I love these places where you can see that the West is not the law of the world
"The only time you really travel is when you don't find what you already know. At BrazilFor example, there's always a Portuguese church to take you back to your own roots. The same goes for Mexico in AfricaLet's not even talk about it. While I remember the Burmawhere you're suddenly caught up in something, a universe in which we are not included.
I love those places that take you away, those that really make you travel: the Japan or India, of course, but also Thailand to a lesser extent. All these countries that have put me at least once in a ecstatic state which I've also photographed in a book, Journeys outside the self. I like these places where you realise that the West is not the law of the world, that there are other laws; different ways of approaching life, people and things...
These are by far my favourite trips. Here you go! I'd like to tell you about one of my most beautiful journeys, a trip I took when I was young, but what a trip it was! With Gérard Garoustethe painter, who is a childhood friend, we set off in a car at the age of 20 on a tour of the world. trips to Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania... Indiana Jones is nothing compared to that. We had it all, we nearly got killed, we were half-prisoners, and poisoned too. These were adventures and experiences that I also recounted in a book, Mille et un morceaux (A Thousand and One Pieces).
I have no memory of a totally unsuccessful trip. There were some contrived moments, yes, and some annoyances too, but never all of them. I've never had a trip where it was all hell. Even when I wandered around Jakarta in the pouring rain all night and neither I nor the rickshaw knew where we were. A very long night... But in the end, it was quite fun!
Basically, when you're elsewhere, you always want something to happen, a bit of adventure, stories, things... That's what I like and not this style of five-star stay. However, I have nothing against big hotels as long as they are elegant and not flashy concrete. There are some wonderful ones in ChinaThe hotels are extremely luxurious, but in a refined sense; beautiful establishments with rooms, each with its own hot-water pool, sublimely delicate.
In any case, I always choose which hotels I stay in, and they're not necessarily the most expensive. In fact, I prefer to alternate; that's what it's all about and living with local people. As I did in the Sulawesi islands or to Morocco for example, where I wrote a big show among the Chleus, in a mud hut. There was nothing else, and I was there, in their home, with them. I had need to disconnect completely.
Now, if you ask me what my best travel memory is, I would paraphrase Brillat-Savarin - who wrote after making 1,000 recipes that "it doesn't matter what you eat, the important thing is who you eat it with"The most beautiful journeys, even to countries that are not necessarily fascinating at first sight, depend above all on those with whom they are made. As lovers, for example.
| KEY DATES "I don't want to get sidetracked, but every second is important to me. I've received so much, I've been invited everywhere... At the end of the day, what's important is to live. To experience everything, the successes, the failures, the unhappiness... It's the present moment that counts. A quiet morning coffee with a friend, for example.." |
News :
Jean-Marie Gourio's adaptation of the cult TV series Palace at the Théâtre de Paris, until 5 January
Bibliography :
Voyages hors de soi, Ed. Acte Sud.
Mille et un morceaux, Ed. Iconoclaste.
