Tibet is on fire. The past weeks many Tibetan monks have been killed brutally by Chinese forces, most of them in Lhasa, the capital of Chinese-occupied Tibet. You will not hear much about it unless we let people know, as Tibet is now closed to all foreigners and journalists.

China has also just announced that they have canceled all Mount Everest climbing expeditions from the Tibetan side, so they can try to perform their prestigious candle-trick: the Olympic torch is supposed to be carried over the summit of Everest, from the Nepal side to the Tibetan side. They do not want any chance of protesters while doing this, so simply close down the mountain. Now they are even pressuring the Nepali government to do the same…

Where the true spirit of the Olympics is that sports transcends politics, the Chinese government has changed the rules with sickening contempt for human life, dignity, their own people as well as sports itself, just to protect their outdated politics.

They do not just bother all the climbers and organizers and the over 1000 local Sherpas and Tibetans they employ and provide with a good living for a full year, but show once again deadly contempt for the original population of Tibet.

I for one, will not be watching the undoubtly masses of happy Chinese faces that the ‘government’ will put on TV this year and hope that this message and images gets spread from the blogosphere to the real world (please use the ‘bookmark’ button below the image to Digg/StumbleUpon, Reddit etc).

The image above depicts butterlamps that were burning in the temple of the Dalai Lama, in his exile home in Dharamsala, India. I have given the flames a little red aura depicting the blood that is being shed. Many of his followers have gone from this exact place on a peaceful march to protest against the Chinese occupation of their country and currently they are being slaughtered, in the name of sports.

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He was wearing his best new trousers and sweater – while it was hot as hell in the train- and his mom likely told him not to get the clothes dirty as he did not move an inch and just was staring ahead, observing the busy world around him in the train from Dharamsala to Delhi.

When he noticed my camera, he did not even blink with his eyes and just looked like a miniature buddha, maybe filled with wisdom, but probably also curiosity..

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Here is another shot from India in this little miniseries about colour and people. Trains are an important way of transport for the Indians, and it is quite affordable, even for them. as many trains stop at every stations and journeys can take a full day or longer, an entire mini-economy has started here, with food, drinks, gifts and more…

This girl is selling some handkerchiefs, some plastic stuff and other undidentified things, while most of the passengers in the more than fully packed train are sleeping…

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Though less colourful than the women from the previous image, these men were still nice to look at, with their great turbans.
This was shot in the Temple of the Dalai Lama, in Dharamsala, where he lives in exile. Also for Indian tourists this is a nice place to go to…

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One of the best things I noticed when travelling through central Asia is the colours on the streets. In western Europe, too many peopel confirm with what some marketeers define as ‘fashion’.

Women all over the world are more colourful than men with their dull grey and blue suits, but here in India, they really show their true colours, which makes the world a happier place immediately, at least for me :)

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We found it quite cramped, being with 2 person in a small TukTuk: the typical noisy transport machines that will take you for a few cents through rush-hour.

But as always we were surprised when this one passed, I think you can see 6 persons (besides the driver), meaning there will likely have been at least 9 persons on board in total. How’s that for carpooling?

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In the middle of Agra, our little TukTuk was passed by a small motorcycle with these 3 men sitting on them. Of course it is great that any vehicle is being shared; if you have little money, you will not waste fuel by using transportation device just for yourself, but still it was a funny sight, those cool-looking dudes in a row…

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The water of the river was dirty, but the children enjoyed the play and the cooling down in the heat.
When seeing the big camera, some ran away, while others, like this kid, were curious enough to come closer..

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i>Funny signs are one of the big no-go’s in photoblogland as it is considered too cliché. But this sign is not only interesting to me due to its obvious spelling mistakes, but also due to where it can be found.

This sign is located at the side of the main temple in Dharamsala, less than 100m from the home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He is the spiritual leader of the Buddhists, who lives in exile in this nice but touristy mountain town in the North of India. He is such an excellent leader as he is very pragmatic and does not cover his beliefs in useless dogmas, but knows the world around him. For me this sign illustrates that :)

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Finally, the clean laundry is drying, strangely enough in the sand…
This was part 5 of 5 of the laundry service in Agra, India. Hope you enjoyed a view into the way ordinary things are done in extraordinary places :-)

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