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Friday, December 19, 2008

Day One....Slaughter Of The Soul






Back in Japan after a pretty extreme month out on the road. Well, I set out to reach the foot of Everest by doing so overland from Kathmandu. The majority of trekkers and mountaineers opt to fly in half the way to the notorious tilted landing strip of Lukla, so I was pretty much the only "tourist" on the bus. The first stretch is done by a local 12 hour bus ride on winding roads to a small trading station called Jiri. Then from there an about 11 day hike (for me) to either the base camp of Mt. Everest or KalaPatar which is the best view point of the tallest peak in the world. It was early hours still at the grim bus station just outside the capital and I just managed to get me a ticket for the ride up North. A general depressive mood was in the air and when the butcher with a couple of strong blows hacked off the head of this goat I was standing beside, I knew it was time to leave urban society for a more solitude environment for a while. I just remembered that I felt everything was pretty fucked up at that moment. Proved to be a hard and testing time in the Himalayas and every moment, every step on the rugged paths was a reminder that life back at sea level is pretty "safe".

2 comments:

Shannon said...

Wow. I'm saddened & amazed at the same time. I don't know if I would have had what it takes to shoot that.

-Straight Edge Photography- said...

Hi S. Wow, who are you!!

I guess the butcher didn't slash it out of rage or revenge or something like that, cos he was pissed off (he looked like it though). But would that make a difference....? That meat went into some kebobs or a sweet stew I'm sure...but what difference does that make....except it made my day a bit grayish dull and I think about buss stations when I eat mutton from now on...glad I took the images cos that made you response in one direction or another. Became meaningful because of this....but just imagine to have your throat cut like that....man...