Nepal - Kathmandu

All told we spent nearly 3 weeks in Kathmandu - a week before the trek and two weeks after. Most of the time after was spent shooting the studio photography for Sherpa Adventure Gear. But we did get to do some outdoor shoots as well. Here are some images from around the city.

An aerial view coming back from Lukla:


Mingma posing down again:


This dude was drying out his scriptures:


My Stupa!


A few people images:














Cleaning the candle holders at the Swayambhunath:


Prayer wheels at Swayambhunath:


Playing hacky sack with the monk kids:

Nepal - Khumbu

We stayed in Kathmandu for a week before heading off to the Khumbu Region for a Sherpa Adventure Gear photo shoot. We only had a week to be there so it was very rushed. Basically our itinerary looked like this (for those of you that have been up there):
Day 1: Fly to Lukla, hike to Phakding
Day 2: Hike to Namche Bazaar
Day 3: Hike to Thame and back
Day 4: Hike to Thyangboche
Day 5: Hike back to Namche Bazaar
Day 6: Hike back to Lukla
Day 7: Fly back to Kathmandu
Both Michelle and I both had been in the region for several weeks on an earlier trip, so it was good to see it again.

Two awesome Sherpas and Sherpa Adventure Gear athletes came with us.

Mingma:


And Pasang:


So here are a few of the 2500 pictures from the trip:

Mountains and prayer flags (a major theme of the area):


Lots of cute kids:




Suspension bridges (many):


More mountains:




Here is Lhotse - the 3rd highest mountain in the world:


Our ever patient Sherpa models in action:




Potato cutting:


Here is Mingma's grandfather in Thame, rolling Yak dung for fuel:




And for you ice climbers in the crowd, the one and only Losar (in thin conditions):


Namche Bazaar:


Mingma:


The last living Sherpa from the Hilary/Tenzing Everest expedition and his wife in Namche:




Lhotse again:


A six-minute night time exposure of the Thyangboche monastery:


Michelle:


The group hanging out in some Sherpa gear:




Look into my eye:


Tibetan Mastiff vs. Yak.
The confrontation, the attack, defense maneuvers, a peaceful agreement.


Ama Dablam and moon:


Peek-a-boo:


Yahoo:

China - The Friendship Highway - Part II

Day 3 brought lots more beautiful scenery as we made our way towards Everest Base Camp.





Our first glimpse of Mt. Everest and some nice prayer flags at a pass...


Or - Our first glimpse of Everest and the busy freeway leading to its base.


Some more neat remote villages:


So we we had a Tibetan Travel permit, our Chinese Visa, a Mt. Everest vehicle permit, and a Mt. Everest tourist permit, BUT little did we know that we also needed a Mt. Everest Base Camp permit also in order to go to base camp. Gotta love those Chinese rules. So we drove up to base camp and immediately this Chinese military guy ran out to our car and told us to leave. He was very nice about it, but the whole thing is so ludicrous. So we drove back down the road a mile (to a better photo spot, I might add) and spent the rest of the evening taking some amazing pictures. With wind-chill it was about minus 30 degrees.


Well because we couldn't stay at base camp or the monastery next to it, we were forced to drive down the road a ways in the dark until we came across a small settlement. The driver asked a local family if we could stay with them and they were okay with having us in. It was a great time and we slept in their family room.

Here are some views the next morning from their rooftop:






Some kids joking around on a tractor:


We continued on a very rough dirt road (supposedly a shortcut) to get back to the main highway and the rough town of Tingri. We were supposed to spend the night here, but were disillusioned by the accommodations. So we continued on to the border town.

Jay taking some video along the way:


One of the coolest things I found in Tibet were the old decaying ruins of long ago days. These littered the landscape and were in various states of disrepair:


Eastern Washington, with Mt. Adams in the distance:


More locals along the way:


Finally we reached the last pass called... (Can't remember the name right now).
Here the Tibetan Plateau comes to an end, as the valley to the south leads steeply down into Nepal between the 8,000-meter mountains of Cho Oyu and Shishapangma. The road drops over 15,000-feet over a relatively short distance.


The last 30 or so kilometers to the border are massively under construction and generally look like this:


It didn't help that it started pouring rain, but we made it safely to the border town just before dark. Unfortunately, the hotel that we chose had a night-club underneath it and the thumping music lasted until 4 a.m.

The next morning we uneventfully crossed the border and hired an Isuzu Trooper to drive us to Kathmandu. What a change it was going from high, cold, and windswept Tibet immediately to lush, green, and warm Nepal.

We are now chilling out and relaxing in Kathmandu. We'll be heading up into the Khumbu region next week for some trekking and my photo assignment. We'll be going with two Sherpas who are Sherpa Adventure Gear's new athletes. Should be a lot of fun. The weather is the best I've ever seen it here. Very warm and amazingly clear (read less polution).

Oh and one more thing to remember if you ever come here: