Coats

Tibetan Ladies
Originally uploaded by Kees & Sarah

These two ladies are wearing more or less traditional Tibetan clothing. The coats they are wearing, summer coats in this case, are usually black or dark brown and edged with very colourful material, as you can see on the lady at the left. They always wear a belt and then when it becomes to warm they will drop the top half of the coat, so it looks more like a dress than a coat (same for the guys), this is what the lady on the right has done.
Of course you will see a lot of variation on this theme, different colours and even a sleeveless variety. They will always wear a long sleeved top underneath, as bare arms are not acceptable. The winter coats look vaguely similar in design, but they are fur lined and sometimes have a hat. Hopefully I will manage to get some photos of that this winter and then I might post you another one here.

Close Up

Beggar Lady
Originally uploaded by Kees & Sarah

I am not a good photographer, but sometimes I manage to take a photo I really like. This is one of them.
We were in Yushu town and went to visit the 'mani' field. A 'mani' is best described as a 'prayer' stone, a stone with one or more Tibetan letters or words on it, that is being placed on a large pile in order to gain merit (see here for an example of such a pile). Anyway, while we there this lady came up to us and asked us for money, I have to give her that she was a very persistent beggar, she pestered us for several minutes without giving up. Then I suddenly realised that my camera, which was hanging around my neck was pointing right at her and as my hand was on my camera I could press the shutter without her noticing it. So this was the result, a close up, made without even looking at the viewfinder.
I think this is one of my favourite photos. I tend to like photos of faces anyway, but in this case her face is so weathered, so full of experience. I think it really could tell a story, I just wish I had the language to ask her and to understand the answer. I think it would have given me an insight in life on the plateau, that will take me years to gather any other way.

Horsey

Horsey
Originally uploaded by Kees & Sarah

I thought it might be an idea to catch up with some to the things we have been up to over the summer. So the first things I wanted to share with you were some photos we posted on flickr. In July we went to Xining for a week or so, just to have a look around. While we were there, I went a few days to Yushu with a friend and this was one of the things that caught our eye there. It is not that this is a particularly beautiful statue, though it is not bad, what caught our eye, more than anything was its size. If you look carefully you can see a workman standing by its back leg (there is one by its front leg as well, but that one is not so clear). If you can't see him, just click on the photo for a bigger version. Anyway this thing must be at least 20 metres high. Apparently it depicts a legendary warrior from Tibet's past, but I have to say I had never heard of him and have forgotten his name.

More on Yushu (and getting there), some other time.

I am back

After months of not being able to log into my blogger account I have finally managed to get back in here. So hopefully you will soon see more posts appear. But now it is time for breakfast, so this will have to wait.