Nepal (2005)

September 1, 2005 Thamel Guesthouse 100 NRs Cameras are back. But they failed to repair my Nikon 8800 camera (they are canon anyway). But the steep labour cost of 2000 NRs (28 US$) no matter whether they can or cannot repair it, makes me quite painful. Anyway, after much of enlightment, from photographers and non-photographers, I decided to keep using my Nikon camera. It does indeed make me practicing to take photos by thinking. Using digital cameras is easy, you can just take photos as many as you can, and somehow neglecting the long thinking process of your brain which was essential when you used the analog camera. Now I have to use a digital camera but think in analog way. Not bad practice, anyway, but I will surely miss many moments that actually I could capture. Just found an internet cafe with Photoshop, so I will upload my Tibetan photos soon after little bit of editing and resizing. Your comments and suggestions are [...]

August 31, 2005 Thamil Guest House 100 NRS (moved to a cheaper hotel now…) Still waiting for my cameras. It is supposed to be repaired today, but it is delayed. It cost me 128 dollars to repair my A85 camera, and still dont know how much to pay for the 8800 one. I am poor just in fortnight…. To dispose time, I went to the General Post Office. Ten years ago I sent 100 usd here to buy stamps, and the money still last for 10 years…. Nepali stamps are very cheap, the whole stamps in a year just will cost you around 3 – 4 US Dollars (!). But the officer told me, that amount was expensive for Nepalis. 10 years ago, I also had a penfriend from Kathmandu. I bring a letter and a photo from him, wishing that there will be an opportunity of meeting an old friend. But the address of this friend is a PO Box. It is very common for people/companies in Kathmandu to have a PO Box due to the poor addressing system in this city. The philatelic bureau officer was so kind of helping me checking the data of the owner of [...]

August 30, 2005 Kathmandu Tourist Bungallow 200 NRs Today I decided to repair my cameras, despite of the unavailability of Nikon Service Center. The recommended service is an authorized Canon service in New Road. On my way from Thamel to New Road, I passed several small alleys, and suddenly I heard someone greets me, “Tashidele”. I saw an unknown face, but this man insisted that he saw me somewhere in Lhasa (in Jokhang temple, even I am sure I have never entered that temple). He then greeted me by touching my forehead with his forehead, Tibetan way. Then, like an old friend, he told me all of his stories, that he is going to Dharmasala, that he is a monk there and how Dalai Lama will protect me. OK, as he is so friendly, I decided to spend some time before going to repair my camera. I offered a tea. He chose a very luxurious restaurant (good, good….), and then while waiting for the tea, he gave me a necklace that he claimed was from Dalai Lama and has accompanied him for 20 yrs. (I cant believe that someone could give such a precious item to anyone he just met [...]

August 29, 2005 Kathmandu Tourist Bungallow 200 NRs What??? No Nikon Service Center in whole Nepal??? And I have to go to India just to reach an authorized Nikon service. My day suddenly turns darker. I only spent the whole day in the internet cafe searchng all possibilities of authorized camera repair service in kathmandu. But of no use. And if I go to India now, I will spend so much money to come back to Nepal after. And I havent seen anything of Nepal. This day is a instropection day for me. Just because of not having any cameras working at this moment, I have spoilt my days. I am losing the spirit of travelling…, and I am not what I was some years ago. Indeed camera has made me closer to the environment, it helps me to make new friends, and of course it was part of the whole memory. But now I am too bounded by it, I felt that I am nothing without cameras, and I feel really really weak. I am disappointed by my condition now, I am really not a traveller, just merely a photographer (or not?)… I believe I can recover soon. And [...]

Selamat tinggal Republik Rakyat China. (AGUSTINUS WIBOWO) August 28, 2005 Kathmandu Tourist Bungallow 200 NRs for a big double bed room with attached luxurious bathroom (sometimes I need luxury also, ) From Nyalam to Zhangmu (Chinese-Nepali border) it’s a 30 km journey down the hill. And the scenery is completely different. Here, it looks quite like indonesia, green forests (compared to rainforests of Java), plus the snow peaks far away there. Again, the driver often stops the truck to let me take pictures of the scenery (even sometimes I dont think there is something to photo about). This highway is the longest road in China, more than 5300 kms starting from shanghai to Zhangmu. Arriving in Zhangmu quite early in the morning. In order to avoid the problem with police (truck drivers are not allowed to take passengers) I got off some meters before the checkpoint and walked my way there. Zhangmu is quite a “long” town, down the way to Nepal. So the direction used here is “up” or “down”. My driver refused my payment for the lift, so I traveled the 200 km from Tingri for free, merely that because I am a student of Tsinghua. The driver [...]