Up on the bus roof

Up on the bus roof

Down by the big tree

Two brothers

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

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...

... before we reach Nepal!

Zhangmu kids

At the door

Zhangmu temple in the clouds

The wok

One morning in Zhangmu

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

Mount Everest

Everest base camp

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

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

Hitchhiking Tibet #6

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

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

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

22 Tao Pa sheperds

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)