Namaste.

My heart is happy to be back in India. I've been living in Varanasi with my friend Sandy, in an appartment on the roof of our Hindi teacher's house. The family is wonderful and I love living in Nagwa (just south of Assi Ghat, the last ghat on the Ganges).

It seems strange that I've been here for a month already. So much time and I wish I could say that my Hindi is much improved. But, I am doing some yoga, riding my bike everywhere, taking few photographs, drawing temples and learning to play classical Indian flute. Life here is really quite beautiful.




I also just came back from a retreat to Bodhgaya.
more about that later.
Right now I'm on my way south to Tamil Nadu for a few weeks.
The ocean becons...

A few quick weeks in China.

Yes, I'm a bit behind on the posting. So, without much description or fuss, here are some photos from China where i spent a few weeks biking through the streets of Beijing and Shanghai with new and old friends. It helps to be in the best of company.

Even when I try to take time off, there are no breaks. It is hard for me to think of anything besides housing and the built environments I'm surrounded by. Moving through Asia is one complicated housing puzzle after another. China is a srange mix of disorientation and extreeme comfort at being back in the pace and fervor of big cities. I have a different sort of comfort here than I found in Mongolia. Shanghai in particular holds the crown for being the near-perfect postmodern metropolis. Once cannot help but have the feeling that you could be anywhere, still somehow you are also nowhere at all. It is not "China", but it could only be in China.

. . . . . . . .


click here for more China photos.

Mongolia Retrospective

Modern Nomads
From Moscow to Ulaan Baatar
Arrival in Ulaan Baatar
Heading West – leaving the capital for Khovd and Olgii
Mongolian Hospitality – hosts and horses in Khovd Aimag
Bazan Olgii – moving north into Kayakh land
Disassembly, Reassembly – description and photos of Kayakh keegizoui
Glaciers, Skulls and Songs – two weeks in the countryside with a Kazakh eagle hunter family
Biking in Mongolia – My last month biking and hitchhiking my way through mountains, and snowstorms.

Where is home? Home is the whole valley; it is the land you cross. It is setting up the ger. It is milking the goats and finding grass for the horses to eat and gathering fuel for the stove.

A few sketches from the countryside

for more sketches and watercolors click here.