Category Archives: Explorations
Our ‘The Tea Explorer’ Doc Film Gets Some Blushing Reviews
The Tea Explorer doc gets its first reviews…and they are good Continue reading
The Tea Explorer – Our Tea Documentary on CBC’s Doc Channel
The Tea Explorer has its first on-air television slot on CBC’s Doc Channel in Canada on July 23rd, 2017 at 9pm ET. Continue reading
Mustang – Part 2 – Route of Khampas
“A land of little and a route of much” is how I often view this present journey and it is how I’ve viewed many of Himalayan trade routes I’ve travelled. Our present route here in Mustang has taken us past an … Continue reading
Mustang’s Eastern Trade Route
Trade routes (still) offer up hints and teasers about how lands evolved and functioned. Everything from DNA to luxuries and tid-bits from the past travelled and each shipment and caravan needed the guardians, the traders and the willful to ensure … Continue reading
Glaciers’ Breath ll – Gangotri Update V – A Descent
Berinder is impatient and staring in his mournful way at Saurabh and I to hurry. He wants to move and it is our day to make another incursion into the Chaturangi Glacier valley and then head south up a smaller … Continue reading
Glaciers’ Breath ll – Gangotri Update lV – Nandanvan (Paradise)
Camp Nandanvan (or “Paradise”) is the first of a series of camps within the greater valley that shoots northeast out of Gangotri. Gangotri is one of 4 “dhams”, or places of pilgrimage for Hindus. To the west, Yamunotri is where the Yamuna River is worshipped, Gangotri where we are is where the Ganga or Ganges is worshipped, Kedarnath where Shiva is worshipped (Kedar is another name for Shiva, who is considered not a god, but rather a yogi), and finally Badrinath where Vishnu is worshipped (Badri is one of the names for Vishnu). Continue reading
Glaciers’ Breath ll – Ganges Gangotri Update 3
The line is uneven. Random dark and bright spots lie along a long diagonal path that at times is nothing but some smudges in the sand. Our team is spread along a kilometer long portion heading south further into the … Continue reading
Glacier’s Breath Expedition – Gangotri Update 2
Berinder is his name. Tiny, unsmiling, and topped off with a vibrant pink woolen cap I’ve locked onto him and his intense energy. These porters can take the breath with their abilities to pirouette on little more than rubber soles, … Continue reading
Glaciers’ Breath ll – Gangotri Update l
First steps towards Gangotri Glacier involve words from an impeccable source. For six decades Swami Sunderland has climbed, wandered, and worshipped the great bodies of ice and stone from his simple home in Gangotri. He arrived here and was held … Continue reading
Glaciers’ Breath ll Update – Ice, Ganges, and Shiva
the name Ganga or Ganges was given to the River Bhagirathi which originates at Gomukh. The wonderful tale continues that the Holy Ganges River was once a celestial river called the Akash Ganga (Akash – sky or space, and Ganga – river). Akash Ganga is the Hindu mythological equivalent of the Milky Way. Akash was convinced to come down from the heavens by King Bharigath. She descended into the locks of hair of Shiva and broke up into several channels. Thus in many paintings of Shiva, one can see the Ganga River issuing from his locks. Continue reading