Deep blue

Just after a 5100m pass, the deep blue of Yamdrok lake seems unreal. Maybe an effect from altitude sickness?

Ganden monastery

Not far from Lhasa, Ganden monastery is slowly recovering the splendor it had before the cultural revolution.

Drigung Till

Monk admiring the beautiful landscape from Drigung till monastery. It was early in the morning and very very cold but the light was fantastic and the colors very autumnal...

Walking on the water

Walking around lake Nam Tso, 4900m high

Is this Lhasa ?

Tibetan pilgrim family overlooking Lhasa from the Potala

Inside Potala

White palace courtyard, Potala Palace

Potala

Ok, this is a classic, but it is still so impressive that I had to post it.

Back online

After three weeks of censorship in Tibet, I am finally free from the chinese government control paranoia and can write you a few words before publishing some pictures.

Blogspot is not the only site I found out to be censored (Facebook is another) and I can only say that the chinese government seems completely paranoiac: The streets and the roofs of Lhasa are still full of soldiers and the temples and monasteries full of cameras. Freedom of speech is inexistent (I was told that the walls have eyes and ears), just as the photos of the present Dalai Lama.

What is more ironic in the whole thing is that you can easily see that the chinese presence in Tibet and more particularly in Lhasa is irreversible, and the only thing that the people from Tibet really want is the return of the Dalai Lama and the preservation of their culture.

Instead, the chinese government demonises the Dalai Lama and promotes a criminal Han immigration policy that is transforming Lhasa (already transformed) in a chinese city.

On the good side of the chinese action the latest years is the rebuilding of all the temples and monasteries that themselves had destroyed during the cultural revolution.

I had promised I would only publish pictures but I could not resist to write this, even if politics are clearly not in the scope of this blog.

Anyway, Tibet was a great experience and it was great to go during the low season (winter) when all the pilgrims fill the streets of Lhasa and tourists are almost inexistent. The weather during this period is also the best. Clear blue sky everyday. The drawback is the cold, but living in Switzerland we should be used by now... or not?

I leave you with the pictures (if I am able to upload them because my internet connection is so bloody slow...) .

La cogida y la muerte

Um touro é uma espécie de massa rebarbativa, com uma obscura vida interna onde se imagina que circulam imagens fundas e carregadas. É difícil discernir os teoremas que, pela acção, vai demonstrar. E a maneira como o fará, com as suas improvisações e inspirações repentinas. Mas existe uma fenda nesse sistema de energias, a ponta de um ferro, a imperceptível abertura oferecida pelo destino à derrota e à morte. Pois cada criatura subtilmente se conjuga com os impulsos da destruição. Tecido de imperscutáveis forças que de súbito se animam.

(Herberto Helder in "Os passos em volta")
(O título do post refere-se a um poema de Garcia Lorca sobre o mesmo tema)

Cinematou

My suggestion for a rainy weekend...

Taking place at Cinéma Uptown, Cinéma Pathé Rialto, Cinéma Nord-Sud.

More infos here.

Tuareg blues

"Legendary poet guitarists and soul rebels from the southern Sahara desert"

That's how Tinariwen's website describes them. Well, I think the epithet fits perfectly !

I already spoke about Tinariwen in this blog. They are a music band originary from Mali that combined traditional Tuareg music with electric guitar to create a new form of Blues. They sing in Tamashek, which is a Berber language spoken by the Tuareg in many parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso.

The good new is that they are playing in Geneva the 14 October in PTR:

Mercredi 14 octobre 2009
ptr
dès 20h30 - 28 CHF

dance, dance, dance