Joune

Swayambhunath Temple

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Red Chillies

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Indra Jatra

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Indra Jatra festival in Kathmandu - September 2006

Small time terrorists

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Kathmandu - September 2006 - Maoists rioters harass a rickshaw and destroy his bike.

Awaiting the maoists

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September 6th 2006.

Kathmandu police is expecting new maoists riots.

Invisible soldier

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Coca Cola

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Refugees

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One of the many tibetans who fled from their homeland since the chinese invasion.

Mother and child

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Phewa lake

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Phewa lake

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Phewa lake

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Sarangkot sunrise

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04/09/2006 - Early morning walk.

Sarangkot

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Sarangkot

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03/09/2006

Homework

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(ps: the saree is properly red in lightroom or photoshop, and orange in my browser.. same screen! someone please explain me colour management! please help!)

Sarangkot

2010-01-20T08:44:00.004+01:00

Sorry everyone.. since my recent trip to India, in november, i really haven't found much time for this blog.. i'll try to catch up :)

Here, we're still in Sarangkot, in the north of Nepal, at the feet of the great Anapurnas.

In school

2009-10-22T23:52:00.004+02:00

For memo, we're here, september 2006, i was volunteering for a short while in Sarangkot school, to help teaching basic english and math.

Sarangkot, on the way to school

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At the temple

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Kathmandu

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Teej 2006 in Kathmandu

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Married Hindu women wearing red bridal dresses celebrate the Teej festival (aka Karva Chauth in the south of India).
They honor a Shiva linga to pray for a long life and the well-being of their husbands. Unmarried women observe the festival by praying for a good husband.
Women sing and dance in large groups in the streets coloured with thousands of bright red sarees.

Kathmandu

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At Bharat's family home in Dhulikel

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Up on the bus roof

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Up on the bus roof

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Down by the big tree

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Two brothers

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From what i remember, these two brothers in the bus seemed to be traveling alone together.
It was too dark and shaky to take a decent picture but.. they were just too cute :)

Bharat

2009-08-28T01:07:00.003+02:00

I met with Bharat just when I was crossing the border with Nepal.. Bharat is the name for India, so it may seem like a strange name for a Nepalese, but that's his name :)

We hitchhiked our way from the border to his family's town, and we ended up traveling on the bus' roof, where I shot this portrait of him.

One last for the road...

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... before we reach Nepal!

Zhangmu kids

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At the door

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Zhangmu temple in the clouds

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The wok

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One morning in Zhangmu

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Finally, after one hell of a drive, i reach Zhangmu, at the border with Nepal, in the middle of the night.

This was my first daylight view of the town, as i went to brush my teeth.

Chillin' by the house

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Mount Everest

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Everest base camp

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August 20th 2006. After another 3 days drive, I reach the world's most famous base camp. 5200 meters.

A few hours of sleep in a crowded van and we go for an early morning hike.

Mount Everest is shy and barely ever shows its face from behind the clouds.

Human Resources

2009-08-03T23:11:00.002+02:00

Definitely the most striking -not to say disturbing- thing i kept noticing along the road, was that all the hardest, manual, road construction tasks were executed by young, elegantly dressed, Tibetan women.

Hitchhiking Tibet #7

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Hitchhiking Tibet #6

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After a whole day of resting and hanging around the village, there was really not much for me to do there. I was feeling much better and it was time to hit the road again.

Question was: where to?!

As much as I wanted to keep going west, several things were holding me back. All the road construction trucks where turning north and the only vehicles heading towards mount Kailash where a few packed tourist jeeps. Also my travel authorization was running short and traveling at such speed it was at least another 4 days one way to mount Kailash: I really wasn't sure I'd reach the Nepal border before my visa expires.
All in all i decided to head back east and at least try to see mount Everest before leaving the country.

Eventually a local bus passed and the driver, far away from the authorities, accepted to take me onboard.

22 Tao Pa sheperd

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I spent quite a while with this kid.
Not saying much as we didn't have many words in common.
Yet it was friendly and I just sat there and watched him keep his herd of yacks.
He seemed as curious of me as I was of him.
He was uneasy with the camera. Not bothered but self conscious and when i suggested a smile it turned into a grimace.
He had a leather sling and was extremely skilled with it; he'd throw stones just next to the yacks who were heading the wrong way and the yacks would understand right away!

Then the evening came and it was time for him to head back. He said goodbye, gathered his herd and walked away.

The eye

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The Himalayas are still far, yet already here.
Am I watching this or is it watching me?

22 Tao Pa sheperds

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Walking around the hills surrounding the village I met with a few sheperds, all of them rather young kids.

(I know.. he's closing his eyes.. sorry)

22 Tao Pa

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Just in case some of you started to think Tibet was still only in black and white...

Well, it also comes in blue :)

22 Tao Pa

2009-07-16T08:45:00.007+02:00

"22 Tao Pa" is the name I understood for this tiny place, lost in the great Tibetan plateau (my understanding of chinese being pretty much limited to numbers)

The truck drivers left me at a guesthouse for the night. With everything i tend to said about China, i must acknowledge that my drivers were extremely nice to me. They even shared the food they had packed for the road with the silly tourist who had left for a trip across Tibet without any supply!

After a good night's sleep i felt much better. The sun was now high and bright and i woke up to discover the place in daylight. The guesthouse was held by an adorable family. After i played some songs, the dad tried playing my guitar. And the little girl, amused by my way of taking pictures of everything started to shoot me with a toy camera!

Hitchhiking Tibet #5

2009-07-12T00:57:00.003+02:00

As the sun was setting the second day, I felt awfully weak and tired, and the perspective of spending another cold night in the truck started to scare me.

That's when we reached heaven!

We approached another tiny village and the drivers told me: "we have to turn right just after this village, but if you want to reach mount Kailash , you must continue straight ahead; we'll just drop you here where you can spend the night."
Although not sure yet of where I'd sleep, I couldn't have dreamt of a better proposal; I was more than ready for a break!

Hitchhiking Tibet #4

2009-07-09T23:14:00.003+02:00

As we kept on driving and the night was falling and we didn't seem to reach anywhere, the drivers -somehow- explained to me that there was no stopping for the night; "there's 2 of us", he meant, "and we'll keep on driving all night".
I was only mildly excited by the news but couldn't suggest any better.

All day I had been very impressed by the skills of the drivers, managing our huge truck in the mud where others would get stuck. For difficult passages, bus drivers asked all their occupants to get off and walk by for a while. Sometimes we'd be blocked by another truck in front of us stuck in the mud and we had to go and give a helpful hand.
When this happened in the dead of night and we got blocked by a truck, abandoned for the night, we had no choice but stop and spend the night there.

I wasn't at all equipped to spend the night in a truck at 4000 meters in altitude and i spent the whole time rubbing my frozen feet. Must have been the worst night of the trip (although i didn't know at the time there was going to be another one soon after!)

Morning eventually came and the next day was worse than the first. I felt dead tired and sick. It had been raining non stop all night and the road was even muddier. Every other truck was now slipping in the mud and this time we had our share.
The last image is our truck pretty badly drowned in the mud. It took a while and some help to get it out.

Hitchhiking Tibet #3

2009-07-09T00:59:00.003+02:00

It was hours and hours of bouncy driving before we made our first stop.. I was so happy to jump out and stretch my legs!

We stopped in a tiny village; just a handful of houses along the road. As we parked the truck, a kid was cruising on a bike too big for him. He noticed the stranger's face.

Hitchhiking Tibet #2

2009-06-15T21:39:00.002+02:00

And off we go.. for the most hectic truck ride of my life!

Hitchhiking Tibet

2009-06-11T00:22:00.003+02:00

August 14th 2006.

No public transport is allowed to take foreigners and I refuse to take a chinese "tourist tour". I decide to start hitchhiking my way from Sakya accross Tibet.. We'll see how it goes.
I try to figure out distances; mount Kailash seems to be somewhere between 2 days and a week from here, none can tell. It depends on the roads.

There are no roads.

This "engine with a trailer" is probably the funkiest of my rides! Before this, the same morning I've already ridden the back of a bullock cart and a small truck.

Nearing the police barrier, I'm asked to get off or they'll be in trouble. As for me, i just walk past the police both with my bag and guitar without anyone asking any question!

Soon after my ride must keep going on the main road, while i'm heading off track, hopefully towards mount Kailash. So there i stand, alone and in the middle of nowhere while it starts to rain. Already i start to doubt my decision!

The nuns of Sakya

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August 13th 2006

Gyantse

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Gyantse

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Gyantse

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3,950 meters in altitude, Gyantse once was Tibet's third largest city.

Before leaving Lhasa

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Tibet Power

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As ironical as it may seem, it is the name of the Chinese company supplying electricity in Lhasa.

As i was strolling the streets of Lhasa, i found the broken closed fist of a mannequin. I decided to keep it as a support for photographs and it soon became the symbol of my imaginary rebellion against the Chinese occupant.

I know; this struggle is not mine and i'm 50 years late anyway.. yet to this day it is still painful to see the disregard the Chinese have for Tibetans, and if, indeed, they make the country progress by building roads and modern railways, they do so for their own account, using Tibetans as labor force and sucking out Tibet's natural resources.

More than a sign of revolt, I meant this hand to be a sign of unity. The unity of the new generation of Tibetans, growing up under Chinese influence, fascinated by the consumer goods their parents never had, with what's left of their culture, and of their country.

It is important to mention that all the people holding the hand did so without knowing what my intention was: they were only the "victims" of my imagination. This series only reflects my own view and opinion; not theirs. Yet in doubt i preferred to blur out the faces for you cannot trust authorities with logic and judgment.

I'm interested in having feedback on this, so if anyone is watching (and even reading!) please do comment (as always constructive negative feedback is more than welcome).

"The golden fish symbolizes the auspiciousness of all living beings in a state of fearlessness, without danger of drowning in the ocean of sufferings, and migrating from place to place freely and spontaneously, just as fish swim freely without fear through water."

Mount Everest

A chinese army patrol

Lhasa

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The valley of Lhasa and the Potala Palace, seen at dusk from a neighboring hill.

Tibetan courtyards

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The perfect angle!

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How many pics can you take of the same thing?!

In the streets of Lhasa

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In the streets of Lhasa

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Smoke prayers

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Incense, herbs and medicinal plants are burnt in temples to produce great columns of smoke around which Tibetans tell their prayers.

Aug 9th 2006, Sunrise on Lhasa

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One evening in Damxung

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The "nomadic tibetan night club" in the mountains, was probably my least expected experience of the whole trip!

Damxung portraits (Aug 6th 2006)

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Damxung festival (Free Tibet?)

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Who said "Free Tibet"??!
No one. The chinese cop is watching.

Damxung festival

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August 6th, 2006.

On my way back from Namtso, I stop in Damxung where an important Tibetan festival is taking place. It's a big gathering of tents; nomads from all over have come to celebrate. And i'm just in time for the beginning of the competition: horsemen riding at maximum speed and grabbing white flags laid on the floor. Other contests consist of shooting a bow and arrow, or a gun, always while riding a galloping horse.
The show is very impressive.

And all this of course, under surveillance by rigid chinese policemen.

Namtso (prayer flags)

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Namtso

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Namsto (clouds)

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Namsto

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Namtso

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Namtso

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Namtso

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An early morning ride

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I'm told there's a bus that goes to Namtso in the morning.. but it's unclear at what time or where it leaves from.. they'd rather see you in an expensive organized tour..
I pack a few things and leave early to look for a bus station.. It's still dark, only a few people are awake and at work already.

Somehow I ask around and eventually i find a bus going the right direction.
Not all the way though, and i will need to find a cab -that i'll share with a few tibetans- to take me to the holy lake.

A few hours later, I'm there.. Namtso, 4718m above see level.. "the highest lake in the world!".. they always say so.. but this time it must be pretty close!

Innocence?

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... some of these tourists, may even never learn the true meaning of this place ...

And one day, finally, I reached Lhasa

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August 4th 2006, I discover the magnificient Potala Palace.

Once the home and throne of the Dalai Lama, the place has become a meaningless Disneyland for many chinese tourists...

Kangding annual festival

2009-01-23T00:31:00.005+01:00

And so in 2006, the 8th day of the 4th month of the Chinese calendar happened to fall in the last days of July, that is, just when i was there!.. not that it was planned -for it certainly didn't ease my quest for accommodation- but there i was.. "and there was much rejoicing"!

For those of you who start to wonder where we are by now, i found this little article, which will fill in for the lack of true cultural information on this blog!

Happy New Year

2009-01-15T08:39:00.004+01:00

Yet another break in this filmstrip travel around the world, to wish you a very successful year full of travels!

In the meantime, some shots from our vacation in Barcelona can be found here:
http://flickr.com/arjunpanday

Se Nu Chi Ja

2008-12-31T11:40:00.003+01:00

This man with beautiful wrinkles is Se Nu hi Ja. He is 65 years old.

After i sat with him and a group of men in a village outside Ganzi, he let me into his house. It was a typical village house made of dirt, with curtains in place of doors. He offered me some tsampa (tea with flour) and told me about his life.
When he was 19 he had traveled to India, and he could still remember a few words of Hindi.
Soon after his return, Mao's cultural revolution was raging and anyone who could read was considered a dangerous intellectual.
Se Nu Chi Ja was arrested and spent 18 years of his life in Mao's labor camps.

It was dark when i left his house and it was quite a hike back to Ganzi. By chance i got a lift from a couple of bikes.

Did i say "last"?

2008-12-31T11:32:00.004+01:00

Sorry then.. but i'll have to step back to Ganzi for a minute :)

Crooked

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Recycling

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Leaving Ganzi

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As the bus stopped on it's way to Kangding, i walked to a lonely tent, surrounded by a herd of yacks...

last portraits from Ganzi.. 28/07/2006

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In the fields

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The picnic

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Setting sun on Ganzi valley

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Bunny teeth

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I'll pray for you...

2008-12-14T23:51:00.003+01:00

I met this sheperd woman twice that day, and twice i sat with her for some time, to share a moment.. Again, I really couldn't explain how we'd communicate but i still remember her meaning "I'll pray for you" when i left her and her son in the evening.

To this day my prayers go to them.

Rock hard faith

2008-12-14T23:25:00.001+01:00

Ganzi 28/07/2006

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Ganzi villagers

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Ganzi villagers

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Ganzi Nomads - 28/07/2006

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Ganzi nomads

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Woman labour

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One thing that struck me in Ganzi, and that would continue to strike me later all throughout Tibet, were these young, pretty, nicely dressed, and hard working, road construction female workers...

The only man around was directing the works.

Outside Ganzi

2008-11-03T14:03:00.000+01:00