Tag Archives: asia
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Our arrival in India was not an easy one. Even for us veteran travellers, the first few days within the borders of the subcontinent constituted a challenge; and we dived directly into all of it, as we chose the overwhelming city of Varanasi, one of Hinduism’s holy cities, as our first destination. More than in any other country we have visited so far — and I daresay it will not get any bigger than India — the roads were crowded with people and animals, the scents ranged from the heavenly spices of a hot chai to the disgusting excrements of animals, the streets were flooded with waste and vendors permanently insisted in selling us their goods. The intensity of all those impressions and, especially, the poverty of the many, many people in the streets made me feel quite uncomfortable at the beginning. How would I cope with all this for almost two months?
Trekking in Annapurna Sanctuary
MBC / ABC
I trudged, step after step after step, as I had for the last four days. Even though we had left the backpack at the Machhapuchhre Basecamp, leaving me with my sole camera bag, and even though the seemingly neverending stairs had been replaced by a simple upward trail, every slowly negotiated step felt as if I were running for dear life. We were at four thousand meters.
There is something deeply serene in the exhaustion brought by physical exercise, something that every sportsperson has probably experienced. The need to draw air, to breathe as much as possible, surpasses every other at some point — even if you might have to manage it while deflecting a blow, or simply not show it. And you are left concentrating on making your body work, with no other thought in mind. Step after step after step.
The time takes another meaning. Instead of being carried by the rhythm of your problems, worries, desires, tasks, you turn to the delicious breeze cooling off your sweat, the chirping of the birds, the comforting regularity of your shoes hitting the stone. It could be seconds or hours before you look around you again, and it does not matter one bit. There is nothing else than you being a part of the world, no more and no less than anything, rightfully existing and breathing, and there is nothing else than the simple beauty of it all.
Von Chomrong nach Bamboo
Um 6 Uhr früh klingelt der Wecker und reisst uns aus dem wohligen Schlaf: Ein neuer Wandertag steht bevor. Die kühle Morgenluft und die noch vom Vortag verschwitzten Trekking-Kleider laden nicht gerade zum Aufstehen und Anziehen ein. Doch da müssen wir jeden Morgen durch, und so schälen wir uns, wenn auch mit einigen Seufzern — denn der Schlafsack ist doch sehr warm und kuschelig — aus dem Bett.
Unpublished
Here are some pictures we had not got the occasion to publish — either because they did not fit into any post, or simply because they were too random. Sillily random, to be precise.
Bus boy
Trekking in Langtang
Kathmandu, Nepal
Shy
