Communications

Lorrie is having trouble posting on the blog and Face Book- access has been limited.

Lorrie was  able to go to the Chinese Opera in Beijing  and sent me this picture to post.

When she gets to Xining I hope she will be able to create an update.

Carpe Diem,
PB
www.LorrieDallekPhotography.com

Can any one figure out what "PB" stands for?

Arrived in Beijing

So far the plan is working.  Off to the Beijing Opera tonight and then the train to Xining, the real start of the trip.


Carpe Diem, 
Lorrie
www.LorrieDallekPhotography.com

Truly an Adventure

Access to parts of the Region of Kham might be restricted but Amdo remained open to foreigners. Did I still want to go? Yes, no, yes, no, YES. No matter what, it had to be more interesting photo experience than staying home in Atlanta.

Around February, calm was restored in Lhasa & most of Eastern Tibet. At this time, Lumbum, my guide & I tweaked my itinerary. Instead of spending 3 weeks in Eastern Tibet we decided to spend 2 weeks there then take the train to Lhasa (3 day ride, OMG), a few days in Lhasa and then overland south, past Everest Base Camp to Kathmandu. What a great suggestion- a little of everything.

I loved the new plans: cancelled my flights from China to Nepal as well as my Visa request for Nepal since I could easily get one in Lhasa or at the border crossing.

All is well until last week when here were are 2 more self immolations in Lhasa. Permitting changed into Lhasa- now I need 4 people of the same nationality to get into Lhasa. Maybe I can find some along the way???

Between, there was/is the train ticket sub-plot. Part of itinerary is to take the train from Beijing to Xining in Western China where I am supposed to meet Lumbum.

Oh gee, I cannot buy my ticket on-line .... Next move; find a hotel with an English speaking concierge service who can help me. A spin on Trip advisor and a few Skype calls to Beijing. Voila, enter stage left, "Frank", (not his real name but his taken name from hotel management school in China) who speaks English. Frank works for the Holiday Inn, Beijing. So now I am now staying at a Holiday Inn China so that I can have Frank act on my behalf. Who would have thought, a Holiday Inn!

Many e-mails, copies of my passport and credit card between Frank and myself. No, you cannot secure the ticket until there is a physical passport in hand. Is this really going to work or am I going to spend my 1.5 days while in Beijing in a very long queue at the train station trying to get a ticket ??? Girls' got to have a sense of humor ;-).

I think that Frank has come through for me. I have a reservation in a soft sleeper from Beijing to Xining as requested and the concierge will even pick it up for me at the station once I hand my passport over to them. Many $20 tips will be flying if this really happens.

The itinerary; I now rely on day-to-day updates from my guide's wife, Namdon who is in their Lhasa office requesting permits on my behalf & an Argentinean woman that I met along the way via e-mail who is on the ground in Xining.

I'm going for it! Here's what I know. On Monday June 4, I leave Atlanta & fly to Beijing. 2 night in Beijing, a 24 hrs train ride to Xining followed by 2 weeks in AMDO & Kham Region of Tibet, a 3 day train ride West to Lhasa, 3 days in Lhasa & then overland South to Kathmandu. If the Lhasa Permit does not materialize, then 3 weeks in Amdo /Kham, I must re-purchase an airline ticket from China to Nepal & secure a Nepalese Visa. This is going to be a true day-to-day adventure. A sense of humor is a must. Stay posted.


Carpe-Diem, 
Lorrie
www.LorrieDallekPhotography.com

Fire and Brimstone

In January 2012, resistance to Chinese occupation re-emerges.  The newspapers report that Tibetan residents are setting the shops of Chinese owned stores ablaze in Lhasa.  Monks and lay people are setting themselves on fire both in Lhasa and Eastern Tibet. The army moves in and bullets are flying in Lhasa.

How is Lumbum my guide, his wife Namdon and their baby?  Where are you?  Are you safe???  The emails flew back and forth whenever the communication lines were open.  This was when our relationship was forged.  Even though we had not yet me, we became long distance friends.

Carpe Diem,
Lorrie
www.LorrieDallekPhotography.com

So Many Choices

Having spent 3 months abroad the last time, I knew that 12 weeks was simply too long.  In 3 mos. everything started to break; my camera got gritty, my sandals & watch broke & so had my stomach.

Tibet was the most important part of this trip and I wanted to spend as much time there as I could afford.  In the remote areas that I wanted to visit, I would need not only a guide but also a 4WD and a driver.

We settled on 3 weeks and explored different itineraries.  It turned out that several of the Horse Festivals that other Travel Agencies were promoting were no longer open to foreigners.  One that was available would be inundated with tourists, the other was out of my June-July time preference.  I expected to do some trekking but not interested in anything major along these lines.

Back to Region of Kham.  Awesome.  We finalized the itinerary,  agreed to a price and I was even able to secure my airline ticket using frequent flyer points.  Hotdog, all set,
not !

Carpe Diem,
Lorrie
www.LorrieDallekPhotography.com

3 Degrees of Separation

For my birthday, my husband honored my request and purchased a photo book about Tibet for me titled, Tibet: A Culture on the Edge by Phil Borges, http://www.amazon.com/Tibet-Culture-Edge-Phil-Borges/dp/0847836916/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337546442&sr=8-1-fkmr1.  It was great to get a broader look at the place I was going.

What was equally amazing was that Phil's name had been given to me about 3 yrs prior as someone who did NGO/Non-profit photo work.  His name sat in my notebook but I had never contacted him.

Next step, secure my copy of Lonely Planet Tibet and began digging it.  Which part of Tibet did I want to go to.  Back to my buddy Jim Spillane who recommended the Region of Kham.

Before any trip I always study the photo on the professional Web Sites e.g. Getty Images.  I was most intrigued by the Horse Festival where the Nomads come together especially in the summer to show off their horse racing skills.  http://tibetexploretour.com/photo1_10_37.shtml.  

Equally visual are the women who are all decked out in amazing silk clothing with obscene amounts of large silver, turquoise and silver jewelry.  http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/three-tibetan-khampa-women-in-traditional-high-res-stock-photography/200149711-001 I cannot fathom where and how they secure such thing - I can only assume passed down from mother to daughter.  Yup, I thought this was for me.  I will use 2 Horse Festivals as the anchor point of my trip.

In parallel I scoured & contacted all of the travel agencies listed in the Lonely Planet.  I knew that I wanted to spent no less than 3 wks in Tibet.  The group trips were 1 or 2 wks apiece.  Not good.  Besides,  I don't like to travel with other tourists. To me shooting is all about my relationship with the subject, and is about being "present" and observing, not about running around on a pre-set time schedule.

 One caveat, you must have a guide  and lots of permits over & beyond the ordinary Chinese Visa to travel in any part of Tibet.

 One caveat, you must have a guide  and lots of permits over & beyond the ordinary Chinese Visa to travel in any part of Tibet. OK.  So now what do I do?  I hit the Lonely planet Blog, Thorn Tree Travel Forum & starting making enquiries. How, how much,  where.....  It was here that I found the single and most important piece of my trip.  A post by Phil Borges stating , "Not all Guides are Created Equal"..... Here is where my relationship with my beloved guide named Lumbum began.

Carpe Diem,
Lorrie
www.LorrieDallekPhotography.com

Guidance

It's hard to image that it is over two years since my last big trip and blog entry.

In November 2010 I was on assignment on behalf of  the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for a quick trip down to Guatemala.  A very interesting place photographing the Mayan Indians living in a very small and relatively closed community in Santiago Atitlan. 

Guatemala aside I have been Stateside doing both commercial & print related photography since my 3 month trip to Myanmar, Vietnam & Thailand.

In the summer of 2011, I was getting a lot of questions about Tibet.  No, "I hadn't been there" but making it my next trip seemed to make sense. A natural extension of my interest in Ethno-centric travel photography in Asia which I love so much.

In the same time frame time I befriended another travel photographer, Jim Spillan while at the Uptown Art Festival in Minneapolis, MN.  After returning home,  I called Jim during which time we had a marathon conversation- him telling me about Tibet & me telling him about Myanmar.  

By early November I had committed to traveling and explored a few final alternatives: "the Stans", Tibet or Mongolia.  In the same time frame I also purchased a fabulous large print of a Tibetan Woman taken by Jim.  She now hangs in my home, joining the work of many other wonderful travel images taken by my friends.

Over Thanksgiving I was sent additional guidance.  While visiting my in-laws in Ashville NC, I made a side trip to a small artist community in Blackrock NC.  In this traditional, Southern town specializing in mountain crafts I stumbled up a coral Sherpa necklace and small prayer wheel.  Both had been brought to the USA by a Tibetan Buddhist monk and were for sale in this art gallery. How curious. I bought them both.   

No question, Tibet was where I was going.

Carpe Diem,
Lorrie
www.LorrieDallekPhotography.com