The Swayambunath complex (also known as the Monkey Temple) contains several religious places, including this small Buddhist monastery.

The elders chant and the younger monks assist with the music and serve milk tea.

Related photos:

1. Young Monk in Kathmandu
2. Cool monk in Kathmandu
3. Buddhist Monk generations

After the long list of past and present in the previous post, here is a view ahead for all of us, illustrated by these small guys.

I loved my visit to the Galapagos, it was truly an old dream come true. We managed to visit the main islands ‘budget style’, so without a cruise, but by island hopping instead, sleeping in $10 hotels, so the flight over was the expensive part.
The great thing about staying on shore is that you are not tied to a program and have all the time in the world to just wander the beaches. That is where I saw these 2 guys.

Actually, I only noticed the marine iguana and as mentioned they are some of the coolest creatures around, see also the previous Iguana shot from 2 posts ago. But just when I was ready to take a photo, I noticed that one of the millions of small crabs was approaching. This was unexpected as most Sally Lightfot crabs are fast as lightning and react to fast to movements that they seem to have a sixth sense for danger.
Not this guy. He came slowly up the rock and then went in a straight to a wet patch. The iguana was directly in his path, but the crab just slowly walked up the side of his head, over the top of it, nearly missing the iguana’s eyes and then down over the side on the other way.

With exemplary, textbook cool behaviour, the Iguana did not move a single millimeter and just posed like nothing happened.

So if these 2 creatures who are so different can share their ecosystem and even their space and food, maybe we can do so as well?
I am sure that there is a lot more genetic difference between them than say between a Christian, Muslem or a Jew, to name the followers of the monotheisms that cause a large part of grief in the world. And these fanatics are from the same species and even share the same beliefs. (Well, ok, maybe only 98% of them, but somehow the idiocy is always about the 2% difference…)

So all you Hutus, Tutsis, Democrats, Republicans, Catholics, Protestants, Sunni, Shia and others with a favourite enemy out there: please think about the above picture for a few moments and accept the differences and the fact that there is only one planet and only one life to enjoy it. Stop the hate and polarisation, that energy is much better used for the good of your fellow creatures right now.

I hope that in 2011 everybody gets to travel or at least be outside and and see and respect nature and that you will enjoy the differences and celebrate the similarities with your fellow beings.

Related photos:

1. Happy 2011 part 1: jumping for joy in Bolivia, looking back and ahead
2. Marine iguana relaxing in the sun, Galapagos Islands
3. Laundry service in Agra, part 3: scrubbing

Hugging the shores of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at about 3800m /13,000ft, lies Puno.

Just a few hours later this relaxed scene would be one big party when the yearly world renowned Diabladas Festival for the Virgin de La Candelaria (about 2.5 weeks every early February) had it’s local try-out with a several hundred brass musicians and hundreds of dressed-up dancers.

As anywhere in the world outside North America, East Asia and Western Europe, people take the time to relax, socialize and get warmed up by the sun.

Related photos:

1. Little Girl from Puno, Lake Titicaca, Peru.
2. Three Uros women on lake Titicaca, Peru
3. Old woman in Puno, Peru selling sweets

Istanbul is a wonderful city, spread out over two continents. The people are friendly and the cultural and religious mix found here is unique and refreshing.

Of course this attracts many tourists and thus also many street vendors, selling food and souvenirs, like the friendly man pictured above, selling flags in front of one of the main mosques.

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One day I might turn this photoblog in a more detailed photography blog, for now I will just use this every now and then to give some tips, that might help other photographers.
When looking for availability on the new and long anticipated Canon Eos 5D, Mark II (or mk ii, mk2, mark2 etc), which has a MSRP of $2700, I noticed some very good deals, even up to 35% lower than the suggested retail pricing at a shop called Shop Digital Direct. It even came up on some of the price comparisons sites!.

I know that some retailers make a lot of money and some smaller companies that do not send out huge brochures, import their own stuff and can be able to deliver electronics considerably cheaper. Still the first thing I did was to check this store, called Shop Digital Direct, on the great website Resellerratings.com.
The company that offered the great deal had gotten an average of 0.55 consumer rating, out of a maximum of 10! If you browse through the reports of past, scammed clients here, it appears that everybody who buys things here get scammed, usually using one of the following methods:

- Bait and switch: they promise a cheap product, but you have to order online and then call to confirm. On the phone, they tell you that you will need to buy the battery, manual, battery charger, lenscap software separately, usually for up to 5 times the regular price (and the items should have been included in the price anyway). They will create stories about how the lens or battery is not top quality and you need to ‘upgrade’. if you do not want any of the items they force on you, your ‘in stock’ order suddenly is on backorder and can stay so for weeks… if you do get pressured in, you will suddenly pay $4000 for a $2700 camera with all that is already included.

- Credit Card fraud: They will actually charge you even more than agreed, even after the ‘upselling’ as per above. Always check your credit card statements, as basiscally you give them unlimited charges on your card. Many clients of these stores also have rported that suddenly their CC was abused, so likely these criminals simply sell your credit card details to other hoodlums.

- Restocking, shipping and insurance fees: Before you actua;ly get anything (if you ever get anything), you will be charged ridiculous shipping and insurance fees, while it still takes weeks to get your -uninsured- camera. Whether you get the ‘full package’ or the basic offer, you will be 100% dissatisfied, as they never ship out what they promise, add crappy tripods, 3rd party lenses etc. So you try to call and send it back. By then your Credit Card is already charged and they will tell you that they will charge 20% restocking fee if you send things back.

Bottomline: only buy from reputable online shops, like Adorama, Pictureline, B&H, Abes of Maine. Even when not in doubt, check their rating at the website Resellerratings.com.

Note 1: Be aware that though Amazon is a great shop, some of its ’3rd party sellers’ are outside their control and might be scammers. Same is true for genuine price comparison sites that might show you criminal sites as the cheapest, all is automated, so always check the site out before you buy.

Note 2: I am not in any way affiliated with Resellerratings.com, but think it is very important they exist. Check out the list of worst companies, many of them from New York , many of them the same criminals, acting under different names:
The most famous ‘shop’ acts under different names: Broadway Photo / A&M Photo World, Regal Camera, Prestige Camera, Preferred Photo, Royal Camera, more (Homepage: http://www.bwayphoto.com/). Others include but are not limited to Broadway Photo / A&M Photo World, Regal Camera, Prestige Camera, Preferred Photo, Royal Camera, Express Cameras / expresscamera.com / Save Here Distribution, Best Price Cameras (enterprisephoto.com, infinitiphoto.com, jandkcameras.com), USA Photo Nation (RadioActiveDeals, expecam.com, RainbowTronics). Buyaib.com (aka ALPHA INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS, INC.
Accubyte, ATXcases.com (aka Colorcases.com), Stargate Photo / WawaDigital / The Camera Wiz, Royal Camera / A&M Photo World, CCI Camera City (also: tcscamera.com, thecamerasource.com, bananaboatcamera.com).

Note 3: Many of these will stop using a name that has been exposed by resellerratings. Then they will change the look of the website, get a new catchy URL and continue scamming. if you do not find any reviews on resellerratings, Google the shop in question: search for ‘(Storename) scam’ or ‘(Storename) bait & switch’ and you might find out more.

Note 4: even positive reviews are very often left by the scammers themselves, so still use common sense if you see a $1000 camera being offered fr $250…

Note 5:if you still cannot find anything about the store, do yourself a favour, shop at a well-known store, or even better: support your local camera store (or the local flag vendor above), where you get personalized advice and complain in person if anything is wrong.

Happy shopping :-)

Related photos:

1. Commuters on a ferry in Istanbul, Turkey
2. Ice cream shop in Rome, Italy
3. No photo

For the First Peoples, the land is the source of Life- a Gift from the Creator. “Mother Earth” is the center of their universe, the core of their culture , the origin of their identity as a people, the provider of their material needs.

“The land cannot be given or taken away, we belong to the Land; our birth does not sever the cord of life which comes from the Land, our spirituality, our culture, and our social life depend on it”.

Respect for all life – animals, insects, plans, mountains, rivers, skies & seas are inseparably interconnected. First peoples do not consider the land merely an economic resource. Their land depends on lives, and in relationship to the environment around them. They know that the land is to be shared. If you misuse the land, you are killing yourself. Remember the earth will survive long after you’re gone.

Traditional people think the land is there for everyone to use, the way our hand is there, the grass, the trees and animals are our flesh. nature is our religion, thank the Creator for what he has given us all.”

Roger A. Johnson, 30 august 1991.

‘Nii t’am lax ooks by’, is Roger’s original Gitxsan name, meaning ‘care for the people’ as well as describing ‘a frog on a lily pad’. His generation was influenced by residential schools, church and government, making them lose their mother tongue and culture. Roger still speaks the old language and works as a interpreter in discussions and court cases between government, mining companies and the First Nation elders.

Nowadays the Gitxsan youth is depressed and suicide rate is very high.

“We can’t cry over spilt milk! We must maintain our culture and our language. We need a huge cultural center to teach our culture and language to young and old.”

While we were talking with Roger, a car drove up. A very conservatively woman stepped out and gave Roger a booklet and drove off again. The others in her car did not come out. The cover of the booklet depicted a nice drawing of a traditional Indian sky burial. But the rest of it basically said that that was nice in the old days, but against the bible and all First Nations should switch to ‘modern’ Christian values and culture…

“I remember my Grandparents often saying to me, ‘You are my cane, You are my sunshine, You are my flower”.

Roger gave me a Gitxsan First nation flag, which has been on my bike since. Then he waved us goodbye from the stairs leading up to his frontdoor. ‘Do not forget to wake up every morning, and shout to the world: Good Morning Canada!’.

(Sources: our meeting with Roger; Partly quoted from the local article ‘Wisdom of the Elders’ by Zanna Ove; Speech of Roger A Johnson transcribed by Julian Burge)

Related photos:

1. Cyclist and the Dutch Windmills of the new age
2. Globalisation (5): Swoosh in Tibet, young girls with Nike hats
3. Globalisation 9: Russian Avon lady on the market

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.

Related photos:

1. Buddhist Butterlamps at Swayambunath temple, Kathmandu
2. The highest campsite in the world on Everest, Tibet
3. Stolen Shoes sign at Dharamsala, India

From the dark skies of Russia to the warmth of Nepal! I was going through some slides for my Everest book and encountered these lovely ladies, whom I met in the Pashupatinath complex in Kathmandu.

I had wandered off the main tourist route and ended up in this area, where the ladies at first looked at me surprised, but after a short while they enjoyed this crazy tourist being there with them..

Shot with Canon Eos 3 on provia 100 slide film, likely 15-30mm Sigma, scanned later.

Related photos:

1. Hindu Girl in Kathmandu
2. Holy man at Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal
3. Russian ladies on the market

One of our clients on the Mt Elbrus expedition who grew up in Australia in the sixties, was shocked at first by the directness and sometimes rudeness of the people in Russia. But then he warmed up to them and vice versa and later he told me that he felt ‘cheated’ by all the schools and teachers and media that only had repeatedly told him that Russia was the great aggressor and filled with bad people.

For now this image of the shiny Kremlin domes is the last one in the Russian series. Though it is big, the rest of the Planet is even bigger and is waiting for Exposure! I hope that it has opened some minds and some eyes. Russia is not bad or good, there are just bad and good people, like anywhere else.

Related photos:

1. Cathedral domes in the Kremlin
2. Kremlin domes close-up
3. Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel in the Moscow Kremlin

Details of the roof of yet another Cathedral within the Kremlin walls. Luckily these all survived the cultural revolution that swept across the Soviet Union and later across China as well, as these buildings are more than religious places, they are works of art and craftsmanship.

Related photos:

1. More Cathedral domes in the Kremlin
2. Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel in the Moscow Kremlin
3. Kremlin domes close-up

Overshadowed by the large buildings of the Kremlin, this small church is quietly sitting on the corner of Red Square…

Related photos:

1. Saint Basil Cathedral on Red Square, Moscow
2. Russian soldier at Red Square at paratroopers celebration
3. Russia for sale at Red Square