What dreams might come when you visit Pandora’s Box?

Pandora Box of Dreams, Diamond Bay (Flickr) – click any image for full size

Note: this vision of Pandora Box of Dreams is closed.

Dreams are our mind’s creations, places where  mind takes us to relax, to enjoy and to ease from rest of the world. Come dreamer, let the slumber take you, close your eyes and just focus on the weight of body easing away with each breath you take, and with each breath you become less here and more in our dreams…

So, in part, reads the welcome which is ethereally whispered to those arriving at Pandora Box of Dreams, in the Homestead region of Diamond Bay. Designed by Lokhe Angel Verlack (Jackson Verlack), this is a place where, as the introduction suggests, Dreams are encouraged. The greeting is given at the arrival point, high in the air over the region, as you pass through a series of veils to come to a bed located among shrubs heavy with leaves of green and red and gold, and among them, slender boughs bearing white sakura blossoms. Climb on to the bed, let your dreams take you, and you’ll be transported to a land rich in colour and filled with the sounds of nature. Pandora Box of Dreams, Diamond Bay (Flickr)

Your journey through this land – a series of beautifully sculpted islands rising on rugged cliffs and rocks from the waters below –  starts within a modest Japanese bath house. Do make sure you have local sounds enabled prior to leaving it; if you don’t you’ll be missing out on the full ambience of these tranquil isles.

For the first part of your exploration, you’ll need to follow the steps up under the Torii gates, as this is the route to access the rest of the islands or, if you prefer, make an initial descent to the water’s edge deep within one of the gorges separating the islands. Once you have passed the gates on the far side of this path, however, where you roam is up to you; just as our dreams are free to lead us where they will, so to are visitors free to wander wherever their feet might take them. Pandora Box of Dreams, Diamond Bay (Flickr)

Perhaps you’ll make your way down to the waters of the deep gorges separating the islands one from another; or perhaps you’ll take the bridges spanning them to explore the other grass-covered isles and make your way to the little open house made from converted railway carriages and rest awhile.

Maybe you’ll travel further, and make your way down to the water’s edge by way of tree-lined steps and past a wooden platform where Japanese delicacies await and a great stone harp stands, and thus come to the flooded cherry blossom garden. If you’re wise, you’ll give yourself time to do all of these, and discover everything else the islands have to offer, and allow them to wrap their magic around you like a comforting blanket. For those taking photographs, and there is a lot here to photograph, don’t forget you are invited to share them in the Pandora Box of Dreams Flickr group. Pandora Box of Dreams, Diamond Bay (Flickr)

Such is the design of the region that when it comes to photography, experimenting with windlight settings and the time of day slider is an absolute must; this is a place which lends itself naturally to a wide range of lighting, making it a wonderful subject for pictures. As with many places in SL, moving between windlights can cause a particular scene to magically and quite unexpectedly transform itself before your eyes. But here, the sensation when it does, is like slipping from one part of a dream into another, a feeling which enhances the overall theme of the region.

Do note as well that if you want to rez props for photography, you can join the local group – there is a nominal fee of L$50 for doing so, and an invite should be sent to you on your initial arrival in the region. All told, Pandora’s Box of Dreams is a visual delight; a place guaranteed to soothe the soul and / or get the camera clicking. The design is simple yet elegant, uncluttered and serene, and harmonious in its presentation. Highly recommended.