The Rest of Everest Episode 102: Sweet Dreams

Wednesday brings us another new episode of The Rest of Everest, as we continue our adventure on Annapurna IV, a 24,688 foot peak that was the target of climbers Ben Clark, Josh Butson, and Tim Clarke last year.

In Episode 102: Sweet Dreams, we start things off with the boys sharing some of the very odd dreams that they've been experiencing while in base camp, including a reoccurring one from Ben that haunts him on every expedition he has been on.

From there we get some great footage of the team organizing their gear, with a good look at everything they have to take with them. Remember, on this trip, the intention is to not only reach the summit, but also make a first descent on skis as well, which makes for even more gear. Very educational for those wondering what it takes to get to the top of a big Himalayan peak.

Much of the footage is from in and around base camp once again, but there is some great footage of the mountain, including an avalanche crushing down the side and a glimpse of some other climbers higher up on the slopes. The episode ends with Ben getting philosophical about climbing and adventure. :)

Watch the full video at the Rest of Everest website or grab it directly from iTunes.

Diana Mayfield | Hà Nội Noir

During the just completed The People of Tay Bac Photo Expedition-Workshop, I gave its participants
the assignment of photographing the bustling street life of old Ha Noi, shooting from the hip, or on the fly, as much as possible to capture fleeting expressions, and the ever changing scenes of this exciting city.

The assignment also included of converting the resulting photographs to monochromes (hence the name Ha Noi Noir), and to produce a short photo-film with ambient sound recorded during their many walks in the streets and alleys.

This is Diana Mayfield's project, which mixes interesting snippets of street life...some humorous and some realistic. Ha Noi's street life centers on eating, busy traffic and small shops. One finds all of these in this short movie.

Diana Mayfield has a pedigree in travel photography that spans more than 20 years, and is one of the  original photographers contracted to Lonely Planet Images in 1998. Her photographs are widely published in books, magazines, brochures, advertisements, newspapers, web, etc. Her buyers include Qantas, Air France, Thomas Cook, National Geographic, Diners Club, Sunday Times, The New York Times, Le Monde, Rand McNally, Macmillan Educational and others.

She's represented by Getty Images, and has led photo tours to Italy, Greece and Spain for 8 years. She's now concentrating her cameras on S.E. Asia and India, with a particular interest in remote tribes and marginalised societies.

Tibet To Reopen April 5th

The Chinese have announced that they will reopen the borders to Tibet on April 5th, just ahead of the high season for tourism and mountaineering in the country. You may recall that they shut down the borders in early March for fear that there would be violent protests in the country to mark the anniversary of the Dalai Lama fleeing to India 50 years ago.

This comes as good news for the few remaining teams on the North Side of Everest, and for those that have been planning trips to Cho Oyu as well. As of now, I believe there are about a half-dozen teams still planning on climbing from the North, and with the China-Tibet Mountaineering Assocation promising to fix the lines, it's beginning to look like the patience of the teams that elected to stick it out, will be rewarded. They're likely to have a very quiet and tranquil base camp, two words that will not be used to describe the counterpart on the South Side. The lack of traffic will also likely prove very advantageous on Summit Day as well.

Hopefully the reopening of the borders will also mean an influx of tourists to Tibet. The country was already suffering economically thanks to a general downturn in travel due to global economic conditions. This past month there has been no foreign visitors at all to Tibet, which has further hurt the many people who earn a living in the tourism trade that is so vital there. Perhaps this is a signal that things will return to normal soon.

There are reports however that the Chinese military is still maintaining a strong presence in the country, and that foreign press and aid workers are still not allowed to travel unescorted. it seems that while the borders may once again be open, China still isn't ready to completely loosen its grip on Tibet.

K2 Doc Coming To Montana

Dr. Eric Meyer, who was on K2 last year when a series of circumstances, including the collapse of a serac, led to the death of 11 climber, will visit Montana later this month to talk about his experiences and the lessons learned on the mountain.

Meyer will give his presentation "K2 2008: Finding Meaning After Tragedy " at Glacier Discovery Square in Columbia Falls, Montana on Saturday, March 28th at 7 PM. The presentation is sponsored by Talus Outdoor Technologies, who are based out of Missoula, Montana, and is free to the public.

While climbing with a team of nine on K2, the second highest mountain in the world, last year, Dr. Meyer was caught up in the unfolding drama that took place. Meyer turned back from the summit himself, only to find that his training was needed in base camp when survivors of the disaster began to wander in. Eric treated a number of climbers for frostbite, exhaustion, and dehydration, while other members of his team assisted in rescue operations.

This is a unique opportunity to meet someone who was actually on hand for one of the biggest mountaineering disasters in mountaineering history. It should be very interesting to hear what he has to say and get his thoughts on the lessons that can be learned from the K2 tragedy. If anyone is attending, I'd love to get an account of what he has to say.

Travel For Soul - Poem

Travel For Soul .... by Dr. Komal Joshi Mishra

For the journey is within,

Mesmerized by 'your' creations,

Speechless seeing the colors' you' painted,

Let my spirit go on,

Bless me to just' be',

When all the noises die out,

 and silence within, 

From senses to soul,

Keep me travelling,

For the journey is within.......

**

The poem is contributed by the guest, Dr. Komal Joshi Mishra. Her interests varies from Literature, Spirituality to meeting new people, apart from her profession, medicine.

**

Looking forward to your contributions on the guest posts.

**
Send across contributions to travelforsoulblog@gmail.com

Hoi An's Ancient Town - Vietnam Travel

Today, westerners know the Vietnamese city of Hoi A basically as a traveler terminus. On account of its nearness to the Marble Mountains and dazzling China Beach, Hoi A draws numerous guests every year. However at one point in its history, Hoi A was significantly more than a traveler end; truth be told, it was a standout amongst the most vital seaports in all of Southeast Asia.

Hoi A was initially settled by the Champa individuals, a Malay-Indonesian individuals who touched base in Vietnam from Java initially around 200 BC. In the first century AD, the Champas established Hoi An. Around then, the city was called "Lam Ap Pho", or Champa City.

See more: Vietnam travel packages

The Champa Kingdom was an expansive and influential one, and in spite of the fact that My Son (which no more exists aside from a couple of remnants) was the Cham's otherworldly capital, Hoi A was its business capital. From Hoi A, the Cham slowly manufactured control over the flavor exchange, bringing incredible riches to the city. From the seventh to the tenth hundreds of years, Champa-commanded Hoi A ruled the exchange flavors and silks, with their impact extending as far west as Baghdad. The Cham sent out aloe and ivory, and supplemented their exchanging wage with computed demonstrations of robbery and procession strikes.

Tragically for the Cham and Hoi An, incredible riches brings extraordinary envy. Wealth, consolidated with assaults, didn't make for good associations with their neighbors. The Cham habitually collided with the Viet individuals north of their kingdom, and the Khmer individuals in Cambodia. Battling between the Cham, Viet, and Khmer debilitated the kingdom, lastly in the thirteenth century, Kublai Khan, the Mongolian warlord, attacked and involved the Champa Kingdom. In the late fourteenth century, the solid Cham pioneer, Che Bong Nga ("The Red King") figured out how to unite the Cham one final time and headed a concise resurgence. In the fifteenth century, the Cham fell unequivocally to the Viet individuals.

Under the administration of the Nguyen tradition, Hoi A progressively started to recuperate, and rose to conspicuousness at the end of the day. Amid the sixteenth to seventeenth hundreds of years, Hoi A, which around then was called Hai Pho (signifying "shoreline town"), at the end of the day turned into the most critical port in Southeast Asia. With a Japanese settlement toward one side of town and a consistent increase of Chinese, Dutch, and Indian dealers, Hoi A was a middle for worldwide exchange before such a term existed. In the early eighteenth century, Japanese and Chinese dealers specifically considered Hoi A the best place to try for exchanging all of Asia. A key stop on the Silk Road, Hoi A sent out its pottery as far away from home as Egypt.

At the same time Hoi A was bound to slip into decay and indistinct quality by and by. The Nguyen administration inevitably got to be contradicted to open exchange, trying to utmost the impact of outsiders in the country – a continuous issue that would torment Vietnam for the following two centuries. The shut exchange arrangement prompted Hoi A's stagnation, and when the Nguyen rulers changed their approach, Hoi A's decrease had as of now gotten to be irreversible.

At the same time, French impact in Danang was quickly expanding, making Danang the new community for exchange Vietnam. Besides, the new exchanging vessels developed amid the eighteenth and nineteenth century obliged a deeper port, something that Hoi A couldn't offer.

In spite of the fact that Hoi A's days as a critical exchanging focus were over, there was a profit to its decrease: as different urban communities in Vietnam modernized and took after the European lead in society, style, and riches, Hoi A remained a sample of a conventional Vietnamese port city. Amid the nineteenth and twentieth hundreds of years, Hoi A was everything except overlooked, permitted to proceed with its aged customs with little impact from the cutting edge, European-ruled world.

As an aftereffect of its detachment, Hoi A remained a little city with its history in place. In 1999, UNESCO named Hoi An a World Heritage Site, on the grounds that it was such a generally protected case of a fifteenth - nineteenth century Asian exchanging port. With UNESCO's distinguishment came traveler distinguishment, and the most recent decade has seen an alternate sort of business resurgence for Hoi An, as western voyagers slowly rediscover the appeal of this old Vietnamese city. Today, Hoi An is a typical stop along the trail for exploring swashbucklers, and in the interim, various bars, restaurants, and web bistros have opened to pander to travelers. Numerous specialty shops can be found in Hoi An, including conventional Vietnamese pottery and fabric generation. Specifically, Hoi A has gotten to be known for its tailors, who can create uniquely crafted garments for a small amount of what it would cost in the west.

In short, in case you're wanting to visit focal Vietnam, Hoi An ought to doubtlessly be at the highest priority on your rundown. Rich in history and society, and just a short distance from China Beach, the Marble Mountains, and the Champa Islands, Hoi A remaining parts one of the main jewels of Southeast Asia not yet invade with sightseer

Old Stores of New York City

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I've thought of another photography project for the winter days...it won't be one that'll tax my photographic skills, but will certainly nudge me to read the many blogs and articles that focus on New York City landmarks.

Walking the West Village streets of New York City on a daily basis allows me to pass by (and in some cases, frequent) some of the few remaining old stores and restaurants that still exist in the neighborhood. It gave me with the idea to photograph these storefronts using my Fujifilm X-T1 camera to emulate a Rolleiflex's square format monochrome...just to give the resulting photographs a touch of "authenticity".

This project will not stop at the West Village, but will hopefully spread to various neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan. I already know more than a dozen stores that fit the bill....whether in Little Italy, Lower East Side or Chinatown.

I also intend to add a few historical trivia about each photograph whenever possible. For example, for the photograph of the Vesuvio Bakery in SoHo (above) that I made just yesterday,  there'll be this:

Vesuvio Bakery, (aka Birthbath Bakery), 160 Prince Street, New York 10012
The bakery opened in 1920 and was owned by Anthony Dapolito, who delivered Vesuvio bread on his bicycle as a child for many years before his death in 2003. Birdbath Bakery bought it, but kept the storefront as is.

I think that this sort of information would give context and historical texture to the photographs. I'm very far from being the first photographer or New York historian (professional or amateur) to think of, work on and complete, such a project...but it'll add to my personal appreciation of my adopted city.

About VietNam - Geography

Lying on the east of Indochina Peninsula with a separation of 1650 km from south to north, Vietnam is a standout amongst the most sentimental and characteristically delightful ends on the planet. The different the earth, geology, history, and society have made an incredible potential for the tourism business.

Vietnam is a nation with a past as rich as the dirt in the blasting green deltas. This past peruses like a sentimental legend, loaded with courageous battles and astonishing triumphs whereby this little nation held its society, retaining and adjusting the qualities of its adversaries yet never losing its customs or feeling of history. In Vietnam, conventions convey genuine importance. Aged saints are still revered at beautiful sanctuary celebrations, individuals respect their precursors, and town older folks show estimations of diligent work, cordiality, and dutiful steadfastness. The greater part of ethnic gatherings live in remote regions and take after age-old traditions, subsequently Vietnam has an incredible opportunity to offer unparalleled social investigation.

Related post: Vietnam travel packages

And in addition fine climate, there is fabulous regular landscape and noteworthy locales. Vietnam's most noteworthy asset is its agreeable, inviting individuals. Since a long time ago shut to the outside world, Vietnam holds a beguiling honesty that most traveler districts need. Yet in the decade since the nation opened its avenues to guests, the nation has assembled world-class lodgings and tourism offices with global benchmarks and conventional Vietnamese neighborliness. Vietnam is prepared to assume a remarkable experience.

Patagonia Wants Your Classic Climbs

The spring catalog from gear maker Patagonia has a theme that focuses on classic climbs, which they define as "a handful of routes that consistently capture the minds and hearts of climbers from around the world."

The Cleanest Line, the official blog of Patagonia, has posted their very select list and it's tough to argue with any of them. Each of the climbs also comes with a link to a field report with more information as well. The routes that they chose are as follows:

The Nose. High Exposure. Pinch Overhang
Aguja Guillaumet, Chalten
Hotline, Yosemite
Vandals, Shawangunks
Ahab, Yosemite
Zap Crack, Squamish

There you have it. Six great climbs that are hard to argue with. Would you add anything to the list? Anything they missed? How about The Eiger Direct? It seems to meet the category for me. Great list though.