Category: Travel Stories

We can do it, we sure did it.

5.00 am and the driver was waiting for us. Still dark we watched the town awake as we drove up to the mountain. At first the only thing stirring on the streets were the village dogs and gradually as the time passed we encountered people going to work, school and opening the small stalls along the road side. The houses fringe the road and you seem to become partners in the scenes of bathing, cooking and the preparation for the day.
It’s a really steep road, wide enough to for just one car and situated at a 45 degree angle. There was a thread of people walking up and down the hill to somewhere.

3 ladies on a journey. – Capture and create. Mt Everest.

Our early morning start was for a 6.30 am flight around Mt Everest, what a way to spend your 70th birthday.!!!! well it will be in a few days.
After that flight we were catching another flight to a small city at the base of Everest called Pokhara and it meant a 5.15 am start to the airport in a taxi no bigger than a golf cart. He had to go slow or else our small cases would have decapitated us at a sudden stop. There were few people out on the streets but a few hardy souls, were walking with purpose to an unknown destination joined by a few dogs and the lone cow.

We think we know it all – how wrong can we be.

Working in primitive conditions, in an area the size of a small bedroom, the most amazing pieces of fabric come to life. Who would imagine that this beautiful fabric was dyed with mud.

Jaipur, Design, inspiration.

Its getting harder to keep up with the blog, I’m a day behind but all I can say is this is probably the most amazingly visual trip I have ever undertaken.

Block printing in Jaipur.

We see block printing often, and we are also presented with those wonderful woodblocks that seem to find their way to the craft shows we attend. Seeing how they are made was fascinating. There is always a story behind everything we handle and this one is fascinating.

Writing and traveling. – a casual observation.

I’m a long way behind with the blog, (well a day at least) and today was filled with so many treasures that it will take ages to share. These images and observations were taken as we traveled yesterday.

Lost in Delhi – or something like that.

I actually visited there before and I enjoyed the experience. You travel through the narrow lanes on rickshaws, vehicles are unable to go down the narrow lanes. The poor rickshaw driver strains under the heavy load as he negotiates his way through the throng. Overhead the electricity wires have thousands of wires entwined and hanging from very precarious positions like electronic lace. I’m almost afraid to look up, the imagination goes wild.

Mixed emotions, sadness and sheer joy. A textile journey.

We began the tour with a visit to the historic India gate. Whilst photographing the landmark itself, we noticed 50 or more women working in the gardens close by. They carried long hand-made brooms and their brightly colored clothing was obscured at times by a small cloud of dust as they swept the ground. Some ladies were crouched pulling weeds. The temperature and the humidity was in the 90’s, I just can’t imagine how hard that is.