Frosty Moments

Grand day out , crossing the Indus at Ule Tokpo and up in to one of the ravines , and first runs at the SECMOL ice rink at Phey in December - feeding the myths of the Himalayas in the winter. There will be a post shortly on travelling to Ladakh & Himalayas in the winter , at http://vistet.wordpress.com

Floe

Half baked ice floes dancing on the edges of the Sengge Tsangpo/Indus - nights still ( only) around minus fifteen , and days a lot warmer.

Njumba...

One would think there were other reasons to start riots in Srinagar.

("Njumba" means crazy in Ladakhi )

Population Density

... three persons per square kilometer , unevenly distributed : going up to twelve elbows per table when lunching in Leh.

"Drive like hell , you'll get there"

How many days will you stay i Srinagar ? The Kashmiri policemans face goes blank as I form a circle with my fingers : " Zero" So : Delhi to a subzero Kargil in just over 26 hours : stepped off the nigh train in Jammu and found myself in a shared 4WD cab in five minutes , chatted up some telecom guys in a traffic jam a few hours later, and swapped vehicles even before reaching Srinagar. Loaded up equipment there , unloaded equipment and telecommers in Drass ( shattering their illusions of "the worlds coldest place " enroute). Alone with Rigchen , the Ladakhi driver to Kargil , arriving before midnight. Next day : Ladakhi breakfast ( including chang ! ) in Shergol , winding up in Phey with skiyu at last. Slept like a baby on 125 mg of Diamox. Srinagar was stil mildly depressing on a pass through only : too much continous time being watched by men with guns from the roofs etc. Drive in instructions to one of the cantonments : * Dead slow * No headlights * Cabin lights on

Cha Lhamo

Morning tea and prayers at Tibetan settlement Manju ka Tilla , New Delhi

Greetings From The Evil Empire

Yesterday I had two tasks planned : arranging a room in Bangkok , and going out on a pop culture hunt in Yangons street markets. First part failed miserably , again and again. Finally on a third site the reason came up : apparently I´m a minion of the dark forces in the world

Despite these efforts I managed to find a bed near the railway station in Bangkok after arriving : the world is no longer safe. Market report : rusty Zenit camera and a Pentax knockoff ("Pentarex K100") , book tables that paint Burmas history ,loads of pictures of a very popular officer ( Aung San , Aung San Suu Kyi´s father that was murdered in the 40´s ) and a box of DVD wonders : Vittorio de Sica´s The Bicycle Thief , Soylent Green, Marcello Mastroiani , Volker Schlöndorf, Charlie Chan, Jerry Lewis as The Geisha Boy ... alll starting with me finding a copy of The Lady , Michelle Yeoh is always cool Repeat experience in talking with two locals : " Sweden ... aaah ! Lacquer loaf ! Not bread with varnish : Selma Lagerlöf.