Archives for posts with tag: Culture
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »
Dec,27


 
 

Out of Reach

Long way from home and a million places in 13 days


I hope all of you are having an amazing holiday season and stuffed to the gills with food made mostly of butter and sugar.  For me, it’s been a busy but good December.

From December 8th until December 20th I was on the road.  Though I didn’t leave the country during this marathon trip – it did take me through huge swaths of the diverse cultures that exist in China.  Check out the map here My schedule took me to some of the biggest cities in all of China – Beijing, Tianjin, Chengdu.  It also took me to some of the most remote ‘towns‘ and monasteries in all of the world.  All in all I travelled over 4,500 miles in December alone – 1,200 of which were by car.  This is what happens when you have meetings in the east part of the country and then decide to take a 4 day road trip through Western China with a friend – all in the same month.

After getting back on the 20th I took a well deserved break for 7 days to celebrate Christmas with local friends and do absolutely nothing – but now I’m back.  Over the next 3 days I’ll be posting pictures and details of my trip, so make a point to stay tuned.  In the meantime here are just a few images from the places I was able to visit in December.

Enjoy, and stay tuned!

 
Dec,08


 
 

On the Road

5,200+ miles in 8 days - From the big cities back to the plateau.


*Make sure you continue to check out the mobile section of the site.  I’ll be live blogging (as much as possible) from the beginning to the end… just because I figure you guys deserve to know exactly how cold I am.

Tonight at 9:30pm(7:30am CST) I depart for an 9 day 5,000km+ trip from my home in Qinghai to two of China’s largest cities and then crossing through Sichuan and to one of the coolest places in the world – KangDing.  After visiting KangDing for about 3 days I’ll continue overland from Sichuan to Qinghai in time to get back home for Christmas on the plateau.  A little work, some important visa meetings, and some fun.

I anticipate being cold – really cold.  Why’s that? Mostly because China is just kinda cold in the winter…especially the last 4 days of my trip in the Kham regions of Sichuan and Qinghai.  I’m especially excited about the last few days because it’s a good opportunity to see parts of the plateau that I have yet to see – specifically Kangding.

So why is Kangding so cool?  Check it out:

Kangding, known as Dartsendo དར་རྩེ་མདོ། / Dardo དར་མདོ་ in Tibetan, is the capital town of Garnze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture དཀར་མཛེས་ཁུལ་ located in western Sichuan province. Kangding sits at 2,600m and has a population of around 100,000. Part of the traditional Tibetan region of Kham ཁམས་, Kangding has always been the gateway to the Tibetan world. The town itself is roughly 40% Tibetan, 40% Chinese with the remaining 20% being other minorities such as Qiang, Yi and Hui. Everything east of Kangding is inhabited primarily by Han Chinese while everything west of Kangding is predominantly Tibetan.

There are over 20 mountains the rise over 20,000 feet within 40 miles of downtown Kangding.  Dartsendo, known in Chinese as Kangding, sits at 8600 feet above sea level in a very narrow valley with the large Gyeto River flowing down the middle. The town is surrounded by mountains – with the highest, Mt. Dentok, rising to over 17,000 feet.

Check out the mobile section of the site.  I’ll be live blogging (as much as possible) from the beginning to the end… just because I figure you guys deserve to know exactly how cold I am

 
Dec,06


 
 

Between Here and There

A quick preview of sites between Lhasa and Kathmandu (and some silliness)


Though the circumstances and factual aspects of my claim are a bit hazy and all but confirmed. I do however stand by this statement – Coming with Matt Brandon and I in April might be your best chance to see an actual yeti in the wild… just don’t hold us to that claim.  We will however provide the opportunity to take your own “I saw a yeti at Everest” picture which is sure to impress.

If you haven’t figured out by my obsurd ramblings about Everest, I’m really excited about our upcoming workshop!  I’m stoked for this years Lhasa to Kathmandu Overland trip (and here) with my good friend, Matt Brandon. I’ve been to this area several times but this will be my first time to cross the border into Nepal, and I must say, I’m looking forward to actually travelling the entire Friendship Highway.

Posted below are several pictures taken from the area between 2005 and 2010.  Pictured below are images from Lhasa, Sera and Drepung monasteries, the Barkhor kora, Gyantse, and Shigatse (with more to come in the weeks ahead).  These pictures are some of the best examples of the unique Himalayan culture (and some wildlife) that those who come on the trip with us in April will get to see first hand.

Give it a look and we hope you can join us in April!

A huge thanks goes out to ThinkTank and BlackRapid – our incredible sponsors on this trip.  We continue to be excited at the continued support of such amazing sponsors that help make amazing trips like these continually possible.  If you have a second go and check them out!

continue reading…

 
Nov,15


 
 

Lhasa, Everest, Nepal Overland

Join Matt Brandon for the trip of a lifetime immersed in the unique Himalayan Culture!


So I’ve been working on this for a few months now and I’m absolutely stoked to announce it today.

The overland route connecting Lhasa, Tibet with Kathmandu, Nepal is one of the most beautiful and and amazing land routes in all of Asia. Covering a distance of 600 miles, this workshop will take us from the modern Tibetan capital of Lhasa to pristine high altitude lakes, winding ancient rivers, beautiful farming valleys, Everest Base Camp and over the Himalaya Mountain passes to Kathmandu. We will be visiting the most famous monasteries and temples in all of Tibet and will spend 15 days in the unique Himalayan culture. Join us on the Roof of the World to get up close and personal with Himalayan culture and the adventure of a lifetime!

I get to hang out with my good friend Matt Brandon for 15 days travelling from Lhasa to Mount Everest and then finally to Kathmandu over some truly amazing terrain and through some of my favorite cultural spots in the entire world.  This will be my 3rd time through this area, but my first time to cross over into Nepal and enjoy Kathmandu.  Of all the trips we’ve been able to announce in the last 2 years, this is truly the trip that I’m the most excited about.  I’d love for you to join us on the Lhasa to Kathmandu overland tour – I’m serious when I say it will rock your world.

Furthermore, our awesome sponsors, Think Tank Photo and BlackRapid camera straps will be throwing in some pretty cool stuff and we are excited to be partnering with them on this trip.  They are such amazing companies – more on there participation in the coming days!

To get an idea of what we will be doing, I suggest you check out Matt’s site(and here) as well as our Plateau Photo Tours workshop site(more info here soon) to get a full details on this trip.  Also in the coming days my travel partner and I will be covering why we chose this route for our first Plateau Photo Tours trek of 2011.

Also, I’ll be posting here some of the pictures and some cultural points from this area over the next weeks.

 
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »
Brian Hirschy Photography