"Where are you from?"

Many of my experiences in cabs, nail salons, check out counters, and business meetings in the UAE start with this question.

Sri Lanka, Burma, Bangledash, Pakistan, Kerela, Egypt, Saudi, Syria, the Philipines, Thailand, NY, London, China…The many different languages behind the FIND logo represent the different populations found in the UAE and reflect the conversations regarding home that are ubiquitous to this landscape.

Part of my ongoing transportation project is to put a face to these 'home" countries by photographing everyday journeys that people take on buses, trains, motorcycles, and cars in the various places where people are from in the UAE. It's an attempt to expand the frame of our understanding of the people we share the UAE landscape with by sharing everyday journeys from home.

Last December, I spent three weeks in Burma/Myanmar. Many people working in the hotel industry in Dubai are Burmese and I heard many stories from local villagers about the people who had left home to work in the UAE. I traveled a famous route from Pyin Oo Lwin to see the Gokteik Viaduct, that at the time of its construction (1900) it was the largest railway tressle in the world.

For three hours I travelled along the narrow railway path. Overgrown branches reached through the large open windows and grazed my arms. The train swayed back and forth. I traveled up and down the train cars talking to people, sharing home cooked fried bananas and rice, and taking photographs. I'll never forget getting off the train and my new Burmese friends leaning out the oversized windows waving goodbye.

As a result of this journey, there is a Burmese waitress at a place I frequent in Abu Dhabi who has now become a fellow traveller.