Two Sisters

In any city's back streets, there would always be family businesses that specialize in a certain trade. Shoes, paper making, goldsmithing, lantern making... But none as delightful as making traditional Chinese steamed buns. These two lovely ladies have been baking red bean buns, the family specialty, for nearly 80 years. They still sit out in the afternoon and watch the rest of the world go about their business everyday at 4'o clock with tea or with the day's newspaper.

Oh Deer Me

.... look! I think I made a new friend!...

World At My Feet

Amusement

The awesomeness of theme parks filmed using medium format red-scaled film on Holga CFN.

Being Pensive

Surf's Up!

For the boy and all those waiting to meet and ride their own wave. 

Life By The Sea Temple

Though Tanah Lot Temple is one of the most sacred Hindu sites in the island of Bali, it is also quite the tourist spot. The temple sits on a large formation on the coast of Tabanan. It is one of the seven sea temples around the Balinese coast and is by far, the most photographed. Legend has it that the temple is surrounded by poisonous sea snakes to guard it from evil spirits and intruders.

I really don't have a good photograph of the temple itself. Perhaps because of it's many tourists that mar the setting. I, being one of them.

Against a stunning backdrop and obvious commercialism, there is however, pockets of magic. Nearby, locals, young and old alike, traipse through the coast during low tide to gather seaweed -- for the dinner table, perhaps, or as a commodity to trade in the market. Shallow pools are everywhere for you to dip your feet in, play with the tiny fish, or try your hand in in seaweed harvesting.

It's an entirely separate world from tourists, yet it exists alongside it.

One of the temple's guardians having a nap.

The entrance to the temple itself is guarded since non-Hindus cannot enter. 

Strange Cities:Views From A Hostel Window

The first thing I ever do after getting into any hostel room is open its windows... well, if there'd be any, at all.  Spread out below me would be new territory waiting to be walked in and to get lost in. It could be priceless, downright strange, or I could be staring straight into another wall.

... and much like Forrest Gump's proverbial box of chocolates -- you never know what you're gonna get.

Vientienne, Laos
taken with redscale film 

China

Hanoi, Vietnam
taken with Fisheye 2 on bulb

Northern Thailand
taken with cross processed medium format Fuji Velvia

Lama Island, China

Bangkok, Thailand

Kalankichok, Nepal

My Life As A Stray Dog

My grandfather once told me that dogs can't see color. I felt kind of sad. I can't imagine not seeing color. Color meant so much life.

So I pretended I was a stray dog and roamed around for a bit.

Life In 50 Hours

Life is made up of moments and just enough film to capture it.

Lazy afternoon spent in Nagtabon Beach -- a secluded stretch of white sand and pristine waters an hour outside Puerto Princesa, Palawan by motorbike.

Writing my name on shores is a compulsion. Perhaps it's the knowledge of tides and how they take everything back to sea.

Stuffing backpacks in the shadows.

Slow boat ride to Mangingisda Port.

Chasing Shadows in Nepal..

"Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose." -- Walt Whitman, Song of The Open Road

On most mornings, these children would be just outside their house playing
or helping in the garden. We'd never fail to greet each other
"Namaste" before going off for the day's adventures.

Kirtipur is a sleepy old town that has a wonderful sense of faded
grandeur thanks to its myriad of medieval temples and houses found in its backstreets.
One can get easily yet comfortably lost here but there's absolutely no reason to be scared
because this place just opens you to a world where people are
just as curious of you as you are of them.

I chanced upon this lovely wise woman in one of Kirtipur's streets. She was kind enough to honor me by taking a picture of her. We hardly ever understood each other but I learned that a smile is powerful and universal language that makes strangers out of no one.

Thamel could easily be the busiest most touristy place in the whole of Kathmandu. Despite this, I found this quiet street that has practically none of the bustle. There are pockets of magic everywhere. You just have to learn how to look.

Outside Pashupatinath, Nepals' most important Hindu pilgrimage site, stores sell beads and tika powders in rainbow colors.

Inside the Pashupatinath complex, open air cremation ghats line the Bagmati River, Nepal's holiest river. The importance of the Bagmati also lies in the fact that Hindus are cremated on its banks.

Durbar Square remains the heart of Kathmandu where the city's kings were once crowned.

Little girl selling flowers as offerings to the gods in Durbar Square. It was really sweet and cute how she flashed me the peace sign. 

This scene is very typical in all of Nepal's streets and towns. I should think that both men and women could carry the same load, be it crops, bricks, cement, or what have you. They carry almost anything in these deceptively strong baskets which are hitched by a belt on a person's forehead for balance.

Patan

Girl of Patan. What I liked about this picture is that this happened right in the middle of one of Patan's busy open spaces between sacred tomes. She was completely surrounded by people but she seemed independent of them and seemingly like a universe upon herself.

The Nepal-Tibet border. I remember hiking up one of the mountains and stopping by to look at the view I've just passed. It was breathtaking and stunning and it's certainly a life-affirming moment. I knew then that I've crossed an invisible boundary within myself. 

There's a village up in the mountains near the Tibet border where people would welcome you into their yards to rest for a bit. This woman probably knew I liked animals and invited me to play with her baby goat.

Bodhnath is one of Nepal's important Buddhist pilgrimage sites. When visiting this massive stupa, one has to go around it in a counter clockwise manner. In doing otherwise would be considered sacrilegious.

Girl riding bicycle in the Central Terai region. India would be a few hours bus ride away.

Sauraha, Central Terai region. One can visit small Tharu villages in this area. Their houses, while quite functional, are rather environmentally friendly too -- the walls are made entirely out of elephant dung.

The Rapti River in Chitwan can both be a shower play pool for elephants or
a place where you can do your laundry.

The Himalayas.