Inle Lake
The jewel of Burma’s Shan state is Inle Lake, a long, shallow body of freshwater situated at 2,900 feet above sea level, surrounded by lush hills and inhabited by about 150,000 people. The largest ethnic group of Inle Lake are the Intha, which means “sons of the lake.” The Intha are a Tibeto-Burmese people who [...]
Wanla Gompa
One of the four branches of Lamayuru monastery, Wanla Monastery dates to the time of Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055) and shares features with Lamayuru’s ancient Sengge-Gang temple and the temples at Alchi, Mangyu and Sumda Chun. All are located in the same general area west of Leh. Wanla gompa is set high on a hill overlooking [...]
The Ghats of Maheshwar
Maheshwar was another small revelation and I’ll certainly be going back. Named after Lord Shiva and mentioned in the Hindu epics the Ramayana and Mahabharata, Maheshwar is a small, peaceful pilgrimage town along the banks of the Narmada River. Since I haven’t had a very good or productive time at other Hindu pilgrimage sites in [...]
Hampi
The ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire at Hampi are just spectacular. India at its best. Hampi on Wikipedia Hampi on UNESCO
Cochin, Kerala
Cochin (Kochi) is made up of a handful of islands and peninsulas including the main hub of Ernakulum and the historic areas of Fort Kochi and Mattancherry. Most of these images are from Fort Kochi, where you can still see and feel the Portuguese influence. Sometimes it feels like Cuba or Latin America too—the same [...]
Rainy Day Trip
Today the Koreans and I hired a jeep and visited four monasteries in Ladakh: Taktok, Chemrey, Stakna and Matho. It was a rainy day which is unusual for Ladakh, but it’s happening more frequently in the past few years due to global warming (and is having disastrous effects on the walls and murals of the [...]
Zanskar Beauty
When it comes to the beauty of nature, including people, I’ve never seen anyplace as rich as Zanskar. It reminds me of the Navajo poem about the pollen path… Beauty before me. Beauty behind me. Beauty to the right of me. Beauty to the left of me. Beauty above me. Beauty below me. I’m on [...]
A Wedding in Zanskar — The Dance Party
When the young guys in the den started dancing to the latest Ladakhi songs (played on every bus so I know them all by now) it felt like a window opened to the culture that I could relate to. I was so happy to see and feel this particular kind of freedom. I hadn’t seen [...]
A Great Little Day!
Today was a great little day for me. I stumbled onto a small festival where I was the only non-Ladakhi and the locals just brought me into the fold. The exact reason for the festival is still unclear to me, but monks and nuns from different monasteries were there to recite some Buddhist texts. The [...]
