CDP Theme Day: Revolution

We don't have any Ferris wheels in STL at the moment. No huge tires or gears got my attention and no insurrection in the streets like Baltimore this week. But this will do.

A motorbike with a picture of Che Guevara on the mud flap and some pointed text. I took this picture in Kathmandu in 2009. Heaven knows what the road looks like today.

Reports trickle in to us from the Mitrata Foundation in KTM. We learned yesterday that Januka, the young woman we have sponsored for years, is in her home village and safe. We wonder what conditions she is living in. 

If you don't think the picture fits the theme you can click here.
 

Please Don't Forget

A billboard along a crummy stretch of I 44, asking people to make Christmas donations to the Salvation Army. They do a lot of social good.

Mrs. C and I agree with the idea. Sure, it's nice to give a gift to someone you care about at this time of year, but we are more and more turned off by the season's coarse materialism. We're getting a few things for our children, their spouses and particularly for Madeleine but it's nothing fancy. However, we are not buying anything for ourselves. We've got enough stuff, too much. We have each other, a relationship that's lasted more than 40 years and keeps getting better. That's plenty.

If anyone wanted to give us something, we ask that they make a contribution to the education expenses of Januka Basnet, a wonderful young woman in Kathmandu we have helped support for a number of years. We've met her a couple of times - here's a picture of her and my wife taken five years ago. She has now graduated from the equivalent of 10th grade and passed the all-important Leaving School Exam, which I think is something like the A Levels in the UK. Now she's starting Nepalese college. If you would like to help, too, click here.                  

2009 Photo of the Year

.

Hi from 32,000 feet over west Texas. I think it's so cool that we're starting to get WiFi on airplanes. When this is posted I'll be asleep in Las Vegas, soon to head out into the desert. I've got 30 or 40 pounds of photo equipment in my carry on. I brought the works.

Today's the day we're supposed to show our best picture of 2009. I can't decide - it's one of these two. The first was shot in Lhasa, the second in Kathmandu. One of my photography teachers, someone who I respect greatly, said that the first might be the best picture I've ever made. So take your pick.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

STL DPB On The Road: Kathmandu

.

Sunday was a fascinating and exhausting day of touring major sites around the city. The frightening relief above is Seto Bhairab, a terrifying manifestation of Shiva in the central Durbar Square. It is kept closed off most of the year except for a festival now getting underway. Unfortunately, we will miss the main event Tuesday night, when potent rice wine flows out of the pipe and young men jockey for position to slup it up.

The man at the left is a sadhu, a wandering Hindu ascetic. In theory, they renounce earthly pleasures, except that some of them consume staggering amounts of marijuana. To enhance the spiritual process, of course. That always was the point, wasn't it?

STL DPB On The Road: Kathmandu

.
There are many responsible people in Kathmandu. Too many.

It's been nine years since I was last here. It's different; everything changes. More fancy, Western-looking stores on Durbar Marg, a main shopping street. Crumbling streets and sidewalks, an infrastructure broken down during the years of the Maoist civil war. Now they are in charge, democratically elected, the monarchy abolished. Far more trash in the streets. Same throngs of the desperately poor, but now the occasional middle class family in their own car. Well, at least in this part of town. The restaurant our group dined at last night had Nepali dishes on the menu, but it also has penne arriabatta and sachertorte.

Tourist stuff tomorrow.
.

We're Outta Here

.

Guest photo by Mrs. C., taken in Kathmandu a year and a half ago. A young Buddhist monk walks past Boudnath Stupa in the sunset. You can see more of her Nepal pictures here.

We leave today on a 19 day trip, going through Chicago and then on to Delhi, a 14 hour flight. One night there and then Kathmandu Saturday. Tibet on Tuesday. I may post a few days ahead if I get some editing done on the plane - no problem with Internet service in India. With luck I'll post something from from Nepal, as long as there is a place to hook up my laptop. No uploads from Tibet - the altitude is too high to run a laptop without damaging the hard drive. The Chinese government blocks Blogger, anyway.

Team member ShadowyOne will cover St. Louis as much as possible while I'm away. Expect a big tub-o-photos from Asia starting about September 22. Hasta la vista, y'all.

Guest Post: Mrs. Strangetastes in Kathmandu

My wife just got back from a ten day visit to Nepal. This was done under the wing of a community development agency and school, the Mitrata Home for Children, that we have supported since we went there together ten years ago. The organization has ties to St. Louis. She got some wonderful images. This is a young Buddhist monk at Boudhanath Stupa, a large community of Tibetan religious refugees in Kathmandu. A set of my wife's pictures is on Flickr here.

TOMORROW: Restoration