Golden Gate to Faith - Taleju Temple of Bhaktapur, Nepal

The reflection of the golden gate of the Taleju Temple situated in the Bhaktapur Square, on the 'Durbar' was as inviting as its marvelous frontal architecture.  The golden hue matched the scintillating rays of the winter skies. The Taleju Temple is devoted to worship of goddess and many construe the word to be a connotation of the goddess 'Tulja Bhavani', revered deeply in the Indian subcontinent. The Sanctum Sanctorum of the temple is prohibited for the visitors and is believed to be mystically open to select religious faiths and only on the select days of a year. 

The Golden Gate of Taleju Temple, Bhaktapur

The inner architecture of the temple, comprising intricately designed wooden windows and army of golden hued bricks appear to add to the harmony. There were visible impacts of the destruction caused by the earthquake with scores of idols lying for want of resurrection, however they were definitely not as grave as those of the square outside.

Idols wanting for restoration beneath the intricate architectural design

The architecture appeared to be a conflux of several forms of with balconies having reflection of jharokhas and major usage of bricks, also a common feature across other temple of the Kathmandu valley.

Wooden Architecture - At its Best !

Priceless Idols demarcated temporarily

Amazing Architecture - Continues

Splendid Architecture

The internal sanctum leads to a stepped pond that stands opposite to the main temple and the water is considered to be quite pious by the worshipers. There are multiple statues of snake gods, the most prominent being that of the bronze statue, that stands guard outside the pond, facing the premises of the main temple. There is a shiva linga present as well on an elevated platform.

Stepped Pond - Inside the Taleju Temple

Bronze Statue that adores the Pond

Bronze Snake Statue, Taleju Temple, Bhaktapur

Bronze Snake Statue, Taleju Temple, Bhaktapur

The photography is prohibited inside the main temple and its entry is restricted to only practitioners of Hindu and Buddhist religion. The temple inside is adorned with exquisite carvings and a square for offering 'pashu bali' to divine goddess. Inside the security guarded gates of the main temple, there are several other small temples adorned with excellent architecture. The setting is sure to erupt the images of the rituals that would be offered to the divine that is pivoted across a massive bell that is firmly placed in the courtyard of the temple. 

Architectural Delights - Taleju Temple, Bhaktapur

Overwhelming Curiosity and Innate Content

Leaving the temple for next destination of Nagarkot, there was as much overwhelming curiosity for what we didn't see, as much the innate content for what we did !

POV: The Pehlwani | The Kushti Wrestlers

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

One of the scheduled photo shoots during my recent The Sacred Cities: Varanasi & Vrindavan Photo Expedition-Workshop was at an akhara, which is a Sanskrit word meaning training area for traditional Indian wrestlers, known as pehlwanis. This traditional Indian wrestling is known as kushti, and was developed in the Mughal era by combining native wrestling and Persian techniques.

These two pehlwanis were the most photogenic of the group that was training when we visited early in the morning. The wrestler in the top photographer is yielding a nada,  a heavy round stone attached to the end of a meter-long bamboo stick. This training implement is associated with Hanuman.

The bottom wrestler is using heavy Indian clubs, exercise clubs introduced by the Mughals and originally used in the Near East, especially in Persia and Egypt.

I wasn't thrilled about the quality of light in the akhara, as the area combined extreme harsh sunlight and deep shadows....and most of the background was of unfinished concrete walls. A difficult photo shoot. However, the wrestlers largely compensated for this, especially when they had daubed themselves with soft clay

For some of the wrestlers, the day starts as early as 4 am and their practice lasts into the day. Technically there's no age limit, but some wrestlers can begin their training when they're as young as four years old. To protect themselves from wound infections,  the wrestlers add lime, oil, milk, ghee, camphor, neem leaves, butter milk, and turmeric to the clay on which they practice daily.

Paul Ridley Completes Solo Atlantic Row

According to CNN.com, 25-year old Paul Ridley has completed his solo row across the Atlantic, taking 88 days to make the journey.

According to the story Ridely would row as much as 12 hours per day, as he made his 2950 mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Even more amazing, the young man crossed the pond without a support vessel following in his wake, and in the process he became the youngest American to make that journey, and just the third person from the U.S. to do so at all.

Paul rowed in a custom made boat that he and his sister spent $60,000 having built. Back in 2001 their mother passed away from skin cancer, and Ridley dedicated this row to her and to raising funds for cancer research. His website, RowForHope.com, has more information about Paul, his cause, and ways that we can all help out.

Ridley says that he is happy to be home and off the water, and will now take some time to rest up and regain his strength. But he also says that there is a lot to be accomplished yet, and that he'll soon be back to work trying to raise funds and awareness for cancer research.

Congrats Paul! Awesome work. Glad you're home safe and sound.

Going Minimalist | Guatemala Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

In just over a week, I'll be traveling to La Antigua in Guatemala to join the rest of the faculty of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop.

Since I'll be spending most of the week-long workshop teaching the fundamentals of multimedia, I won't have much time to work on any personal projects, so will probably only do some street photography.

It'll be an opportunity (and a joy) to leave behind the heavy DSLRs, and travel with a minimalist gear which, as shown in the above photograph, may consist of a Fuji X Pro-1 with a Fujinon 18mm and a Zeiss Touit 12mm, a Leica M9 with an Elmarit 28mm and a Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f1.4 as well. And just in case I need to record some audio, I'll pack a Marantz PMD 620, much smaller than my Tascam DR-40 that I use on my photo expeditions.

In the last Foundry Photojournalism I attended (Chiang Mai), I relied on these two "rangefinders", and it was a relief to be carrying one or even two of these comparative light tools instead of my two Canon DSLRs.

It's not my first time to Guatemala or La Antigua. I was there some years ago during its famous Semana Santa. Some of my photographs are on Las Tierras de Popol Vuh.

For those who don't know, The Foundry's goal is to help emerging photojournalists and documentary photographers to hone their skills, to have a chance to work with some of the world’s best shooters in the field, on real reportage projects, to create multimedia, to see some of the best work being done today, to collaborate, to make contact, plan future projects, develop your own vision and leave the workshop energized, and more committed then ever to concerned photography, storytelling and to documenting the world through the lens.

Travel for Soul

My friends and family were kind of excited (and sometimes aghast too) by my umpteen travel narratives. So I finally decided to address a 'larger' audience.  And here I go.

The Blog.

My encounters and my perceptions with different cities and their culture that makes them special in a way they are! I LIKE travelling and more so travelling in a way I like. Whether it has been with friends, family or sometime alone. Most of the times it has been on a shoe string, some times for that 'value of money' . To save enough for the next journey.

Yes, for sure, the memories have been special, but more so, have been the journeys that made them so.

Travel For Soul. Simply Travel.

Himalaya Spring 2009 Update: Kathmandu Crowded,

The word from Kathmandu is that the streets are teeming with visitors as climbers, trekkers, and other tourist pour into the area with the start of the spring season. Journalist Billi Bierling reports that the city has come alive in the past week. She is busy tracking down many of the expeditions who are currently in town so she can report back to Miss Hawley on their intentions. Of course, she's also busily preparing for her own expedition to the mountain, as she'll be tackling the South Side of Everest as part of the HiMex team.

Meanwhile, ExWeb has more news from the Himalaya for us today. They are reporting that Joao Garcia has arrived in base camp on Manaslu and is now settling in on the mountain. His team is the first to get there so far, and Joao reports that a major snow storm is hitting the area at the moment.

Valeri Babanov and Victor Afanasief are en route to Annapurna, but have run into a snag of their own. It seems that about 20 of their 30 porters abandoned ship and returned to Kathmandu, refusing to carry their gear higher than 3600m. The weather has not been great on Annapurna either, with snow and rain falling in the region, at the team believes that the porters didn't expect to work so hard for their pay. With few porters in the area, it seems that Valeri and Victor will have to hire some porters from a Korean team that is also on its way to the mountain. It could be another three days or so before they arrive however.

Finally, Edurne Pasaban is making her way to Kangchenjunga, where she'll make an attempt on one of the three remaining 8000m mountains she has yet to climb. She's locked in a competition between herself, Nives Meroi, and Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner to become the first woman to accomplish that feat. Nives is currently headed for Annapurna while Gerlinde has her sights set on Lhotse this spring. Yesterday ExWeb published a solid interview with Edurne on her expectations Kangchenjunga and going after the goal of grabbing all 14 of the big mountains.

CGAP Photo Contest 2014

Photo © Tran Dinh Thuong-All Rights Reserved

I started to frequently peruse Hanoi Times online to find tidbits of information for my forthcoming personal project in Vietnam, and noticed that it reported that seven Vietnamese photographers had won won prizes and/or recognition in a photography contest organised by a World Bank affiliate.

The CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) is affiliated to the World Bank, and its annual photo contest seeks "to showcase the different ways in which poor households manage their financial lives and to raise awareness about the importance of formal financial services for people at the base of the economic pyramid."

I never heard of CGAP - and whilst readers of this blog know my stance towards photo contests- I took a look at its results, and found that many of its entries are impressive. This year's contest received a record 4,820 entries from professional and amateur photographers in 95 countries.

I urge you to take a look at the results of the photo contest here. Not only are these photographs impressive in their own rights, but they're from largely unknown (at least to me) photographers...and what a delight this is. Fresh names, fresh work...and none of the usual suspects who regularly  participate in such photography contests.

CGAP also featured all of the entries (yes, 4818 of them) with the names of the photographers on this page. Most of the entries are environmental portraits...some more travel photographs than documentary, but the general quality is really quite commendable.

So happy browsing, and be prepared to be impressed.

Amazing Mountaineering Video on Trango Towers

My friends over at Gorida posted an amazing mountaineering video last week that is amongst the best that I have seen in a really long time. It tells the story of four French guides who traveled to Pakistan to put up a new route on the Trango Pulpit, part of the Trango Towers, which offers some of the most imposing and impressive big walls anywhere in the world.

The video is quite long, but well worth the watch. It shows the team en route to the mountain itself, giving an indication of just how remote the region is, and then proceeds to show them climbing the face, and eventually reaching the 6050m (19,849 foot) summit. In between, you see some footage that will make your mouth drop.

So, sit back, and enjoy, because mountaineering videos don't get much better than this one.

Azazel - bigwall in Pakistan
by Petzl-crew

Travel to Con Dao - Vietnam

Con Dao beach

A secured Marine Nature Reserve, the Con Dao Islands (of which Con Son is the biggest and where you are prone to be staying) can be hard to get to, with sporadic flights from Ho Chi Minh City or an overnight ship from Vung Tau.. yet good lord, its worth the trouble! 

I must admit, the highlight of any going around Vietnam for me is normally the sustenance, yet the absence of any genuine consuming choices outside of the primary lodgings didn't still figure out how to disillusion, as the landscape around Con Dao is so astounding you'll need to stay for eternity. I think about all the spots I went to in

Vietnam Con Dao was conceivably a standout amongst the most wonderful I've seen.

The islands of Con Dao have a terrible history - they lay totally vacant until the French involved Vietnam and utilized the island as one expansive jail complex, where detainees were shackled, starved and beaten, constrained into hard work and subjected to some especially pitiless and uncommon discipline. Unfortunately when the Americans landed to "spare" Vietnam from Communism they kept the penitentiaries running, and made great utilization of a standout amongst the most primitive components, the 'Tiger Cages'; even once their horrific nature had been uncovered in the US media they essentially manufactured an alternate set deeper in the wilderness so the columnists wouldn't discover them. 

Today the detainment facilities serve as a stark indication of the repulsions of war, and a large number of the islands occupants are ex-convicts who chose to stay on the islands instead of come back to the terrain. Nowadays the primary businesses are angling and sending, and life on the island is extremely basic and undeveloped, however there are arrangements to sway more tourism to the islands later on. 

The whole territory is ensured by law, such a large amount of the islands are secured by thick woodland. A visit to the officers' station will clarify an extraordinary arrangement about the natural life living on the island, and they are exceptionally content to orchestrate visits around the wilderness or out to alternate islands, to see jeopardized species and to set out for some snorkeling and swooping. There are likewise various jumping schools on the island, especially Rainbow Divers. 

On our visit we procured a motorbike to investigate the streets around the island, and tried for climbs through the woodland and swam on totally betrayed shorelines, and in addition going to the jails and galleries. It was a genuine departure from Saigon, a complete difference to the cement, activity and commotion, and one we'll recollect for eternity. 

One of the key associations securing the nearby natural surroundings in Con Dao - and additionally in numerous other national stops crosswise over Vietnam - is WWF. On the off chance that you'd like to help preservation endeavors in Vietnam and conservation of the numerous jeopardized species there, we unequivocally propose turning into a part - it doesn't cost a great deal keeping in mind in Vietnam you can see for yourself the distinction they are making. 

Con Dao beach

On the off chance that you need to pass by pontoon there is a hydrofoil administration from Vung Tau to Con Dao twice a week at 350,000 VND every way, furthermore one leaving from Tra Vinh in the Mekong Delta which is controlled by Greenlines. The admissions and timetable are no more publicized on the Vietnamese dialect form of their site however, so it is worth checking before making the trek to Vung Tau.

Related post: Vietnam travel deals

Flights are controlled by VASCO however are lamentably not bookable on the web. 

An option may be to book online with Isango who are right now promoting a comprehensive two day visit to the island including flights which leaves from Ho Chi Minh City. Criticism on this administration would be increased in value.

Everest 2009: North Side Update

It has been a relatively quiet week in Tibet by most accounts, despite the fact that Tuesday marked the 50th anniversary of the uprising against Chinese rule that resulted in the Dalai Lama going into exile. For his part, his Holiness urged his followers to maintain peaceful protests and remain non-violent in their approach to seeking freedom from China. That, coupled with a reportedly sizable military presence by the Chinese, helped to keep things calm.

That is, of course, good news for those hoping to go to Tibet this spring to climb Everest from the North Side. The borders to the country remain closed, as they have since the end of February, but as long as things continue to remain calm, there is a sense of optimism that the travel ban will be lifted on April 1st as scheduled.

This is good news for at least five teams that are still hoping to climb from the Tibetan side. Alan Arnette once again updated his Everest 2009 page yesterday with the news that two teams from Canada, an Indian team, and a large contingent from the Czech Republic are still planning on giving it a go from what is shaping up to be the quiet side of the mountain. Logistics seem to be of concern though, as without Himex fixing the lines, and such a small number of teams, it'll definitely take a group effort.

Alan also has another good interview in place, this time with Phil Crampton from the Altitude Junkies. Phil talks about his motivations to start his own guiding company, after years of experience in the mountains, his work with the climbing school in Lhasa, his philosophy on running his base camp and a lot more. It's a good read and offers some nice insight on the mountain as well.

Not long now Everest Junkies! Things will really pick up in the next few weeks. Hopefully the North Side will be open as planned, and things can start to get back to some semblance of normalcy on Everest. What ever "normalcy" is defined as at 17,000 feet.

POV: The Disciples of Mehboob-Ilahi

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

The Disciples of Mehboob-Ilahi is a gallery of monochrome candid photographs made at the shrine of a Sufi saint.

One of my favorite street photography haunts in Delhi is the area known as Nizzam Uddin (West) where stands the shrine of one of the world's most famous Sufi saints, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya (1238 - 1325). A Sufi saint of the Chishti Order in the Indian Subcontinent; he established an order that sought to draw close to God through renunciation of the world and service to humanity.

Raza Rumi in his book "Delhi By Heart" describes the settlement of Nizzam Uddin as "the quintessential Muslim ghetto of today's India. Congested, unkempt and stinking in parts, it retains a medieval air." 

It is medieval, and perhaps it is the reason why I make it a must-stop whenever I am in his capital city. Over the years, I've seen Delhi modernize itself, with flyovers, gleaming international and national hotels, wide avenues, colorful billboards hawking the most modern of appliances...but Nizzam Uddin stubbornly resists all these. Modernity in Nizzam Uddin is measured by the number of cellphone ringtones based on the Muslim call to prayer, and the app that shows the direction of Mecca.

I imagine it's the time warp experience I feel when I first enter the area from Mathura Road...right next to the police station....that attracts me to it. It's certainly not faith or belief as I have none of either, but it's certainly a visual (and perhaps cultural) transfusion that takes over my senses. I enter a photographic "zone" during which I am totally immersed in the visual patterns that emerge in the to and fro of the people who come to pay their respects to the saint. It's not only the saint who's buried there, but it's also where the poet Amir Khusrau and princess Jahanara Begum both rest.

It is here where the essence of Sufism was postulated by one of Nizzam Uddin's disciples; Abdel Quddus Gangoh who wrote this:

"why this meaningless talk about the believer,

the kafir, the obedient, the sinner,

the rightly guided, the misdirected, the Muslim,

the pious, the infidel, the fire worshipper?

All are like beads in a rosary."*

Sheikh Gangoh wouldn't have found much acceptance for his admonishment these days.

Pity.

*Delhi By Heart. Raza Rumi