April 2010. Manang, Nepal.
Prayer wheels are a very common sign in places where Buddhism is present. They are usually aligned around Buddhist shrines and are set in motion by devotees. Each wheel is filled in with small pieces of paper, each inscribed with Om mani padme hum mantra. Buddhists believe that each revolution is as meritorious as reading the inscription aloud as many times as it is written on the pieces of paper inside the wheel.
April 2010. Kagbeni, Nepal.
Sadhu’s, also known as Holly Men, are those who decided to give up their regular life and most of their possessions and dedicated all their time to achieving the final Hindu goal of life – liberation. They are very characteristic, wearing red and orange clothing, long beards and sometimes painting their faces. All of them happily pose for photos. Unfortunately majority expects the money. This one however was happy with a smile in return for a photo.
May 2010. Kathmandu, Nepal
Boudhanath Stupa is the largest stupa in Nepal and the most important Tibetan temple outside of Tibet. This is where the Tibetan refugees in Nepal come to pray. The place is located next to a very busy road in Kathamandu, but it is separated from the traffic and chaos by some buildings. So when we entered the place where the stupa is located, it was a bit like suddenly being very far away from Kathmandu. Hundreds of Tibetans walk around the stupa every day – most of them praying, but many just chatting with their friends.
April 2010. Trek around Annapurna, Nepal.
When trekking around Annapurna you come across two kinds of porters. The first kind are those hired by (lazy) tourists/travelers to carry their bags. You can call those porters lucky – their load is not suppose to be bigger than 30kg and they only carry it on their back for a few hours a day.
The second kind are what I call cargo porters. They deliver goods to the villages along the route of the trek. This is because majority of places on this route can’t be accessed via road. Cargo porters deliver all kinds of stuff – eggs, chickens, potatoes, rice, beer, soft drinks, soap, blankets, clothing but also stuff like steal elements for constructing bridges and heavy wires. Every day, very early in the morning, those short and skinny men, often wearing flip flops or very worn out shoes, pick up their massive cargo, which almost always weights over 50 and up to 80kg (110 – 180 lbs) and walk. They walk slowly and breath heavily. Porters don’t carry any water, instead stopping at springs and rivers on the way to have a break and drink. In the evening, after over 12 hours of walk, they put their load away, exhausted fall on a bed to get a few hours of sleep before repeating the process the next day. And the day after that. They walk until they reach their destination.
For their outstanding effort they get paid just a few dollars a day.
I have a lots of respect for those men. Lots of respect.
April 2010. Manang, Nepal
It was the fifth day of my trek around Annapurna. As on all previous days I started pretty early, at 6am, to avoid the sun and the heat which can be quite tiring at that time of the year. The plan for the day was to get to the village of Manang as soon as possible and spend the rest of the day getting used to the altitude. It was essential, as I was heading towards Thorong La Pass at 5,416 meters (17,769 ft), which as you can appreciate is quite high.
Manang happened to be stunning. The village itself is rather typical Himalayan dwelling, but the location makes is a real gem. It lays in the big valley surrounded by snow peaked mountains. All of that makes this place one of the most picturesque parts of trek around Annapurna.
I got there around midday. I checked in to a guesthouse, had a quick lunch of fried noodles (standard menu item on the trek) and set for exploring the village. It is a rather small place, so after about 30 minutes I had it all covered. The day was still young, so I decided to visit a nearby lake. I knew about it from my friends who had visited Manang a few months earlier. They had loved the place and told me I had to see it.
It was only 20-minute walk from the village, but because most of it was up hill (and Manang is on 3,519 meters or 11,545 ft) I was quite tired by the time I got to the lake. But then it was.
At first it seemed quite ordinary, but there was something magical about the place. The water was blue. Very blue. I quickly discovered why that was – the lake was fed by a melting glacier. And because glaciers have huge concentration of oxygen they tend to get really blue. The water was slowly seeping through the rocks and the dirt which created this amazing contrast pattern.