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Wat Pho
Wat Pho The stone statue is clearly recognizable as Chinese; the way in which the tree’s branches have been trained as they grew betrays Japanese influences; and the Buddha statues in the background are clearly Thai. Three examples of three Asian aesthetic traditions that come together harmoniously in a corner of the Wat Pho temple…
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Jay Fai
Jay Fai The Queen of Thai street food. Instead of a crown a bonnet adorns her head and goggles protect her eyes from the inferno she creates in and around her wok. “This is my passion. And my art.” Michelin thought her worthy of a star. Photos of the week: Queen of Thai street food,…
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Queueing up
Queueing up Some street food stalls and restaurants in Bangkok are so popular that people don’t mind having to queue up for a meal of their choice. Just looking at the queues can fill me with joy. Photo of the week: Bangkok, Thailand 2019
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Food stalls, cars, Buddha’s
Food stalls, cars, Buddha’s I always like the unlikely mingling of different cultural elements. It hints at a lively, easy going interaction between people, with a light-hearted attitude to life. Bangkok has it, especially by night. But what about that Buddha Brigade, in a country yearning for freedom from military rule?! Photo of the week:…
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Tibetan reverie
Tibetan reverie A mountain caught in a puddle desiring to be up in the clouds. A land and its people dreaming of self-determination. Photo of the week: Hunder, Ladakh (Little Tibet), India 2019
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Lavishly adorned
Lavishly adorned In the villages of the Brokpa (also known as Drokpa or Dards) along the Indus in Ladakh, just before the river flows into Pakistan, these richly adorned women are a common sight, particularly on festive occasions. The floral arrangements on their heads are truly astonishing. The Brokpa on the other side of the…
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Comparing eyes
Comparing eyes It’s festival day. All school children have got new pencils. Even though we are in Dah, a remote Ladakhi village at the end of the road before the Pakistan border, we immediately recognize the inquisitive glance with which the one girl looks at the pencils of the other. Are hers bigger, more beautiful,…
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A convivial chat
A convivial chat Two Balti women chatting. They sit at the side of the water tank in their village. It’s an immediately recognizable scene that happens every day anywhere in the world. The places may be different, the people may be different, but we can easily relate to them as fellow human beings. All belonging to…
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Plaything of history
Plaything of history At the end of the Shyok River Valley, Turtuk is the last major village in the northwest corner of Ladakh, close to the – contested – border with Pakistan. It’s a little enclave of predominantly Balti people. Since the 1971 war it is cut off from the larger Baltistan region which is…
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Hunder
Hunder Bright white sand dunes, a dark biker, halted. Sand waves gently rippling behind a mirror of still water. Photo of the week: Hunder, Ladakh, India 2019
καιρός remembered
… the right moment, position chosen, shoot …
καιρός remembered 