceneries were definitely beautiful, but I couldn’t help but notice the wild monkey’s foraging through litter that tourists left behind. A part of me was incredibly happy to see monkeys, but another part of me was saddened by the amount of trash that we humans were leaving in their homes. The younger monkeys were curiously looking through litter and watching tourists come and go, but this old guy did not seem impressed. As I gazed into his eyes, it was almost as if he was saying “I know how you feel”.