Amsterdam, 2012-10-05 The Kyteman Orchestra

Hi All,

 
This evening I went to the Royal Theatre Carre at Amsterdam to see the Kyteman Orchestra. A band that usually plays at festivals and the so called pop temples (like Paradiso at Amsterdam). So now in one of the most famous theatres of Holland. I was really curious how it would turn out, as it is quite a difference to see a funky band play at a jazz festival or in a concert hall. And I really must say it was fantastic. As the audience was sitting, there was no noise of people talking, moving around or dancing around you. You really had a chance to listen to the music and then a good performence in a concerthall is really great.

 


The Kyteman Orchestra.

20120917 photo’s Hooghalen

Dear all,

 

The weekend of 8 and 9 September was the traditional opening of the season of the Fotoclub. This time we went to a village in the province Drenthe in the nortern part of The Netherlands and famous about its beautiful nature parks and stone graves (Hunebed in Dutch). The graves we did not visit, but nature by means of the moors and sand areas were full in scope. A new 105mm macro lens was much used tob ring some very nice close ups of spiderwebs and mushrooms.

http://fca.iamnotsimple.nl/#25.0

The second day of the weekend we spend at Noorderdierenpark (Zoo) at Emmen. A nice apportunity to make some close ups of the various animals. The zoo itself is a nice placet o be as fort his zoo is chosen to show the animals in their natural environment. So not much cages, but open fields in which the animals can free walk around.

Next mont the photocontest of the month has a special thenme:

Eye to eye to animals

I would say have a look and send in your votes J My personal favorit is the ostrich

http://fca.iamnotsimple.nl/#26.0

 

Enjoy,

Arjan

20120908 FCA weekend at Hooghalen

Hi All,

 

Last weekend we celebrated the traditional opening of the new season of the fotoclub. This year we went to a village named Hooghalen in the province Drenthe.

Very sunny and warm wheather, a blooming heather and a visit to the Zoo of Emmen. For the time being I just uploaded one picture, more will follow in the next few days, as I am still busy preparing my pictures of India for presentation at the web.

Just have a look and wonder who is watching who.

http://fca.iamnotsimple.nl/#25.0

 

CU,

Arjan

India Attari-Wagag border

Hi All,

In an earlier post I told you about the border ceremony of the closing of the border and the lowering of the flags of India and Pakistan at Attari-Wagah.
Monthy Python's Ministry of silly walks must have been inspired by this ceremony.   I found this movie on YouTube. Please watch and judge by yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVLfibEp1Pk

Enjoy,
Arjan

India 2012 (20120810)

Hi All,

Actually I am writing this post on the 12th as I am already home now for 2 days. The last post I wrote in Manali and since then we visited McLeod Ganj, Amritsar and again Dehli.
If you think  McLeod Ganj? Have I ever heared of this town, I have to add that it is close to Dharamsala. As it is well known that the Dalai Lama lives in Dharamsala, I can now actually say that he does not! His Holy Temple is situated in McLeod Ganj, which is a very small village just a few miles besides Dharamsala. The Temple is not one of the nicest Bhudist temples I ever saw. A quite new building made out of concrete with two large halls where the meditation sessions are held.
The best comic I ever saw was the local policeman who managed to get the traffic completely stuck. And that in a village of only 5 streets. i managed to see it all while having a drink (a nice sweet lemon soda) on one of the roof terraces, so I had a good view of it all. A lot of noice (blowing hornes), yelling Indians and a policeman trying to arrange the traffic, but no one took notice of him.

Amritsar: The capital of the Sikh community with only a few highlights. The Golden Temple is the absolute highlight of the city. In a very hectic city this temple is an absolute oasis of peace and rest. The centre of the temple is the Hari Mandir, which is surrounded by water named Amrit Sarovar (Pool of Nectar). The Hari Mandir does have a golden roof in the shape of upside down lotus flower.
The temple is a lovely place to come to rest and enjoy the ceremonies.
In and around the temple you are constantly addressed by the Sikhs asking you where you are from and saying that you are most welcome in their temple.

 In the evening we went to a nearby city (Attari) to the Waga border, to watch the ceremony of lowering the flags of India and Pakistan.   I have seen many military ceremonies in my life, but I really do not know what to think of this one.
On both sides of the border platforms are build to watch the ceremony. On the Indian side a few thousand watchers (mostly Indian people), the Pakistani side could not be seen very well by me, but also a crowd was gathered.
During the time we had to wait for the ceremony on both sides of the border loud music was played. Probably patriotic songs. So it was a real lot of noice.
A local celebrety was agitating the public to get them dancing, singing and waving the Indian flag. If I did not know better I could be watching a football game with a fanatic crowd.
The ceremony itself took only about 15 minutes. A lot of marching, saluting and of course the lowering of the flags. Both the Indian and Pakistan flag are lowered at exactly the same time, the same speed, etc....

Dehli 8 and 9 August
By train we travelled from Amritsar to Dehli in about 6 hours. We travelled 2nd class so no hanging on doors or sitting on the rooftop :-)
In the afternoon I went to the Bahai Temple. A temple build in the shape of a huge Lotusflower ( http://www.shalusharma.com/lotus-temple-must-see-bahai-temple ).



The last day in Dehli I went on a bike tour through the old town.
From DehlibyCycle:

"The Shah Jahan Tour is DelhiByCycle’s classic recipe for an exhilarating glimpse into the life and times of the great Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan and the 1500 acre expanse of his capital - Shahjahanabad. At the time of its construction in the 17th Century, it was arguably, the most prosperous and beautiful city in the world. Today, when you pass through its four hundred year old web of alleys held together with great big meshes of electric cables and infused with the smell of brewing tea and simmering breakfast curry, you see a mind boggling co-existence of the past and the future, competing for your attention. Emerging from this rainforest, thick with traditional architecture- typical of Shah Jahan’s time, you will find yourself in a Delhi of another time while you also see the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, the Spice Market and tranquil Civil Lines, the former British colonial area as a sharp contrast to hectic Old Delhi."

Took the nightflight back to Amsterdam where I arrived after a deep sleep at 06:00 in the morning. Got the weekend to rest before going back to work on Monday.

CU,
Arjan

India 2012 (03082012)

Hi all,

Boring day today. Cancelled a 5 hour walk through the woods because of the rain. Manali is well known because of the rains, but so far it rained only in the evening. Now almost the whole day. This morning i looked around in Old Manali and found a good place for breakfast where an excellent espresso was served. Stayed a long time over there. In the afternoon I spent some time reading and listening to some music on the balcony of my hotelroom.
Tomorrow morning we'll leave for Daramsala. No change to see the Dalai Lama as he is on a tour through Ladakh at the moment. Just missed him as a matter of speaking.
Learned on the news that in Holland some messages were about power downs in India. So far we hardly noticed that. Power over here goes down all the times, but most of the hotels have their own generator.

Going off for dinner now,
CU,
Arjan

India 2012 (020812)

Hi All,

It has been some since my last post, so here I go again. Right now I am in Manali and as to speak in the real world again. Yesterday when we arrived it was rainy, but right now the weather is fine although rain is expected every day around here.
The hikingg around Leh was fabulous. For five days we walked between  4 to 6 hours verey day through the mountains and it looked loike we were walking on the moon. Heavy mountains to climb and no vegetation at all.the route we walked:
Day 1: Basco to Likir (3500mtr). Bikir is a very little village at the beginning of the indus river and has a nice monastary to visit with a Buddha of 30 mtr. The walk was very heavy because of the temperature of about 40C and because we had to cross a desert, so we had no protection against the sun at all. In the evening I felt a little sick, probably because of the heat. At the end of the walk I had finished my complete storage of water for the day (5 liters)
Day 2 Likir to Yangtang (3600mtr)
We have 2 passes to cross today: the Pobe La (3550mtr) and the Charatse La (3630mtr). A walk of appr. 4 hours through beautiful colored mountains. At night the sky was really clear and I cannot imagine to have seen so much stars. Even the Galaxy (Melkweg) was very clear to see.
Day 3 Yangtang to Hemis Shuckpachan (3700mtr)
A heavy steep climb to the Sermanchan pass at 3750mtr. I get really used to the walking through the mountains and developed a steady slow step. Going up your own tempo and enjoy the surroundings.
Day 4 Hemis Shuckpachang to Themisgang (3200 mtr)
Although going down for the day we have to do the first pass at 3750 mtr (Lago Meptekpass). I am getting used to the altitude now and the walking goes smoothly. The surroundings keep amazing.
Day 5 Themisgang to Ulitokpo via Lamayuro.
The last day of the hike and a hard one. First a tough climb to the Bongbongpass (3650 mtr) and then a  slowly decent through a moonlike landscape to the mainroad where jeeps are waiting to take us to Ulitokpo.
In the evening we say goodbey to our crew who took care of building our camp every day, prepared oud good (vegatarian) meals and moved our lugage (by car). We had some drinks in the evening and gave them their tips. They all looked happy.

Then back to Leh for a day to have a shower and clean up from the hike.

Went to DakhTok to see the Buddhist festival. A day full of dances, music and a lot of local people who visited the festival. We stayed near the monastery at a campsite.
In the morning wed visited the second day of the festival. After lunch we left with our bus back to Leh.

In Leh we had to do some shopping as the next 2 days we are only on the road and it was not sure whether we would find a decent place to have lunch.

Leh to Sarchu (4100mtr)
The road is dusty and bad. It is a lot of driving today (10-12hrs) as we have to cross some very high passes.
1) TaglangLa (5350mtr), which is the 2nd highest pass in the world which can be driven by car.
2) Lachung La (50656)
You cannot imagine that all traffic have to go through this road to reach Leh. All goods (oil, food, etc) has to pass this bad road.
We sleep in a permanent campsite with luxury tents at 4100 mtr altitude. Around the campsite huge marmots live and are easy to see and also al lot of Edelweiss grows here. The Swiss would be jealous, because it is almost impossible not to step on it.

Sarchu to Keylong (3350 mtr)
A 6 hour drive. Still no vegetation accept some moss. The mountains are coloured from yellow till red and covered with snow.
An easy ride  with only one high pass (Baralacha 4880mtr).

Keylong to Manali (2050mtr)
First part of the trip goes all well. Good road and fast driving. After the pass the wheather turns and it is raining (first time during the trip). The road turns into a slippery way of mud. Driving goes slow and a few times traffic gets stuck as cars and trucks gets stuck in the mud. A lot of yelling and waiting, but this will always be solved. Costs some time :-)

And now 2 days in Manali. Went to a barbershop this morning to have a good shave. Feel like a babyskin again :-)

CU,
Arjan