This update will be discussing cameras (film vs. digital). I traveled in India and Nepal with D-SLR (digital) and film cameras before and had pretty much success with both. In 2002 in Nepal, I relied on Canon film SLR equipment (2 bodies, 3 lenses and 50 rolls of film). Overall, I had great experience with photo taking but the processing costs and transfer to digital afterwards were too time-consuming and expensive. OTOH, in 2003 in India, I have used Canon EOS 10D D-SLR with 3 lenses, 6 extra batteries and a PSD - ImageTank G2 (Portable Storage Device). Everything performed as expected. In both cases, it was a quality solution, albeit a heavy one. Not a big problem when trekking/climbing as most of my other stuff was loaded on horses or carried by porters.*But I also found myself restricted of how I approach people when taking photos. Bigger camera makes one look like a ‘pro’ photographer which is not always an advantage. People shy away… It takes longer to develop a ‘connection’ with them, so they can let me take snaps w/o being inhibited by my presence. With a smaller camera, I can present myself as a casual shooter.
Luckily, Fujifilm developed such a small and fast camera able to take pictures of very good quality: F10, with its unique sensor able to shoot up to ISO1600. None of other digicams (D-SLRs excluded) can take ‘noise-free’ images at high sensitivities (above ISO400). What does it mean? I can shoot great pics indoors w/o flash, resulting in photos with more ‘natural’ look and portraits of people w/o the ‘deer-in-the-headlight’ look ;). I have been using the F10 for the past half a year and I’m quite comfortable with it. Despite some minor limitations, such as no true wide-angle setting for taking pictures of sweeping Himalayan vistas and usage of proprietary memory cards (xD), it is a very good and light travel camera.
At the highest setting (fine), I am able to take ~84 pictures on a 256MB card. I find myself shooting quite a lot with a smaller camera as opposed to a bigger SLR. So, I will probably need some kind of PSD (Hyperdrive HD80 or the newly announced Hyperdrive Mini, which also can be used as an iPod (listening to music & audiobooks), might be good solutions. They have extremely fast transfer rates - very important, helps preserve battery!!!). I’m still undecided though…
By adding a light tabletop tripod, camera bag, memory cards (two 256MB or 512MB are enough), xD to CF adapter (needed for transferring images to a PSD) and some extra batteries (again, always check eBay first!!!), it should withstand the rigors of my trip easily.
* See this report of how to prepare yourself for challenges of taking publishing-quality pictures in extreme environments: Digital Photography in the Wilderness by Jean-Francois Maion. His experiences match closely mine. This was in 2003 and at the time many were recommending film SLRs for such projects.
January 31st, 2006
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Rich |
Blogging, Equipment, Preparation |
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Lately, Nepal has been in the international news rather often. I’m reading about new political developments between King, major parties and Maoists almost daily, either on various blogs/forums, in online Nepali newspapers, or on BBC (Latest report: Nepal Police fire at protesters) … But the most resourceful are always fellow travelers or friends living/working in Nepal. They have the most up-to-date info, and in my experience also the best info on what’s really happening on the ground.For those of you not familiar with the current situation in Nepal, you can find out more about it here: Nepal Security Assessment; scroll down to ‘Background’ to read how it all started. It is a summary written by a friend of mine, Jamie McGuinness, who has been living in Nepal for good part of the past 15 years. Another excellent source, regarding the current unrest, is the blog Is Nepal Safe? It offers almost daily alerts, strike & curfew updates, and even has latest photos from Yahoo. Moreover, it provides links to online local periodicals. OTOH, in its FAQ section, it advises visitors to put the recent events into perspective and not to worry needlessly but be careful when, where & how to travel …
But for most of my travel advice, I visit the Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree Travel forums. I can ask many questions here and get timely answers, even if sometimes a little biased;) I usually browse through the ‘Asia - Indian Subcontinent‘ & ‘On Your Bike‘ branches. The first branch has a long-running thread about the security in Nepal titled ‘Nepal: is it safe to go?‘ It is over-filled with useful links to news reports and recent travelers experiences. Another great thread provides basic information about Nepal: Nepal Safe? - Background Info & Opinions and where to find it (Mostly in the first few messages).
I have visited Nepal in fall ‘02 and summer ‘03. Although the conflict between the King’s army and the Maoists was going on at the time, I felt quite safe and never experienced any troubles. I only saw signs of the Maoists’ activities: red flags in villages near Taplejung and remnants of a bombed police station in Ghunsa (Eastern Nepal), or Maoist notices & slogans written on houses in villages near Mera Peak (Makalu-Barun area). Occasionally, I heard from trekkers about ‘donations’ where local Maoists would ask foreigners for money to support their struggle. They explained it as another form of tax. Even gave out receipts, supposedly for insurance claims back home.
But today’s situation is more unsettling. During the last decade, there has been widespread corruption. Major democratic parties were either unable or did not care to improve situation of the common people. And Maoist rebels kept their bloody insurgency going with constant skirmishes with police & military, with well over 12,000 dead on both sides. In 2005, the King Gyanendra seized unlimited powers after the disillusionment with elected officials to deal effectively with the Maoist ‘issue’ and since then the peace in Nepal has been even more fragile. With recent anti-monarchy demostrations, the whole situation is just spiraling into a greater conflict. IMHO, the events of the next few weeks or months will decide the country’s future: Either a continuation of the King’s rule, a possible Maoist state, or Nepal will finally start becoming a functioning democracy. I really have a feeling that we will find out soon…
UPDATE (01/29/06): Another excellent source covering the events in Nepal: United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal…
January 27th, 2006
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Rich |
Nepal, Preparation |
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Yesterday evening, I visited the Rubin Museum of Art. It is a new museum (little over a year in existence) in NYC dedicated to promoting art of the Himalayas and surrounding regions. Bill, a friend of mine, told me about it almost a year ago.I have visited it three times since: First in April, for a premiere of ‘Vajra Sky Over Tibet’, final chapter in Yatra Trilogy of Sacred Journeys throughout the world of Buddhism directed and filmed by John Bush. (I will discuss it later, in my upcoming blog about movies to watch, stay tuned.) The second visit, in October, was to see a slideshow and discussion of a book called ‘Sacred Landscape and Pilgrimage in Tibet - In Search of the Lost Kingdom of Bon‘, written by Charles Ramble and Bon monk Geshe Gelek Jinpa (co-authored by Carroll Dunham). They recounted their journey of traveling through remote Western regions of Tibet, near Mt. Kailash, in search of historical, spiritual and cultural evidence of the Bon religion, the pre-cursor of Buddhism in Tibet, and its long lost kingdom of Zhangzhung. Great photography by Thomas Kelly and interesting talk of Geshe Gelek Jinpa about his childhood, upbringing and monastic education.
And yesterday, I came for the third time, to listen to a presentation about Kashmir and the South Asian Earthquake, another project in the ‘Himalayan Hotspots’ series organized by SAJA and RMA. The panelists were S. Asif Alam and Suleman Din, both journalists, and Ken Bacon, president of Refugees International. I was more than interested to hear what they have to say about the current situation and pace of reconstruction efforts because I will be visiting Kashmir in the fall ‘06, both Indian and Pakistani. In the beginning, they discussed their connections to the region. They also mentioned their struggles to raise funds and media awareness in the U.S. (and compared it to the Tsunami response). Then, Suleman Din reported on his first-hand experiences of anguish and grief among local Pakistani and Indian immigrants while reporting about the earthquake. Ken Bacon, who visited the afflicted areas in December, talked about the efforts of his organization. Mainly, he stressed out complex logistical challenges in providing help and the devastating effects of winter and snow for the relief efforts. He also stated that main reconstruction phase will start in March 2006 and the full recovery is to be expected by 2008 (at least, in economic terms). And lastly, they offered a few ‘candid’ comments about improvements in political dialogue between Pakistan and India* in the aftermath of the earthquake. I only hope that it will lead to de-militarizing of Kashmir and opening it up to more trade and tourism in order to help the local economy. Overall, it was a very stimulating discussion.
* India and Pakistan fought two wars for Kashmir and as recently as in 1999 came close to a nuclear catastrophe, averted only by a direct involvement of the U.S. President Bill Clinton.
January 26th, 2006
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Rich |
Blogging, India, Nepal, Tibet |
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Another great gallery of pictures from the South & South-Asian peninsulas. This time by Maciej Dakowicz, an amateur photog from Poland, currently living in Wales. I saw his photos first at the TrekEarth (An online community for travel photogs, amateur and pros alike) where he is a frequent poster and commentator. And recently, I have been reminded just how good he is when I instantly recognized his pics while browsing through pages of Outdoor Photographer, a U.S. photo monthly, that has published his work under India Live and In Color. It is so true: Until you photograph India, you only shot in black & white. Enjoy it…
January 25th, 2006
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Rich |
Blogging |
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As I will be keeping the blog updated during my travels, I need to wrap my hands around various technology issues of how to do it with some level of success. Why is blogging so important? Mainly, because I will be away for close to a half a year and want to keep in touch with my friends and family. But I also want to document the journey and record my immediate reactions, observations and feelings which are sometimes lost after trying to write the travelogue back home. I’m not a big fan of a pen/paper (or ‘low-tech’) solution. For one, I love to write using a wordprocessor as my thoughts are rarely perfectly organized and I like to re-write, move around or delete text as I’m writing. With a pen and notebook this is clearly impossible. Plus, I don’t like to re-type whatever I already wrote once.I have looked at various devices using my priorities of keeping weight down (given my self-propelled mode of travel;)) and be power independent, at least to some degree. Clearly, I had to abandon the ‘high-tech’ solution also: laptops. They are just too heavy, expensive and power-hungry. Don’t want to travel around with equipment that screams ‘Please, steal me!!!’
Moreover, I need to keep in mind that updating my blog will only be possible by using Internet cafes (cheap and slow in South Asia). The ‘pen/paper’ solution would keep me sitting in them longer as I would write up reports, the ‘high-tech’ one, on the other hand, would often raise suspicions (a huge problem in China where folks using laptops outside main ‘business travel’ areas are viewed with some distrust, in Tibet even more so) or cause troubles when connecting laptops to online networks, or both.
So, as this is 2006, I have looked at many available PDAs (personal digital assistant), a computer category, I had only limited experience with (gave up on my Palm way back in the late 1990s). In recent years, PDAs have become quite powerful and I found one model that would perfectly suit my requirements: HP iPAQ h2215. Rugged, recommended by MountEverest.net for extreme expeditions (Poles, High altitude Mountaineering, etc.) and with decent battery life. It is a 2 year old model running Windows Mobile 2003. I bought it used for $175, rather than paying over $400 for comparable current offerings from HP. After adding a foldable keyboard, some CF cards for extended storage, extra batteries and a battery adapter for AA, it’ll be a reasonable solution. Plus, I already have a couple of CF cards and a small USB CF reader. The reader will be useful for transferring my notes from the PDA to computers in Internet cafes. The only requirement is that the machines have to run on Win98 SE, or later. Otherwise, the USB device won’t be recognized. But I will have a small CD with a software driver. I wish Internet cafes worldwide have installed Win XP and Bluetooth technology but we are still far from it;)). And remember, for all extra accessories, eBay is your friend!!! You can really save a bundle.
Other benefits include: storing information on it (fellow travelers reports, hotel addresses, phone numbers or any important notes); listening to music and reading ebooks (trust me, when traveling for so long, there are moments when it helps to get back to something familiar); or even view my photos or watch compressed videos (although the screen is limited to 65,536 colors only). This iPAQ model also includes Bluetooth technology (for wireless communication with other devices: keyboards, desktops, GPS, etc.) and it is easily upgradeable, via a SDIO card, to WiFi capability (for Internet browsing and email checking). Not something that I will take advantage of on the trip but certainly useful when back in the U.S.
I will keep you posted after I do some testing… Most importantly, I want to know how long I can go on w/o recharging, on a set of two Li-ion batteries and AA battery adapter charger.
January 24th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging, Equipment, Preparation |
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An excellent and very recent (November 2005) travelogue of another solo cyclist in Tibet. Stephen Lord writes about his impressions after finishing the Lhasa-Kathmandu ride. He is also the author of the upcoming Trailblazer Guide: Adventure Cycling Handbook : A Worldwide Cycling Route & Planning Guide to be released in April 2006. Can’t wait…
January 21st, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging, China, Cycling, Journals, Nepal, Tibet, Trips |
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Written by Michael Buckley, published by Bradt Travel Guides. The recommendation on its back cover is 100% true: “Bradt guides are the favourites of travellers who wish not merely to see but to understand”. This guide is good to read before visiting Tibet. Besides the standard guidebook stuff, it offers much more historical and cultural information. It also discusses ‘taboo’ topics that other guides avoid and Chinese don’t want you to know about, i.e. read the ‘Chinaspeak’ chapter in the Appendix explaining words like peaceful liberation, China’s Tibet, re-education, internal affairs, spiritual pollution, splittist, etc. and what they ‘really’ mean in the context of Tibet-China relations. It shortly discusses the other areas of ethnic Tibet in Nepal, India, Bhutan and Mongolia. And, it even has a few words on independent cyclists titled ‘Tour de Tibet’. But the biggest plus is that it’s written in very engaging, easy to read style, unlike the more substantive guidebooks (Lonely Planet or Rough Guides) which are more of reference data guides. In the end, it gives you a better feel for Tibet of today.
* This is another of my short reports, or snippets ;), about useful guidebooks. I only highlight a couple of points that I found interesting while reading. So, these aren’t really exhaustive reviews. For that, just click on the picture and see the Amazon.com website for more.
January 20th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging, Books, Tibet |
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