a working class hero is something to be: November 2007

These pictures of Tibet are posted in chronilogical order, Free Tibet I & II were all taken in Lhasa. The photographs are of the many Tibetans I met in my first couple of days in Tibet. Getting a mohawk before going was the single best haircutting decision I've ever made, almost everyone I encountered greeted me with a smile or outright joyous laugh, people even approached me from out of no where just to give me their ear-to-ear smiles or giggles or thumbs up while gesturing to my hair. I made many friends who could or could not speak English. Most of the women wore dust masks over their mouths and so I had the distinct pleasure of seeing dozens of smiles communicated just through eyes. Every evening that I was in Lhasa, I would walk down to the holiest temple in all of Tibet, and circumambulate around the temple square with hundreds of Tibetans, many of them monks or nuns or nomads come south for the winter. (the temple being the Jokhang, the one pictured 4th from the top in Free Tibet I) The nomads were far and away the most enthusiastic about my hair and the most heart-warmingly loving in their gazes and smiles and attempts at communication with this deeply enamoured foreigner. The Tibetan people are easily the most beautiful people I have ever come across, and I found it a beauty rooted rooted in a humble and compassionate dignity. I would go to the Jokhang every evening at sunset, the holiest time of the day along with sunrise and the time when the Kora circuit was the most bustling and crowded and full of life.

Free Tibet III begins in Lhasa with monks at the Sera monestary debating in the gardens, and then moves to lake views of the Yamdrok-tso in the snow and a dog sniffing my knee, and then to pictures of Gyanste and Shiigatse. There are pictures of both the modern constructions of Chinese imigration and shots of the huddled and low Tibetan houses beneath regal and imposing Dzongs (Tibetan forts).

Free Tibet IV begins with a portrait of a dignified Tibetan man that beckoned me over to sit by him, which and did and enjoyed a conversation in no shared language. The next images are of driving up to and arriving at the north face Everest Base Camp.

Unfortunately, the pictures end here because I got sick with what I believe was a mix of altitude sickness and a lack of proper food. The next couple of days driving down through the Himalayas and back into Nepal are therefore regretably undocumented because I just wasn't feeling up to snuff.

Time here in Nepal is running down, and am looking forward to going home and seeing all of you who have been curious enough to check this blog from time-to-time.

With love,
ben