deluge of photos of deluge

went to the last resort on the 17th and 18th of april for the sundance music festival. the festival was ok. being on the road there and back was far more interesting.

buses outside the valley are often filled to the brim and beyond. space on the bus is only limited by the number of handholds and one’s imagination.

loud and brightly-coloured vehicles such as these are the rule, breaking up the monotonous earth tones of the landscape.

sanjog getting antsy from waiting for the show to start.

view of the bhote kosi river from a suspension bridge over it.

kids running across said bridge, much to the annoyance of the rest on it.

artist catherine biyoka kicks off an abstract art performance to improvised music. this item got the otherwise bored audience to their feet around the performers.

milan rai, with the nearly completed work, behind.

this gentleman was watching the performance intently. i was distracted by his bald head.

nirakar yakthumba, bassist of nepali band 1974 a.d., improvises on the bass.

milan rai in action.

just about 40-50km from the last resort on the way back to kathmandu, we hit a landslide on the arniko highway. it had been raining persistently since morning and the landscape was transformed into a mess. traffic was brought to a standstill, and unwilling to sit it out, a few of us decided to leave the bus and cross the landslide on foot. on the other side, we would then seek transport back. following photos from yusuf’s camera.

on the road.

after about 15-20 minutes of walking, we hitchhiked a pickup truck with an open back. it was bad enough that the drizzle was slowly drenching us without needing the driver, who is road maniac first class, cornering as if he was driving a maserati. i can’t say we didn’t have fun though.

just like a mexican illegal immigrant, i was rocking a faux poncho. just need a sombrero to complete the get-up.

i call this look “purepleasurepain”.

more posts direct from nepal here.